AOI YAMADA

Venus Transit is a rare astronomical phenomenon, when Venus obscures the edge of the solar disk, and almost seems to touch the Sun. She meets Him to leave for a new life.

A monochromatic drama portraying the youth in Moscow. These individuals arrange concerts in deserted structures, host clandestine boxing matches, venture into nature, and remain uncertain about how this summer will conclude amidst the backdrop of war.

Twenty-three-year-old Vitaly Akimov portrays his family in the shrinking Russian provincial town of Arsenyev. Ten-year-old Stepan, his brother’s stepson, acts as a guide to this grim environment, appropriately filmed in black and white. He strums his guitar, fetches water, or plays kindly with his little half-brother. He also witnesses another side of life. Slightly embarrassed, he gingerly walks around his stepfather sleeping off the drink, soaked his own urine on the kitchen floor. Stepan talks cheerfully about the horrific events of his life, or shares his deeper thoughts.