“We want to reveal Mustafa Dzhemilev’s human side”

The Big Idea Internet crowd funding platform is working on a new project, the creation of a feature-length documentary that would tell the life story of Mustafa Dzhemilev, the leader of the Crimean Tatar people. The            project has been initiated by a team of community activists and directors, its backbone being co-founder and coordinator of the civic initiative CrimeaSOS Tamila Tasheva; international human rights expert, the director and producer of documentary Crimea Unveiled Olha Morkova, and sound producer Yukhym Chupakhin. The directors aim to make Mustafa not just a film about the great dissident and politician, but a portrait of Dzhemilev as a person. It will deal with the Crimean Tatar issue as well as history of the Soviet system and the period starting with independence of Ukraine and ending with Russia’s annexation of Crimea... However, the main focus will be on Dzhemilev’s figure.

As Tasheva told The Day, the idea of the film had been with the team for a long time. “We realized in May 2014 that we wanted to shoot a feature-length documentary with some feature film elements,” the producer of Mustafa said. “The idea went through several transformations, since shooting a film about a person of this caliber is a great responsibility, and on the other hand, it demands great diligence of the filmmaking team. We discussed the idea of the project with Dzhemilev himself in June, and he very much wants this film to happen. It will be the first feature-length documentary about the Crimean Tatar leader, as there were only short films and series before. We will not get hung up on purely biographical moments, as we want to reveal primarily Dzhemilev’s human side, with his weaknesses and great deeds. It is interesting not just to tell about his imprisonment or how many days he was on hunger strikes, but to show his emotions, to reveal the conditions of his life.”

The filmmaking team has already been gathered and a six-hour interview with Dzhemilev was held. In addition to talking to the Crimean Tatar leader, the artists plan to record video interviews with dissidents who joined Dzhemilev’s fight against the Soviet state machine for the Crimean Tatars’ right of return to Ukraine. Interviews with dissidents will be the responsibility of Vakhtang Kipiani, who volunteered to do this bit. “Kipiani is working with archives. However, the trouble is that many of these documents are classified, while many materials have to be bought. We also have a few more people on the team, a journalist and a director, whose names we are keeping secret so far, and one of them is from Crimea,” Tasheva told us.

The active phase of filming will start in February or March 2015, to last about a year. In the meantime, everyone is welcome to fund the initial stage of the project. By the way, donors will be rewarded with gifts, those who will give 50 hryvnias as well as those with 20,000 hryvnias contributions. Two top contributors have been promised a coffee talk with Dzhemilev. Out of the stated requirement of 300,000 hryvnias, the Big Idea crowd funding platform has already raised about 18,000. ‘It is important for both the Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians to take part in creating the film Mustafa, for the public to do its bit in financing the project,” the producer commented. “In addition, the team is negotiating with various international institutions, including human rights ones, and sponsors, including members of the Turkish Diaspora.”

The film Mustafa will be made in different countries and locations. Besides Ukraine, the filming locations should include Japan, the UK, the US, Uzbekistan, and Russia. Also, the team plans to shoot some episodes in Crimea, but they have not decided yet on the best way to do it. According to the documentary’s makers, they want to make a film that would be interesting to a wider audience and allow our generation to draw lessons from Dzhemilev’s actions, helping us to fight authoritarian regimes today.

The premiere is scheduled to be held as soon as the end of 2015.