
Natalya Meshchaninova
Directing
Biography
Natalya Meshchaninova (Russian: Ната́лия Ви́кторовна Мещани́нова; born 17 February 1982; Krasnodar) is a Russian director and ,scriptwriter. Winner of the NIKA award (for the script for “Arrhythmia”), prize-winner and participant of national and international film festivals. Born in Krasnodar. Graduated from Kuban State University of Culture and Arts, majoring in directing for film and television (2005). Worked as director at Krasnodar TV. After training at the Internews School of Documentary Cinema (2007, Marina Razbezhkina’s workshop), she started making documentary films. Worked on the serial “School” (2010). Her debut feature came with “Hope Factory” (2014), which won a prize for Best Debut at the White Elephant awards and a special award “Voice” from young film critics; participated in the competition of Rotterdam IFF and Kinotavr. Her series “Red Bracelets” won the Grand Prix at Dvizhenie [Movement] festival in 2015.
Known For

9 "A" was an exemplary class, while their class teacher was Nosov Anatoly Germanovich - a strong and experienced teacher, recognized in 2009 as the Teacher of the Year. After his sudden illness, 9 "A" is left without a strong hand. The myth of the exemplary class is crumbling, discipline is cracking at the seams. Nosov's granddaughter, Anya Nosova, is perhaps the most difficult teenager of the school. A new student Ilya Epifanov provokes situations in which students manifest themselves from unexpected sides, turning upside down the usual idea of them as classmates and teachers. None of the teachers want to take on the class, which of the model has become the most difficult.
School

The series tells about a group of teenagers in a children's hospital, about their growing up and struggling with circumstances, about how the characters are friends and love, respond to the challenges of fate and make principled choices.
The Red Bracelets

Marina is in her late 30s, she has a successful business and a close-knit family. Her husband is a surgeon and her daughters study at fancy establishments. To everybody her life seems perfect. Though, it is all just a facade concealing the real problems: her husband has a mistress, her elder daughter is a slacker and drug-dealer, her youngest is a sociopath. Well, Marina herself is not really a flower-lady, but a brothel-keeper who is hiding her dark business from everyone. The truth may come out when a girl of Marina’s is found dead.
An Ordinary Woman

Respected police detective Gradov reluctantly turns to crime to find the money to pay for his terminally ill wife’s urgent medical treatment. During an investigation into a string of crimes Gradov begins to fall under suspicion, his colleague Osokin becomes convinced of his guilt and determined to expose him. But Gradov has already sacrificed his integrity and knows that he will stop at nothing to save his wife.
Storm

Alyssa is only fifteen, and her teachers are tired of calling her mother into school, while Alyssa’s mother can't understand what is going on with her child. Alyssa then finally learns what has been hidden from her for years: she will soon go completely blind. A little longer, and she will be in total darkness. She vows to live to the fullest while she can and decides that it would be stupid to waste time on school. It is better to grow up fast, earn some easy money, and move to a big and beautiful city. But pretty soon Alyssa's teenage illusions are shattered by reality, and her mother's strategy of pretending that all is well will inevitably lead to disaster.
Alyssa

Oleg is a young gifted paramedic. His wife Katya works as a nurse at the hospital emergency department. She loves Oleg, but is fed up with him caring more about patients than her. She tells him she wants a divorce. The new head of Oleg’s EMA department is a cold-hearted manager who’s got new strict rules to implement. Oleg couldn’t care less about the rules – he’s got lives to save; his attitude gets him in trouble with the new boss. The crisis at work coincides with the personal life crisis. Caught up between their patients, alcohol-fueled off-shifts, and an evolving health care system, Oleg and Katya have to find the binding force that will keep them together.
Arrhythmia

This is a story about commitment and dedication to one's talent which resonates with the difficult topic of the mother's love deficit that is relevant for many.
My Mom's Penguins

Egor is a vet at a training facility for hunting dogs in a remote region of the country. Surrounded by foxes, deer, badgers, and dogs, he lives in a small building next to the house of the facility's master. He treats the dogs, cleans the kennels, oversees the workers, and meets with clients and their dogs. It's easier for him to get along with dogs than with people. Egor is willing to take on any job to get closer to the facility's master and his near and dear. He wants the impossible - to become a member of that family.
Core of the World

A genuine satiric comedy, based on real conversations - both amusing and sad - overheard by a journalist in one of the most expensive Moscow restaurants. Hilarious and revealing, this is a film about women who choose between affection and money, film producers that don't really know what they're filming, and weary businessmen who sometimes say screw it, down a shot and leave their mother-in-laws to pay the bill. But most of all, it's about true love that favors noisy kitchen floor over gilded fine-dining halls.
Till Night Do Us Part

14th year old girl Meera is craving for secure love and support. On New Year's Eve she is trying to get rid of constant nightmare biggest secret looming over her young life. Meera is going to party with friends but a normal teenager life is not for her because of long surpressed home sexual abuse.
My Little Nighttime Secret

When two spoiled hipsters embark on the rusty trawler for a summer internship, they get much more than what they bargained for. This shabby boat is the floating home of a dozen weary and irritable sailors, whose only priority is making money and not getting killed in the process. Ice-cold waves, incredibly beautiful but severe seascapes, hard labour and tons of stinking fish is the daily menu. The sea is unpredictable, and the upcoming storm is not the main test that awaits the ship’s crew. Their trip to sea, however, turns out to be more serious and more tragic than either of them could have imagined.
Three Minutes of Silence

A pandemic has ravaged the world outside. Julia and Volodya are a couple that suffers from Coronaphobia by taking the safety measurements far too seriously. After anticipating all the possible scenarios and doing breathing exercises, the couple reluctantly goes out to the street, a place, in Volodya’s own words, “full of COVID bastards”. Armored and hysterically, the couple arrives at an ordinary supermarket. Almost turning against each other, their suspicion is translated into episodes of excessive outrages against the local shoppers who, according to the couple, are painfully and inconsiderably carefree. Their mission seems to be a success until they encounter an unmasked shopper. From then on, things go downhill for the main characters.
And That’s It

Fourteen-year-old Sonya unexpectedly learns that her mother lied to her about her father's death for many years, and forbade him to communicate with her daughters. Unable to forgive such a betrayal, she runs away from home. Mother and older sister Sasha find Sonya at their old dacha, where no one has visited for many years. Three women are forced to finally talk through all the problems, grievances and fears that have been so carefully hushed up for years. This begins the long journey of restoring family ties.
The Edge of the Broken Moon
The story revolves around comrades who discover an unconscious rabbit. Unbeknownst to themselves, the men find themselves in an awkward and humorous situation.
Rabbit. Reputation

Industrial city of Norilsk: factories, cold, chemical air. The only desire of young people living here is to leave, against all odds. A docu-style, emotionally-driven drama about a young girl desperately fighting for an escape which is so blurry, and for love which is so insecure.
The Hope Factory

A short film by the famous Russian director, winner of the Kinotavr Boris Khlebnikov, specially shot for the charity auction Action! 2018.
Polina and Andrey

He's an unemployed guy who earns some money by giving lifts to strangers. She's a graphic designer who just got her first job. The film tracks their relationship - and the way it gradually melts away - throughout a year. A subtle, moving portrait of an immature love that breaks down easily.
Another Year

The entire family of a 6-year-old Anna dies in the mass coordinated execution of Jews. The mother covers up Anna with her own body, and the girl miraculously survives. For the next few hundred days Anna hides in the disused chimney at the Nazi Commandant's office. From her shelter she watches as life passes her by until the village is liberated from the Nazi. In these inhuman conditions Anna not only survives but keeps her humanity. Many factors help her: memories from the life swept away by war, the cultural foundations laid by the parents and a friend who saves her from loneliness.
Anna's War

She lives with the abbreviation CODA (hearing child of deaf parents), but carefully hides the family history from her husband. The girl is afraid to give birth to a deaf child and secretly drinks contraceptives. One day she finds out about the tragic death of her brother and returns to her hometown for a while. The official investigation believes that an accident occurred, but Anna categorically disagrees with the verdict and begins her own investigation. She remembers the mysterious basement where her brother regularly met with a strange man. As a child, Anna did not dare to go into the abandoned house, but now, for the sake of the truth, the girl is ready to look into the eyes of her fear.
Anna's Hands

Director Viktor Schaufler, a student of Marina Razbezhkina's Documentary Film School, comes to Colombia to solve the mystery of the disappearance of his older sister Bertha. The film consists of two seemingly independent parts — "The Mystery of Five hundred missing Virgins" and "Raccoon City".