The Children of Leningradsky / The Youngest

Since the fall of the Iron Curtain an estimated four million children have found themselves living on the streets in the former countries of the Soviet Union. In the streets of Moscow alone there are over 30,000 surviving in this manner at the present time. The makers of the documentary film concentrated on a community of homeless children living hand to mouth in the Moscow train station Leningradsky. Eight-year-old Sasha, eleven-year-old Kristina, thirteen-year-old Misha and ten-year-old Andrej all dream of living in a communal home. They spend winter nights trying to stay warm by huddling together on hot water pipes and most of their days are spent begging. Andrej has found himself here because of disagreements with his family. Kristina was driven into this way of life by the hatred of her stepmother and twelve-year-old Roma by the regular beatings he received from his constantly drunk father. "When it is worst, we try to make money for food by prostitution," admits thirteen-year-old Artur. The pair of Polish filmmakers in this raw and very effective documentary even succeeded in filming an incident where the police patrol beat one of the street children and smear an entire tube of glue into his hair and onto his face. It is precisely this sniffing of the glue fumes that gives these children the possibility to at least for a little while escape the unforgiving world around them. It is a life of fleeting possibilities and danger. / Talented documentary filmmaker Ditsi Caralin has created another noteworthy film, which allows us to look into the bleak fate of children from the impoverished slums of the largest cities of the Third World. The main character of the film is eleven-year-old Bunso, who is serving time for minor theft in the metropolis of Manila, in the Philippines. Together with Diosel, who is a few months older, and thirteen-year-old Tony they are pressed up against hundreds of adult prisoners in overcrowded cells, many of whom are sentenced for rape, murder or dealing drugs. "Hey, it's raining, finally we can wash ourselves and our clothes," screams Tony in a burst of joy to his friends and together they run to the prison grounds towards the natural shower. If the rain is too heavy, however, it will leak into the prison cell and sleeping on a wet floor is not something that can be done very well. This documentary film provides an authentic picture of the everyday life in the poor conditions of an overcrowded prison as well as in the slums of Manila, where Bunso and his friends come from. The film draws attention to the hopeless situation of children who are locked away in prisons in the Philippines alongside adult criminals. Thanks to the three small heroes, who in the inhuman conditions gradually lose what is left of their childhood innocence, the film offers a number of very powerful moments.