NEW DELHI: Love.Love.Love directed by FTII alumna Sandhya Daisy Sundaram, which won the Silver Hugo for Best Short Documentary at the 50th Chicago International Film Festival, has now become eligible for being nominated to the documentary section of the Academy awards.
It has been screened at over 40 festivals and won eight awards till date including Special Jury Mentions at Sundance Film Festival and Indian Film Festival, Los Angeles 2014.
Love.Love.Love was made as part of Cinetrain, a Russian winter project held in Russia in January 2013. Set against the Russian winter landscape, it is a film about a Russian woman and her big love. It explores the different voices of the Russian women and examines themes such as love, sacrifice, family and values that are ingrained in the Russian women.
During the 1930s in Soviet Russia, film crews, under the guidance of Aleksandr Medvedkin, used to travel through the Soviet Union in specially equipped wagons, with the idea of giving power of speech to people who did not normally have the opportunities to voice out opinions. Cinetrain is based on this concept, where filmmakers from across the globe set out to make documentaries travelling about in trains. Every other year, a different route and a theme is chosen.
In 2013, the topic was Russian stereotypes set in the Russian winter. Seven films were made, of which Love. Love. Love. was one. The sub themes were pre-decided when the applications were out and the film was based on stereotypes about the Russian women. The team included director of production from Russia, Alexey Filippov, sound designer from Poland, Marcin Knyziack, producers from Russia and France - Tanya Petrik and Guillaume Protsenko and the director and editor.
Over a period of a month, all participants travelled through the vast landscape of Russia in the extreme Russian winter, shooting and editing on the go. It was shot in Moscow, Irkutsk, St. Petersburg, Tomsk, Murnmask and the Baikal. The journeys were set in the train and for the most part of it, the trains became the base for all post-production.
