Cat On My Mind
Date:
January 9, 2023
Cat On My Mind
Cat On My Mind
by Laila Pakalnina
SIA Kompānija Hargla | Latvia
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Logline
No doubt, he was thinking of a cat. Because he was trying to take a photo of the cat.
Synopsis
The film will be a cinematic poem to be written using the light that was shining some 40-50 years ago. It will be recalling of strange memories through exposed photo negatives of 1968-78 found in a dustbin (of which pictures have never been produced, most probably).
We have named the unknown photographer as Anton, the son of Aunt Emma. Looking through his blueprints (with many imprecisions: indistinct sharpness, random elements in the shot, wipes, accidental and double exposures, etc.), we will imagine what he felt and what he thought, as well as what people he took the photographs of felt and thought. More precisely – what our lives would be if these were our photos.
Anton, being an unprofessional photographer, simply takes photos of everything he sees, and therefore it often happens, that he catches also elements he doesn’t see, but that simply are in Anton’s life – beginning with a hen and ending with truck racing, amid which he catches also relatives, friends, neighbours (both in celebrations and in daily life) and, of course, a cat. Besides – the way he takes photos! Exactly as he wants – emotionally and impulsively choosing the photography objects (sometimes it seems he does it intermittently). – if we look from the angle of correctness, it is totally incorrect. Immortalizing the world in this manner, Anton definitely is not telling a chronological story. That’s why it is a poem – the form that is content, and the content that is form – through which we would like to reflect the inspiration we have gained from the photo negatives we’ve found. Meaning that the shots/episodes will be the lines of this poem gathering around the photos.
Director’s Profile
Laila Pakalnina graduated from the Moscow Film Institute (VGIK), Department of Film Direction, in 1991. A director and scriptwriter of 32 documentaries, 5 shorts, and 6 fiction features, altogether she has 43 films, 2 children, 1 husband, 1 dog and 2 bicycles. And many ideas for new films. Her films have screened in official programmes at Cannes, Venice, Berlinale, Locarno, Karlovy Vary, Rome, Tallinn and other international festivals, where they have won numerous awards.
Company Profile
When Laila Pakalnina realized that if she wants to make the kind of films she wants to make Laila Pakalnina needs to become a producer of her own films. So Laila started to produce Lailas films on 1995. On 1997 together with cinematographer Gints Berzins they founded Hargla Company. So far by producing 6 feature fictions, 20 creative documentaries and 4 short fictions the activities of Hargla Company have been targeted at the same direction – to make films of Laila Pakalnina.
Almost all the films have festival awards. They were selected for Cannes, Venice, Berlinale, Locarno, Busan, Tallinn Black Nights, Rome, Karlovy Vary, IDFA, Visions du Reel etc.
Selected films: HOMES, 2021; IN THE MIRROR, 2020; SPOON, 2019; DAWN, 2015; PIZZAS, 2012; ON RUBIKS’ ROAD, 2010; FIRE, 2007; WATER, 2006; THE BUS, 2004; THE PYTHON, 2003; PAPA GENA, 2001; THE SHOE, 1998.