Ivette Löcker:
Marina and Sasha, coal shippers
The ice on Lake Baikal has melted. Marina and Sasha pack their bags and leave their winter quarters. "You wait for the shipping season the way you wait for God," says Sasha. Marina adds: "It means work, earning money, and continuing to live." The two have been together for five years, making a living on the Lake Baikal as coal shippers.
I met Marina and Sasha on my research trip to Siberia. They transport coal from Port Baikal to Ust-Barguzin on barge No. 1315. They spend half of the year together on the barge "as though on an island," isolated from the reality of Russia on land. They love the beauty of Lake Baikal and the freedom on the water – and yet they long for a normal life, because they do not know how long they will continue to do this job. Demand for coal is in continuous decline.
In their own way, Marina and Sasha are in search of happiness. This is what I admire in many people in Russia: Even under difficult conditions, they manage to preserve their strength and optimism.
At the end of the season, it becomes clear that this has been their last. The film about Marina and Sasha therefore turns into a portrait of a vanishing way of life.
The ice on Lake Baikal has melted. Marina and Sasha pack their bags and leave their winter quarters. "You wait for the shipping season the way you wait for God," says Sasha. Marina adds: "It means work, earning money, and continuing to live." The two have been together for five years, making a living on the Lake Baikal as coal shippers.
I met Marina and Sasha on my research trip to Siberia. They transport coal from Port Baikal to Ust-Barguzin on barge No. 1315. They spend half of the year together on the barge "as though on an island," isolated from the reality of Russia on land. They love the beauty of Lake Baikal and the freedom on the water – and yet they long for a normal life, because they do not know how long they will continue to do this job. Demand for coal is in continuous decline.
In their own way, Marina and Sasha are in search of happiness. This is what I admire in many people in Russia: Even under difficult conditions, they manage to preserve their strength and optimism.
At the end of the season, it becomes clear that this has been their last. The film about Marina and Sasha therefore turns into a portrait of a vanishing way of life.
Director and producer: Ivette Löcker
Length: 32 min. 30 sec.
Color, Russian with subtitles (DE/EN)
Year: 2008
supported by: Robert Bosch Stiftung, if - innovative film austria, Land Salzburg Kultur