In “Streets Loud With Echoes” filmmaker Katerina Suvorova captures a youth-powered civil movement sparked by the shocking murder of Denis Ten, who made history when he became the first ever Kazakhstani figure skater to win an Olympic medal. The doc follows Kazakhstan citizens who want to challenge the political regime and make them take notice of their citizenry. The 95-minute docu made its world premiere at Hot Docs earlier this week. Variety has been given access to an exclusive clip from the documentary.
Variety spoke to Suvorova ahead of the docu’s Wednesday night Hot Docs screening.
Why did you want to make this film?
For me this film was really important as it started as a big and painful event in my city. I had no answers and no clue at the moment how to reconnect with the reality I was living in towards the feeling of safety in my country. I started by going to a place in my city where people would go to meet each other and try to make their way through the events together and also have someone to address their questions, fears and insecurities. After the second evening, I realized I should bring my camera with me. Then as people started to plan their next meeting I decided I will go with them and I will try to answer my own questions. (I wondered if) people organizing could really make something positive out of this pain together.
How long have you been working on this project?
I have been working for five years on this film. It has taken up a big part of my life. Through the pandemic, I was pregnant and was very nervous about what was happening in the world, but at the same time, I needed to concentrate on the story. While I was working on it, huge political events were happening and I understood that this was very important for the film and our story. It took me five years to bring the stories together and tell them in a digestible way.
In those five years did your vision of the film change?
I was really optimistic – probably idealistic (in the beginning). But while I was filming the movie I realized that reality is not so simple. Social protests are not something that are simple and organized by themselves. I hope that what people take out of this is that as a society we do want to make changes and run towards that goal. Before that, we need to learn how to come together and learn to work together. We must overcome our different opinions, backgrounds and temperaments to work towards a common goal. That is something new in Kazakhstan for my generation. The adults before us came from a totalitarian past and don’t have that experience. But I realized that if my generation wants to make change, we must learn how to work together.
What are you hoping audiences take away from the film?
When I was making the film, I was thinking that the world has an image of Kazakhstan that the state has represented. What I wanted to do is shatter that image and invite people from around the world to learn how we really are in our country – especially my generation. I want people to understand our fears and hopes to make change.
Can you explain the clip and its significance?
In this clip you meet one of the main protagonists. She is a brave, young journalist named Assem. This is her monologue which represents how she is trying to realize how much is possible as a youth movement within the difficult circumstances we are living in. It’s a light, joking monologue but at the same time it reveals the reality of the country we are living in. She is imagining an alternate reality where she becomes part of a corrupted government and me as a documentarian becoming part of the propaganda department and Dimash (another main character in the film) becoming the opposite of what he is fighting for right now – someone from a controlling government. That was interesting (because) people are not one-dimensional. We are real and complex. I really like how she finishes the monologue by saying she is staying true to her moral compass, but she is still a human being and the pressure is huge.
Watch the clip here: