Wodka: Nationalprodukt Nr.1

During the Soviet era, there were over 30,000 Lenin monuments in the USSR. They were recommended to be erected in certain places where Ilyich could “see” how his precepts were being fulfilled. In turn, Lenin’s presence had a beneficial effect on the surrounding area. Temporary portals of sorts appeared near the monuments, leading to the communist future: flowerbeds were laid out, flags were placed, blue spruces were planted. What does Lenin see today? And what do these “islands of the future” look like now? How do the descendants of the builders of communism feel about Lenin? A film of 10 short stories, filmed in different parts of Russia.

The film is based on the story of the Oval Sarcophagus with Dionysian scenes from the antique collection of the Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin. At various times, the owners of the sarcophagus were the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus, the Italian Cardinal Marco Sittico Altemps, and finally, the Minister of Public Education of Russia, Count Sergei Uvarov, who purchased the sarcophagus for his "museum" in the Porechye estate near Moscow. The history of the sarcophagus is an occasion to reflect on the connection between epochs and cultures, the vicissitudes of fate, the mystery of life and death. Filming was carried out in various museums in Moscow, Rome, in the Porechye estate and the Hermitage.