OVER THE LIMIT

An intimate portrait of the world’s most outstanding rhythmic gymnast Margarita Mamun, the main representative of the prestigious Russian National Team. The film presents a groundbreaking year in her life, from the 2015 World Championships to the 2016 Olympic Games. The gymnast has the chance of a lifetime to become an Olympic champion, competing with the best friend from her club, Yana Kudryavtseva.

 

Owing to coach Irina Viner, rhythmic gymnastics in Russia is much more than just a sport discipline. It is a hermetic world and a source of great fame for gymnasts. The story about Margarita Mamun acts as a parable of the training system created by Irina Viner. What does it mean to live constantly under the pressure of expectations? Over the Limit is a film about a struggle for dreams and the solitude of a distinguished individual.

MARTA PRUS

 

Graduated from the Direction Department at the Łódź Film School and a Documentary Programme at the Wajda School. Two of her documentaries, Vakha and Magomed (2010) and Eighteenth Birthday (2012), won several awards at the international festivals. Together with Telemark, she created the series Teen Mom Poland (2014). Her debut feature documentary Talk to Me (2015) received several awards. She was also presented with the Wiesław Nowicki Prize for the most promising young filmmaker.

• IDFA, The Netherlands 2017

• Docpoint Helsinki, Finland 2018
• Trieste FF, Italy 2018
• FIPA Biarritz, France 2018
• Göteborg Film Festival, Sweden 2018
• 8th LuxFilmFest, Luxemburg 2018
• ZagrebDOX, Croatia 2018
• One World IHR Documentary FF, Czech Republic 2018

I became interested in rhythmic gymnastics because I practised this sport for seven years, which was a mythical and formative experence. Now it makes a part of me. I always knew one of my films would touch upon this subject. With my thorough knowledge of what an athlete’s life looks like, a story focused only on a person would not satisfy my expectations. I was not interested in making a sports movie. I was looking for something more: a metaphor for humanistic issues. I thought I’d find these values in the Russian rhythmic gymnastics team, the most prestigious, admired, and mysterious club in the world. It is a unique nationwide phenomenon: the hermetic system that produces world famous stars.

DOKer 2018 — Main Competition