Empty Places

Открытие

Five aspiring directors, five short stories about the discovery of cinema. Each short story is an independent story exploring how cinema begins, how it influences us and where the line between the screen and reality lies. The film almanac has the widest range of genres, themes, geography of authors, time of action and even frame format. It can be a short sketch from the set, where the lighting technician suddenly changes places and importance with the most influential auteur director; preparation for the first film screening in Rus'; a conversation between friends immediately after the film; a story of a difficult choice between creative freedom and a career; and finally, a free interpretation of the 1986 film about the life of a simple fisherman from Kaliningrad.

Rose Girl

Having got through a rape, a convent novice tries to find God again.

Весна

The story of a young man Serezha, who long ago moved to Moscow from his small provincial town. He has gotten used to the role of a metropolitan resident, listens to modern music, dresses brightly and feels great. But today Seryozha realized that something had broken inside him, some mysterious illness had appeared, giving no rest, changing his entire habitual life.

Закрытие

"Closing" is a film almanac made up of nine verses. Instead of a rap beat, there is beer, rain, a beach, a zoo, random conversations, and a city that lives its own life. These are not stories with a beginning and an end, but statements written into the rhythm of the festival, where cinema becomes a way to be together and a way to be alone. Any almanac is a film cypher: everyone goes to the microphone, says their piece, and leaves, leaving room for someone else. "Closing" is exactly that: a collection of voices in which you can hear laughter, fatigue, love, and meaninglessness. This is a film about how cinema closes the day and opens the night.

Moss

Nikita lives alone on a summer cottage near a forest. Spending almost all his time there, he builds a special relationship with nature. But the whole idyll is disrupted when Nikita’s father decides to change his ascetic lifestyle and sell the plot.

How I Cheated on God

An elderly hunter meets a woman with cancer who has emerged from the forest. In anticipation of imminent death, feminine nature is exposed in front of masculine, giving rise to the eternal conflict between predator and victim.

Цензурократия

Materialized censorship penetrates reality, encroaching on man and nature. Experimental study of the limits of prohibition.

Your Face is a Landscape

A film-journey through fleeting and tender dreams, shot with a “loving” video camera.

Времена любви

Artem and Tanya are a young couple who separated a few weeks ago. Despite the breakup, they continue to live together in a rented apartment, unable to separate. Despite the chasm of disappointment and misunderstanding that has arisen, strong feelings remain between the couple. Another argument shatters the unbearable circumstances of their protracted separation. However, the question of "how to be together" hangs over the lovers like an unsettling shadow of indecipherability. Trying to answer it, they spend a long night in the confined space of their apartment. Recalling a past they can no longer return and imagining a future that frightens them with its uncertainty, Tanya and Artem wish to grasp the present, where they can live happily together.