A way of approaching the exercise of portrait, Cotonov Vanished returns to the dazzling career of a young and brilliant Russian interpreter embarked in the Cold War who, one day, mysteriously disappeared...
Studio project (2009) by Andreas Fontana
Documentary
Synopsis
A way of approaching the exercise of portraiture, Cotonov Vanished returns to the dazzling career of a young and brilliant Russian interpreter embarked in the Cold War who, one day, mysteriously disappeared. To tell his story, one of his former teachers and colleagues, now retired, lends himself to the game of interview. With, in counter-field, a young woman who translates his words, a posteriori and in a booth. Starting from these visible devices, Andreas Fontana prefers the path of evocation and mise en abyme to the path of investigation. Here, no biographical retracement, but some facts and intuitions transmitted by the old man to which archives respond. Images through which a world where the USA and the USSR confront each other and the silhouette, absent or out of frame, of Cotonov, an anonymous young man with a crucial role to play: to ensure communication between the enemy heads of state.
Comment
After the Loterie Romande Prize "First steps" at the Festival Visions du Réel - Nyon and the Best Screenplay Prize at the 10th Festival du Film Court Francophone de Vaulx-en-Velin, Cotonov Vanished continues its brilliant international career with a third award, the Best Short Film Prize, given by one of the most prestigious festivals in Italy, the Festival dei Popoli. Andreas Fontana's short film was praised by the jury with this comment: "If someone living on Mars watched this short film he would understand the Earth much better."
Festivals and awards
2011
2010
2009