Vera Pirogova (Germany)

Bio

Vera Pirogova is a Berlin-based Russian film director and scriptwriter with a Master’s in Film from Tallinn University. Her last short film Sour Milk (Emapiim) (2023) received awards at the Tallinn Black Nights and Mumbai International Film Festivals. She is currently developing her first feature film, set in Narva, which explores the lives and desires of women in their 50s and 60s. She works across fiction, documentary, and experimental films, focusing on themes such as women’s health issues, generational relationships, identity, and family against the backdrop of historical catastrophes. In addition to filmmaking, Vera teaches film and photography to displaced Ukrainian teenagers as part of the KiNO initiative.

Project

Between 20% and 80% of women around the age of 50 have experienced gynecological health issues. Yet these topics often remained unspoken — not only in society but even within families — due to their intimate and taboo nature.

“During the residency, I created the verbatim performance «Everything Below the Waist» with four local non-professional actresses telling the stories of four women from Narva about their experience with women’s health. This performance was part of a larger documentary project I work on. The participants shared personal stories about women’s illnesses, skepticism toward conventional medicine, and the inner strength they relied on to heal. Many interviews included unpleasant experiences within the medical system — a system that, in many cases, had inherited the harshness and emotional neglect characteristic of Soviet-era healthcare.

During Artist Day, a verbatim performance was presented. Actresses used the headphone verbatim technique, allowing the interviewees to remain anonymous while sharing deeply personal experiences and bringing attention to health issues that too often remain hidden behind a curtain of privacy. After the performance I open the discussion with audiensce about the diseases, and many from the audience shared us that they also have a stories related to women health.

Additionally, during the residency I shot a trailer for my next feature film “Svetlana”.”