Coo-Coo - Short Narrative - Russian Federation

Dasha, a young biologist, prepares to defend her Ph.D. on the Baikal seal. Her Ph.D. advisor is skeptical about Dasha’s love for animals, and her mother only cares about the girl not missing night prayers. A story about a conflict between science and religion, love and suffering, between what Dasha wants and what others push her to do.

Director Svetlana Belorussova — anthropologist, filmmaker. For about ten years she has been conducting ethnographic expeditions among the peoples of Russia and Kazakhstan - Chukchi, Nenets, Khanty, Tatars, Kryashen, Nagaibaks, Kazakhs.

In 2017, she defended PhD thesis “Dynamics of the Ethnicity of Nagaibaks in the 18th – 21st сenturies”.

Since 2019, she is a student at the St. Petersburg School of New Cinema (Laboratory of Documentary and Feature Films).

AniFab judge's aggregate score for Coo Coo is 9.8 out of 10 with one judge exclaiming, "Wow, gorgeous and powerful!!"

Director Svetlana Belorussova