Synopsis

Lola is a lonely fourteen-year-old girl who has grown up with traveling performers. She and her mother, Carmen, perform a trapeze act together. When the Fortunato Circus Troupe, with whom she wanders from city to city and country to country, stops at an animal fair, Lola is entranced by a bear cub alone in a cage. The animal was left to die when its mother was killed by a hunter in the Siberian taiga. Lola begs her stepfather to buy it for her. From then on, she concentrates all her affection on her bear cub, which she names Misha, and discovers that her attachment to the animal can become as strong as the love she could devote to a man. Indeed, one morning upon waking, she'll discover the power of this strange relationship.

Cast

Lola: Rebecka Liljeberg
Groppo: Joachim Krol
Misha: Sergueï Bodrov
Jr. Lou: Keith Allen
Marco: Maurizio Donadoni
Margarita: Anne-Marie Pisani
Anna: Marcela Musso
Carmen: Ariadna Gil
Alberto: Silvio Orlando
The bears: Seryozha, Ilya, Gosha, Vorchun

Crew

Director: Sergueï Bodrov
Screenplay: Sergueï Bodrov, Carolyn Cavallero
Director of photography: Xavier Perez Grobet (AMC)
Editing: Mette Zeruneith
Sets: Bernd Lepel Music: Sig, Giya Kancheli
Sound engineer: Sigurdur Sigurdsson
Artistic directors: Yosune Lasa, Gregor Mager, Elena Zhukova, Maria Haard
Costumes: Karin Lohr
Bear trainer: Yuri Alexandrov
Producers: Karl Baumgartner, Sergueï Bodrov, Christoph Friedel
Co-Producers: Fabienne Vonier, Gerardo Herrero, Mariela Besuievsky, Lars Jönsson, Enzo Porcelli, Tomas Eskilsson, Sergueï Selyanov
Line producers: Wouter Barendrecht, Michael J. Werner
Executive producer: Claudia Steffen

Production information

Produced by: Pandora Film (Germany)
Co-produced by: Pyramide Productions (France), Tornasol Films (Spain), Alia Films (Italy)

Technical information

Germany - Spain - France - Italy
Year of production : 2002
Length : 101 mn

Festivals and awards

Official Selection Venice Film Festival 2002 - Competition

Links

Press Kit