Elizaveta Meledina

The film crew of the TV program “Earth and Sky” arrives in the village of Nizhny Arkhyz, home to an astrophysical observatory, to prepare a report on a scientific conference. Their work is complicated by conflicts within the team, the host’s inexperience, and the fact that the events unexpectedly take on personal significance for him, shifting the focus of the shoot.

In late 18th-century Russia, village life is shaped by a fusion of rural superstitions, pagan beliefs and traces of Orthodox Christianity. Twin girls are violently separated when one is believed to be possessed, accused of draining the vitality of her sister. Meanwhile, a young man, branded a freak and outcast, obsessively constructs mechanical wings in a desperate attempt to fly like Icarus. Overseeing this turbulent world are Europeanised feudal lords who maintain brutal, cynical control over the peasants, exacerbating class tensions.