Marianna Yarovskaya, Olesya Bondareva

Holy Warriors

Director	Marianna Yarovskaya, Olesya Bondareva
Country of production:	USA / Russia
Year of production:	2006
Duration:	33 min
Producer:	Marianna Yarovskaya, Olesya Bondareva
Executive producer:	Marianna Yarovskaya
Editing:	Erik King Smith, Tchavdar Georgiev
Director of photography:	Sarah Levy
Sound:	Lorna Kirk, Marianna Yarovskaya

Film plot

Holy Warriors chronicles the spiritual upheaval brought about by war on those involved, offering profound insight into the resilience of the human spirit during trying times. It demonstrates the traumatic effect of enlisting unwilling soldiers in wartime, while raising the pertinent question of the links between war and religion, through these direct manifestations of fear and hate, love and faith in modern-day society. "There are no atheists in a foxhole," as one of the characters puts it.

The Characters

The Priest
Lt.-Col. Father Nicolas, Ret.
Father Nicolas, AKA Lt.-Col. Kravchenko, is a former sniper who fought in four wars, from Afghanistan to Tajikistan to two Chechen wars, and in numerous "war conflicts." After experiencing clinical death, he realized that "there are no atheists in the foxhole." He says, "atheism ends where questions of life and death begin."

The Muslim
Sergei "The Muslim" Birk, trained Mojahideen in Afghanistan in 2001.
Sergei "The Muslim" Birk had a religious experience while fighting in Karabakh. He met a mullah in a destroyed village and after speaking with him for many hours realized that the answers to all major life questions can be found in the Koran. Sergei fought in many wars, including going to Afghanistan in 2001 as a volunteer, "after the Russians got out and before the Americans got there." He insists he is not a mercenary, that he did not fight for money. Being a sniper for him is his nature. He calls himself a beast, a predator.

The Shaman
Maj. Alexander "The Shaman" Tarabanovsky, Ret.
Hero of Russia nominee.
Alexander Tarabanovsky, nicknamed "The Shaman" by his military comrades, was the commander of a platoon and because of the shamanism, because of his spirits, he says no one in his platoon died: "I don't think it was because of my skill, he says. "I think it was because of the amulets that I had. Nobody died who had amulets." Tarabanovsky is now a bouncer in a local bowling alley in the city of Krasnodar. In 2001, he was nominated for the Hero of Russia title by President Putin.

The Muslim Spy
Zhanna Ismailova, AKA "Jamal Ismail."
Soviet Spy in Afghanistan for 13 years.
Zhanna Ismailova is an orphan from Tajikistan, former Soviet Republic. She grew up in a Russian orphanage and was sent to the military academy when she was a teenager. Later on, she spent years in Afghanistan as a spy. "I had to kill," she says. "It was only scary the first time. But you have to shoot first if you don't want to be killed." She now lives in the south of Russia with her grandchildren.

The Saint
Pvt. Rodionov
Soldier, Martyr, Popular Hero
Pvt. Sergei Rodionov was captured by the Chechen fighters in the 90's and killed for allegedly refusing to renounce his Christian religion. He was canonized by the Russian church shortly afterwards. His mother, a member of the communist party for 20-some years, is trying to reconcile with the fact that her son is now a martyr and a saint.

Awards

Student Academy Award, USA 2001 
College Emmy Award, USA 2000 
Kodak Emerging Filmmakers Showcase, 53rd Cannes International Film Festival, 2000 
Student International Documentary Association Award Nomination, 1999

 

In 1998 Marianna Yarovskaya directed and produced Undesirables, a documentary following the lives of four young runaways in different areas of Russia. The film won the Student Academy Award and second place in the Academy of Television Arts and Science's annual college competition (Student Emmy). Undesirables was also featured at the 53rd Cannes International Film Festival as part of the Kodak Emerging Filmmakers Showcase. In 2007 she completed another documentary, Holy Warriors, which has screened in festivals internationally.

Marianna Yarovskaya's experience has brought her around the world - from Russian State television to the NASA Ames Research Center and History and Discovery Channels in the United States. She has worked as a video producer for the NASA Ames Research Center in the San Francisco Bay Area and as a Senior Editor for Greenpeace USA in Washington, D.C. In 2006 she was head of research on AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, which won an Academy Award.

Yarovskaya received her MA in Journalism from Moscow State University in Russia and her Masters of Fine Arts in Film Production from the School of Cinema-Television at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Filmography

2006: Holy Warriors ( Writer/Producer/Director)
2000: Undesirables (Writer/Producer/Director)