bild

[Individual captions available late March] Story: The people of Sakha, a republic in the far northeast of the Russian Federation, live in a remote area with extreme weather conditions: temperatures can drop as low as -50°C in winter. Although Sakha, which is also known as Yakutia, extends over more than three million square kilometers, its population numbers barely 950,000 people, around 50 percent of which are ethnic Sakha (or Yakuts). Art has become a way of showcasing and preserving Sakha culture, traditions, and stories. Cinema has flourished there since the 1990s. Around seven to ten feature films are shot a year, by a local movie industry lightheartedly dubbed ‘Sakhawood’. Genres range from romantic comedies and crime movies to fairy tales and local legends. Most movies are made in the Yakut language, and subtitled in Russian. Production budgets range from US$12,000 to US$120,000. Many actors have no professional training, although some have worked in theater, and directors and camera crew frequently attend film school in Moscow or elsewhere. The films are enormously popular locally but have also met wider success. In recent years, Sakha cinema has been represented in film festivals in Finland and South Korea, among others, and the films have picked up numerous awards. (Alexey Vasilyev) NO SALES, THIS MATERIAL IS FOR SINGLE USE PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT OR FOR A TEMPORARY ONLINE PUBLICATION, AND MAY BE USED EXCLUSIVELY TO PUBLICIZE THE 2021 WORLD PRESS CONTEST AND EXHIBITION. IT MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED AS PART OF AN ARTICLE OR ANY OTHER ITEM THAT CONTAINS NO DIRECT LINK TO WORLD PRESS PHOTO AND ITS ACTIVITIES. THE PICTURE MAY NOT BE CROPPED OR MANIPULATED IN ANY WAY. KEYSTONE PROVIDES ACCESS TO THIS PUBLICLY DISTRIBUTED HANDOUT PHOTO. THE COPYRIGHT IS OWNED BY A THIRD PARTY.