Nominees for Best Russian Film 2020
AND SO HE OPEN HIS EYES
Director: Sergey Vasiliev
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 12:00
Synopsis: A small swindler after an unsuccessful coincidence finds himself in the afterlife court as a defendant. The judge is a man, who he literally to death annoy during his lifetime.
The Monk
Director: Dan Grin
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 19:38
Synopsis: Ekaterina and her husband arrive at the dwelling of a young healer, hoping for a miracle. As she steps into the room, he recognises his lost love. Now they must confront their past.
Dark like the night. Karenina-2019.
Director: Radda Novikova
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 08:22
Synopsis: Love and betrayal, faith and treason – nothing has changed in our world since ‘Anna Karenina’ by Leo Tolstoy came out. The question is, will a modern character be willing to become a victim of circumstances and the public opinion or will she be struggling for her life? Alexander Tsypkin, an author and script-writer, has his own view of Anna Karenina of modern times, and producer Radda Novikova has created a gloomy but very beautiful world where everybody gets his/her whack of it, the gossip media and so-called friends, the powers that be and the cynical heartthrobs.
PRASKOVYA
Director: Alexander Solovyov
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 05:17
Synopsis: Praskovya continues working in the Bank despite hunger in the freezing siege of Leningrad. Her husband went to war. The only thing he left is the ink pot. This gift is the onlyitem which makes Praskovya feel warm. In the most critical moment when no hopes or energy is left only the ink pot acts as a twist of destiny.
THE ATTEMPT №4
Director: Konstantin Reich
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 20:00
Synopsis: The short film “THE ATTEMPT №4” is a bright comedy of intrigue. With a sudden plot and paradoxical intrigue. The script is based on the play that won the Grand Prix of the International Playwrights Competition “Eurasia-2017”. Egor meets Marina at the bus station. She is visibly older, more experienced and, for some reason, immediately invites the guy to her house. A romantic date is promising some intimacy… But things don’t go as planned from the very doorstep! The denouement of this strange evening will be rapid and sudden for both, the pick-up artist and the viewers. No Egor will be harmed in the end.
SPARE
Director: Vitaly Shepelev
Screenwriter: Arnaud Gabriel
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 12:22
Synopsis: A three of glamorous characters, trying to get to a fashion show on time, is calling a taxicab with an autopilot navigation. The smart system is choosing the route away from the dangerous districts with criminal gangs. But there is a temptation to make the route shorter, and so the antagonists are in a tight corner: the wind screen is going to break under a head of metal bar and aggressive ragamuffins. What should they do, where to go and whom to call for help? Fortunately, the transport company provides a “spare.”
The Loved Ones
Director: Oleg Vitvitski
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 21:27
Synopsis: Yekaterina is organizing her mother’s funeral while the rest relatives try to divide possessions of the deceased as soon as possible. Each of them pursues their personal goals but circumstances take a sudden turn.
The Monk
Director: Dan Grin
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 19:38
Synopsis: Ekaterina and her husband arrive at the dwelling of a young healer, hoping for a miracle. As she steps into the room, he recognises his lost love. Now they must confront their past.
Eurydice
Director: Nina Moiseeva
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 12:05
Synopsis: Single mother has a child with a serious illness. Their life is an endless line of doctors, medications and worries that almost end in a breakdown. The woman believes that she can magically save her daughter with control and strict discipline, while the girl fights desperately for her freedom and youth.
The Harakiri
Director: Roman Blatman
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 18:00
Synopsis: A young frustrated poet moves into an old communal apartment in Saint Petersburg. Incompetence leads him to the constant contemplation of a suicide and anticipation of a post-mortem fame. However, apartment he’s settled in is not suitable for meeting one’s end because of the lack of hot water. Disconnected long time ago, absence of hot water doesn’t bother the apartament tenants since they’re too afraid of a mysthical ‘Babay’ (Boogeyman) allegedly killing everyone who dares to fix it. Our protagonist refuses to accept these terms and challenges Babay (Boogeyman) confonting him in his own room. The young poet could’ve given up if not for a beautiful neighbor he falls in love with. Because of her he now has to become a warrior and fight a real war against an illusory enemy.
Meatgrinder
Director: Vladislav Bakhanovich
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 20:00
Synopsis: Eighth-grader Dima starts a new life. A beautiful girlfriend, grown-up friends, night parties – everything he dreamed about is already starting to come true. It only remains for him to win the fight without rules in the tournament “Meat Grinder” and for this he will have to make a truly adult choice.
I’M VICTOR
Director: Inna Tsgoeva
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 10:53
Synopsis: Victor is alone here. He looks back at his life in order to figure out why he is here. Silence interrupted by the lonely voice of a man pronouncing his own name.
He can’t live without cosmos
Director: Konstantin Bronzit
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 16:00
Synopsis: This story is about mother and son. It is also about love and destiny.
People doing moves
Director: Таэт Vremya art group
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 08:39
Synopsis: The movement of everyday life is often so familiar to us that we barely consciously perceive it. Our work is the attempt to make the seemingly-familiar movements unfamiliar (and vice versa) through repetition and alienation with the question: „Who actually controls whom?“
The Mini-Move research deals what an individual body can do. The intention is to recognize movements that have relevance to its body. For a short moment individual or social sculptures can emerge in space.
CONTACT
Director: Lamara Sogomonyan
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 02:58
Synopsis: #contact
Upcycle
Director: Evgenia Zaitseva, Stanislav Phalkov
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 17:07
Synopsis: The upcycle project is part of a huge collaboration with stylists, musicians and models. An experiment with a form in which you can come up with amazing results. The objectives of recycling are to draw public attention to environmental issues, reduce waste and foster a culture of responsible consumption.
Daddy hockey
Director: Pasha Timofeev
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 02:03
Synopsis: If I knew how precious these moments would become, I’d catch every word you say, DAD!
Fag-end
Director: Allana Chumachenko
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 08:55
Synopsis: A young architect, struggling with disturbing dreams, performs a routine ritual, appearing every day at work, developing a project for a large company. Every day, over and over again, he begins to notice that the features of his own face, his voice, his laughter, the lines that his hand draws itself sometimes out of his control. All this reminds him of some other person, a person who is familiar to him from the childhood, but whom he has never met.
Guillotine
Director: Oleg Rakovich
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 07:40
Synopsis: There are always those who are willing to cut off the main part… In 1989, a 16 mm film was shot. Never these shots were not shown. Then the song People was written. Almost 30 years later they met.
Dark like the night. Karenina-2019.
Director: Radda Novikova
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 08:22
Synopsis: Love and betrayal, faith and treason – nothing has changed in our world since ‘Anna Karenina’ by Leo Tolstoy came out. The question is, will a modern character be willing to become a victim of circumstances and the public opinion or will she be struggling for her life? Alexander Tsypkin, an author and script-writer, has his own view of Anna Karenina of modern times, and producer Radda Novikova has created a gloomy but very beautiful world where everybody gets his/her whack of it, the gossip media and so-called friends, the powers that be and the cynical heartthrobs.
NAIK BORZOV – REACTION TO THE SUN
Director: Artyom Ignatyev
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 05:08
Synopsis: This music video is a symbol of inner tension, tension that transforms into a breakout. This story is showed in a simple domestic language, using the visual symbols of society, where domestic violence, or child abuse is not only possible but very popular, even though it is not today’s hot topic. Nowadays you may say, that this violence is partly legalized, because we refer those crimes as administrative and not penal. Common image of the sun (father in this video) that gave life to a young girl, destroys her life. It can be anything that we depend on, that every person depends on individually.
Sansara – Miami
Director: Ivan Sosnin
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 05:30
Synopsis: This video is about a dream of a young boy. Regardless of extending circumstances, you have to go to your dream. After all, it is not necessary to live in a hot country to surf. In the story, the main character who dreams of surfing quarrels with his mother and leaves home with his surfboard. It’s winter outside. He walks through the snow in an industrial Russia city. In his thoughts, he replaces reality with pictures of sunny Miami. Finally he comes to the coast of the Arctic Ocean and fulfills his dream.
Dolphin – J2000.0
Director: Ivan Sosnin
Country: Russian Federation
Duration: 04:33
Synopsis: It is a story about love, which left so little in our world. To revive it, humanity needs the help of an extraterrestrial civilization. Alien artefacts in the form of space-shaped jewelry are able to return to Earth the sincerity and love described in the song.