Years active 1993–present Role Director | Name Costa Fam Movies Shoes | |
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Born 13 July 1972 (age 51) ( 1972-07-13 ) Pervomayskiy, Kharkov region, USSR Occupation Film director, screenwriter, producer, editor | ||
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Konstantin Fam aka Costa Fam (rus. Константи́н Фа́м, born July 13, 1972, Pervomayskiy, USSR) is an independent director, producer, screenwriter. His movie "Shoes" produced in the memory of the Holocaust victims is the only Russian short movie applying for the Academy Awards in 2013.
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Early life
He was born in the town of Pervomayskiy in Kharkiv oblast in Ukrainian SSR. His father, Nguen Kong Tak, is a Vietnamese political immigrant, who was sent personally by Ho Chi Minh to study in the Soviet Union. Members of the father's family are the heroes of the Vietnam War. Father himself has spent more than 10 years in resistance guerrilla group. During his studies as an engineer he was drafted to the war. He took it as disrespect to his merits and sought for the political asylum in the Soviet Union, thus he was not allowed to live in big cities. The family was under the KGB supervision so that any movement required special permission. His mother, Svetlana Naumovna Malkina, was Jewish. The majority of maternal relatives died in the Holocaust. His father's relatives were killed during the Vietnam War. Mother had been hiding her Jewishness for the whole life. Parents' stories has influenced Costa's creative world outlook.
Costa has lived in the town of Pervomayskiy up to his 15 then entered the Dnipropetrovsk State Theatre School, for the Puppetry Arts. According to the director, he dreamed of acting classes, while the dolls were considered to be nonprestigious, but years later Fam admit that this specialty has provided him with the extensive experience in the music construction, staging, as well as in the ability to animate inanimate objects. Subsequently, this experience was useful when shooting "Shoes".
Early сareer
After graduation, he moved to Tbilisi for working in the theater. After military conflict outbreak in Georgia in 1991, he moved to Chernihiv, where he worked as an actor in a local theater. However, roles offered to Constantine were often based on his Asian appearance that didn't match his ambitions. In 1992, he moved to Moscow and started working on television projects in various roles. In 1997, at the fourth attempt he entered Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK), the Course of Screenwriting headed by the great Valentin Yezhov. After two years studying he decided to leave it and concentrate on business development. He started studying film equipment rental, as well as filming TV commercials, advertisements, music videos and image movies. In 1998, he was a writer of children's comic film magazine "Yeralash", as well as a director. In the 2000s ran a large cinemachinery leasing business also shooting television commercials. During this period, Constantine acted in various production roles, ranging from small roles to producing and directing. The company was closed due to 2008 crisis. Constantine had a dream to earn the necessary amount of money, to shoot a comedy based on his own scenario and start working on his own projects.
Creative period
From the sixteen, Costa has been forming the list of projects he would like to implement. In 2008, he became the second director and screenwriter of the comedy club, Women's League, having worked for two seasons. After this, Constantine acted as a director of 10 episodes sketch show "Caution: Children!" In the same period, the screenplay for the movie "Insulin" was written, then bought by Alexei A. Petrukhin and claimed as a feature film, "Soldier". His love to the sketches Constantine refers to the manifestation of his national identity. Willing to develop himself as a filmmaker, he entered the NYFA, took all of the film production courses.
«Hedgehog»
Education ended with 13-week production period, during which a short film based on the story of Grigori Gorin was shot. In the center of the story there is a boy, who changed a winning lottery ticket on the Hedgehog. Boy's father was trying to return the ticket by all means. The story gained the festival success, and then has been invited to many showings. It won the Grand Prix Festival in São Paulo in Brazil. The movie was taken to the Short Film Corner program in Cannes.
"Shoes"
During the filming Costa has spent four months in Europe. SHOES traces the personal history of a Jewish girl from the point of view of a pair of red shoes. Starting from the shop window where the shoes were purchased and ending at a mountain of discarded shoes of the victims, the viewer witnesses the effects of the tragedy of fascism. The film is the winner of many awards and film festivals, it is invited to the Visual Centre Yad Vashem (Israel), along with the outstanding films about the Holocaust made by Spielberg, Polanski, Benigni. During the 8th International Video Festival Empire (Italy) the film awarded the Gran Prix Silver reel of film as one of the most important in cultural and education spheres. This festival is held under the patronage of UNESCO and listed the 13 most important festivals in the world that support the cultural heritage and education. The festival presents 721 works from 52 countries. Recently Shoes has been qualified for 2013 Academy Award consideration..
The trilogy "Witnesses"
The film "Shoes" is the first novel of the trilogy "Witnesses". "Witnesses" is the first feature film in former Soviet Union produced in memory of the Holocaust victims. Witnesses is the historical drama that consists of three short films Shoes, Brutus and Violin united by the idea to be produced in memory of the greatest tragedy of the 20th century. The project is being elaborated in the memory of the perished people because there is hardly a single Jewish family that didn’t lose their loved ones on the run of the mass destruction in the 20th-century catastrophe. The key purpose of the project is to spread the knowledge about the history and to remind the young generation of the tragedy in order to prevent it in the future.