WORLD PREMIERE OF THE VENTANA CO-PRODUCTION AT THE INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL AMSTERDAM (IDFA) 2017.
A rhythmic gymnastics routine lasts about one and a half minutes. 90 seconds of elegance, weightlessness, grace, smiles, music. For these 90 seconds, the athletes have been training for more than 30 hours a week since pre-school age. And they do it hard.
"Over the Limit" is an intimate portrait of 19-year-old Margarita Mamun. The Russian world champion is one of the best in the sport and trains in the most successful team in the world. Her biggest competitor is her best friend - and her coach is Irina Viner, an icon of rhythmic gymnastics and wife of one of the richest men in the world, Gazprom oligarch Alisher Usmanov.
At the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Margarita Mamun crowned her career with a gold medal - then started a new life away from competitive sport.
Polish filmmaker Marta Prus accompanied Margarita Mamun for a year until the end of 2016. Her documentary - a co-production of Ventana-Film, Telemark Warsaw and Mika Kaurismäki's Marianna Films with ARTE G.E.I.E., YLE and the Polish Film Institute - captures the inner world of teenagers and competitive athletes that has been closed to the outside world until now. The film celebrated its world premiere at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) 2017.