A sailor working on a ship somewhere in the Russian North is on trial for allegedly murdering a colleague. Turning to his memories, which are indistinguishable from visions, he tries to reconstruct what happened and clarify reality, which is twisted like a fishing net. Maria Ignatenko’s lyrical and utterly cinematic debut was first screened in the Forum program of the 70th Berlin International Film Festival. The Moscow premiere at Garage Screen will be introduced and discussed with the audience by the director.
A trawlerman sailing in northern waters is accused of killing his colleague, a mechanic. Through a series of flashbacks that return the viewer to the accused's past, we see what preceded the alleged crime and, together with the protagonist, we find ourselves in a strange, frozen city, immersed in deep sleep and unable to wake up.
Maria Ignatenko’s debut portrays a world in which all causal relationships are twisted: between past and present, consciousness and being, sleep and wakefulness, crime and punishment. Divided into three poetic chapters, In Deep Sleep weaves a crime story, but dissolves it in extremely cinematic, perfectly audiovisual imagery: icy water, the sea’s surface, winter night, frozen air, tactile coldness, human alienation and loneliness. Their mysterious, irrational nature is like a dream or pure poetry, free from any norms.
In Deep Sleep
Dir. Maria Ignatenko
Russia, 2020. 71’, 16+