STORIES ALL AROUND US
Short film ‘Ol’ Blue Eyes’ about Sydney’s taxi driver Zachary (Zac) Kryuchkov won the Best Student Documentary Film Award at the inaugural Antenna International Documentary Film Festival!
The Sydney Film School produced documentary, directed and produced by Matt Cooney, takes us on a ride with Sydney’s biggest entertainer, a Ukranian taxi driver and a classically trained singer.
“This film is a reminder that stories are all around us... even in taxi's,” said the student competition judges Rebecca Barry, David Optiz and Maya Newell about their decision. “Ol' Blue Eyes has a unique and intriguing character that captivated us and the audience. The filmmaker’s knack of allowing the story to unfold created beautiful authentic moments of humour and poignancy. Craft wise the single shot, active interview in the taxi allowed us into his world in an intimate way.”
In only 10 minutes the documentary offers a clever mix of lightheartedness, humour and the genuinely, bittersweet experience Zac has had in moving countries.
“I think everyone can relate in their own way to both the sacrifices he has made and his determination to never give up his dream,” says director Cooney who was surprised and delighted to win the award. “There were some fantastic documentaries in the competition, so I feel very privileged,” he said.
“Zac is such a genuine, warm, glowing human being and I think he just shines through. In many ways my job was to get out of his light.”
“We all have impossible dreams and what I learned from my subject is that you cannot afford to be bitter or angry just because you can't always get what you want. Despite his obvious frustrations Zac is a man at peace with the world.”
‘Ol’ Blue Eyes’ was produced as part of the Sydney Film School Diploma of Screen & Media course and had its premiere in July 2010.
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