Scarecrow

She is a healer. A hermit. A Fool-in-God. She is a little over forty years old. She doesn’t disdain alcohol. She can be ridiculous, humiliated, offended. She has long been indifferent about herself. Everybody avoids her and is afraid of her, but secretly at night they all hurry to her home. After all, only she can get rid of their illnesses. For her, this is a damnation, and each time she swears that she won’t help people any more, but each time she is unable to refuse them. She knows that her gift will ruin her some time, but she continues to be the only chance of salvation for people.

It was the first Yakutian film to win at the Russian film festival Kinotavr and made rounds in cinemas all over Russia. Local critics have called Scarecrow one of the most noteworthy Russian films of 2020 — right next to Andrey Konchalovsky's Dear Comrades! — awarding its author Dmitri Davydov with their White Elephant prize.

It deserves to be mentioned that Davydov is a teacher by profession, a self-taught filmmaker who creates his work on a small budget in the countryside near his home. Scarecrow was made in 11 days for 1,5 million roubles (around 16 000€), of which 500 000 was funded from the director's pockets. It's also noteworthy that the grandmother of the main actress, Yakutian folk singer Valentina Romanova-Chyskyyray, is a shaman. This must only be possible in Yakutia.