Me Too (Make Films) (2026)

As evening fades past eleven and her search comes up empty, an aspiring filmmaker tasked with capturing a documentary profile for film school admission wanders into the hushed grounds of Smolensk Cemetery, eventually halting before the tombstone of director Aleksei Balabanov. What begins as a straightforward shooting schedule quickly dissolves into a series of flawed visual fragments. The lens captures uneven scenes: two strangers navigating the awkward tension of a first date, a dedicated artist laboring over a multi-year portrait of the late filmmaker, and circles of movie enthusiasts sharing drinks while passionately debating cinema. Plagued by insufficient light, misaligned framing, broken vows of discretion, and sudden retreats from her focus, the production stalls. Recognizing that the narrative’s true essence slipped past the viewfinder, she abandons the reel entirely and transfers her vision onto paper, demonstrating that some stories only find their shape when the camera finally stops rolling.