A screening of Olga Abramchik’s directorial debut, The Coach, is the special event from Current Time at this year’s festival.

This is a story of Oleg Kirilov, who coaches an unusual team: an intuitive soccer team. Unbelievable, but his team members are participants of the Belarusian national team for the blind. Each of them ended up on the field for different reasons, but today they face a common task – to uphold their status as the champions of the national competition. Kirilov himself grew up in a family of disabled people, so he knows exactly how to communicate with the team members. He is not only a mentor, but also a friend for each of the athletes. Sound design is a crucial component of this film. It completely reproduces the natural sound environment of the players, where they focus on the noise from the ball and the coach’s clear instructions.

Current Time is an independent Russian speaking online platform. For second year in a row, they will also award a special prize at the festival to one of the films nominated for the Rights Now! award. The Current Time prize is $3,000 and aims to support unique filmmaking talent whose film inspires change.

Credit photo: A still from The Coach by Olga Abramchik