Illegal
Synopsis
Economic migrant Andrej strikes up a friendship with the much younger Chechen refugee Moya. For a fleeting moment Moya may dream of a normal life. Andrej already knows it's an illusion.
"When you look into the sky you look into the past."
Info
Genre: Drama
Production: UK 2006
Running Time: 12 min
Language: English
Shooting Format: Digital Betacam, Super 8mm
Original Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Sound Mix: Stereo
Awards
Golden Knight (Best Film) — Malta Int Film Festival (Valletta)
Jury Prize (Best Film) — Golden Gate Fiction & Doc Festival (USA)
Special Mention — Short Film Festival of Los Angeles (USA)
Golden Bear — Festival of Nations (Ebensee, Austria)
Grand Goldie Award — Goldie Film Awards (Palatka, USA)
Silver Lei Award — Honolulu Film Festival (USA)
Best Screenplay — Festival du Cinema de Paris (France)
Best Actress — San Francisco Short Film Festival (USA)
Film Festivals
Cinequest (San Jose, USA) — Premiere
LA Shorts Fest (Los Angeles, USA)
Tiburon International Film Festival (USA)
Poppy Jasper Film Festival (Morgan Hill, USA)
Brighton Festival/Final Cut (Great Britain)
Filmstock Festival (Luton, Great Britain)
Portobello Film Festival (London, Great Britain)
Festival du Film de Strasbourg (France)
Reykjavík Shorts & Docs (Iceland)
Cast
Moya — Audrey McCoy
Andrej — Robert Cambrinus
Crew
Writer/Director — Robert Cambrinus
Director of Photography — Ken Kwek
Lighting Cameraman — Martin Doyle
Cameraman (Super 8) — Martin Fickling
Steadicam Operator — Tom English
Camera Assistant — Iago Lopez
Sound Recordist — Craig Rihoy
Boom Operator — Adam Jarvis
Runner — Nathan Gokhool
Make-up — Sylwia Pokrzywka
Production Assistant — Beatrix György
Offline Editor — Nathan Cubitt
Sound Designer — Sandra Portman
Composer — Timara Galassi
Foley Artist — Alex Robinson
Dubbing Mixer — Nick Harris
Online Editor — Tom Cole
Stills — Yury Panikov, Nathan Gokhool
Producer — Robert Stokvis
First Review
Amber Wilkinson's review in Eye For Film 2007
A man in a cafe sparks up a conversation with a girl. It seems they are both illegal immigrants to the UK, Andrej (Robert Cambrinus, who also writes and directs) from the Ukraine, Moya (Audrey McCoy) from Chechnya. We watch as their romance blossoms, but trouble isn't far away.
Cambrinus has an eye for composition. He cleverly focuses on the little things - hands on the cups in the cafe, the protagonists' backs as they walk away from the camera - everything is neatly framed.
In a central interlude he uses Super 8 to good effect, carrying you away with the improptu enthusiasm of film that is up close and personal. Curiously, this segment, which is filmed without dialogue works on a deeper level than those sections that are scripted.
This may be due to the accents. Both are serviceable enough, but Cambrinus (Austrian by birth) is a little too Bond villain and — if I am not much mistaken — I could swear McCoy's Chechnyan affectation bore the traces of an Irish brogue.
Two things stand out. One is a selective use of nudity — most unusual in a short film but employed sympathetically here. The other is the intelligent plot development. It's clear Cambrinus has a lot of potential — though probably more so behind the camera than in front of it
