HOME GAMES

COMPLETED


Filmmaker: Alisa Kovalenko
Country: Ukraine, France, Poland
Runtime: 86′
Year: 2018

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Category: Completed Films


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“Home Games” is a broken fairytale depicting a crucial moment in the life of Alina, a 20-year-old “million dollars baby” from Kyiv, whose passion for football has a chance of saving her from poverty. Alina grew up on the streets in a poor suburb of the Ukrainian capital. While her parents were in jail for petty crimes, she started playing football with boys until a women’s football trainer noticed her talent and signed her to Atex Kyiv, the only women’s club in the city. Alina is now a pro player and it looks likely that she will be called up to play for Ukraine’s national team. But suddenly, Alina’s mum dies at the age of 39, leaving behind Alina’s beloved half-brother and sister, Renat and Regina, 6 and 7 years old. Barely out of adolescence herself, Alina becomes a substitute mother. The children’s father disappears. There is no money, and life is a mess. Alina’s grandma is on hand and tries to help but she’s losing her eyesight. The dysfunctional family lives in a cramped one-room apartment.

Alina’s lover, Nadia, lives with them, while nobody knows about their relationship, which offers the prospect of a new beginning. For a while, Alina quits football. She soon returns, but will she find the strength to save her family ans find her personal redemption? Home Games is more than just a film about girls who play football: it’s a film about lost innocence, about responsibilities: how to make your dreams come true when the odds are stacked against you.

Producer: Stephane Siohan – East Road Films
Cinematographer: Stefan Serhiy Stetsenko & Alisa Kovalenko
Editor: Olha Zhurba
Sound Design: Mariya Nesterenko

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS


Sheffield Doc/Fest
Best European documentary award-Odesa IFF
Best International documentary-Duhok IFF
Grand Prix/Best documentary-Listapad Minsk IFF
Artdocfest/Riga
IDFA
7th International Anthropological Film Festival
Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People
Karama Human Rights Film Festival
DocPoint Helsinki
Luxembourg City Film Festival
Crossing Europe
Docs Against Gravity