The first documentary series about a sports team was released in Kazakhstan. We tell you what you need to know about it.
5 reasons to watch the series about the club Barys
The first documentary series about a sports team was released in Kazakhstan. We tell you what you need to know about it.
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Vertical is a documentary series about the history, victories and defeats of the Kazakh hockey club Barys. Its premiere took place on November 26, the day of the club's 22nd anniversary. The director and scriptwriter was Dmitry Bogomolov, who previously worked on the film Financier. Flying game.
We asked Dmitry to tell about the features of the series that make it relevant and unique for viewers.
Vertical is the first documentary series about sports in Kazakhstan
Despite the fact that quite a lot of films about sports have been shot in Kazakhstani cinema lately, Vertical has become the first documentary series on this topic.
“How to create a professional club of the international level KHL in the country from the players of the Major League level? Approximately the same as moving from socialism to capitalism, ”Dmitry Bogomolov.
According to the director, few people in the country know what trials the club went through in order to take place in international hockey. “In the 90s, hockey in Kazakhstan was going through hard times. Almost all professional personnel who brought results at the international level left the country: players, coaches, management. Their experience did not pass on, did not remain inside the country. In order to move everything off the ground and raise new Kazakh stars, they came up with the Barys club. However, due to the withered infrastructure and staff shortage, the idea turned into a real test.
To the question of how such a series popularizes sports among society, Dmitry answers the following: “If the plot of a sports series is poorly stated, it will have a negative effect, if it is good, it will be favorable. For example, in Russia, the Molodezhka series contributed to a twofold increase in children's interest in hockey.”
source: frame from the series
Thanks to the light and at the same time dramatic development of the plot, the film holds the attention of not only the fans of the club, but also those who have never been interested in this sport before.
“The main goal of the project is to expand the fan base of the team, to tell about Barys to those who are not yet involved in hockey. I myself was not interested in him, but, immersed in the history of the team, I became a real fan and lover of hockey. I wanted people to experience the same emotions too.”
source: frame from the series
As Dmitry notes, the main feature of Barys is unpredictability, which makes the team very cinematic and interesting to watch.
“Barys is an underdog.He is always unpredictable for the opponent. Despite a modest budget by the standards of the league, he can smash any cup team to smithereens, but he can also lose to an outsider. The uniqueness of Barys is also that the team changed coaches almost every season and it was interesting to show how this affects the character of the team. I wanted to show the logic of making certain decisions under the pressure of negative and positive circumstances. In general, this is a bright country project that makes Kazakhstan better.”
A team of 25 people worked on the documentary series, 15 of which were involved during filming and 10 in post-production. Despite all the restrictions, the most difficult thing for the team was to build the story, as every season the players change.
“The filming process took almost a month, as everything was done during the period of quarantine restrictions. We experienced difficulties with the filming schedule. There was a limitation both in filming and in access to the players, no one was supposed to get sick. We were walking on thin ice,” Dmitry recalls.
The series contains only six episodes. Each episode unfolds the story of two or three seasons of the club.
“We had big problems with the archive, there was nowhere to get it in Kazakhstan. However, thanks to the leadership of the KHL, a unique archive was handed over to us and the process began. In one season, KHL about 60 matches. It was necessary to shovel almost 20 years of history – about 12 seasons of Barys, and this is dozens of terabytes of hockey matches. Many in the team did not sleep well because of this. Hockey began to dream of us at night.
source: frame from the series
Summarizing the impressions of the filming process, Dmitry notes that he remembers the atmosphere at the arena and the hockey community the most: “This is a very friendly family that loves its club no matter what. And, of course, the players: BBD, Zhailauov, Dits, Starchenko, Pushkarev, Asetov, Ryspaev, Mikhailis, Panyukov, Akolzin, Dellman and many others. All these guys are great examples for the youth.”
The series is available for viewing in the online cinema IVI