“Unknown Tolochinshchina” received an award at the author film festival
The main idea is to show the difficult fate of the Tolochin land and its inhabitants. All the facts presented in the film were thoroughly studied and verified by the researcher and director. This work has already received an award at the festival of author's films in Vileyka, earned high praise from critics and local audiences, and its screening became a significant event in the cultural life of Tolochinshchina.
– This is, of course, not the Cannes Film Festival, but recognition at the national level is very valuable,– says the director.
Dmitry Ivchenko, a native and resident of the district center, is not used to boasting about his achievements, but he gladly talks about how "the cinema began".
– I have been interested in history and local lore since I was a schoolboy,– recalls Dmitry Alexandrovich. – I dreamed of becoming an archaeologist, but my parents insisted that I get a vocational specialty. Therefore, I trained as a radio equipment adjuster. After serving in the army, I worked in a TV repair shop, then got a job as an electrical mechanic on the railway.
12 years ago, I came across an article by a BSU professor who was organizing an expedition to Siberia. So I came to Minsk and asked to join. A whole month in the taiga, on the bank of the Yenisei, in wild conditions, excavating – this is what I had long dreamed of. By then, I already had an amateur video camera, so I filmed and edited all the most interesting moments. It turned out to be a rather fascinating film, which was first seen by the expedition members, and then by the people of Tolochin. Since then, my passion for video and photography, and directing, has not faded.
I could not have imagined that in 2009 I would be invited to one of the oldest film studios in the country, the only one in the Vitebsk region with the title of "People's" – "Letopis" at the Tolochin Cultural Center.
Dmitry Ivchenko works there
as a director concurrently, without leaving the profession of an electromechanic. The plots for the films, and Dmitry Alexandrovich already has more than two dozen of them, he chooses himself. The local historian also has his own website – "Photo Encyclopedia of Belarus," which is visited by more than 600 people per day. It contains photo materials with descriptions of attractions and interesting places in the cities and villages of our country. Dmitry has visited all, without exception, district centers of Belarus, large settlements, but dreams of visiting the most remote, "orphaned" settlements.In other words, there are still many topics for new works. And the desire to create and leave a legacy for future generations is enormous.
Olga LEBEDEVA, photos by the author. "Vitebskiye Vesti".