Made in Russia 1: Premiere and Q&A

18:00–19:30Garage Auditorium

Pedophile

A night guard watches a group of teenagers on CCTV. He catches one of them, a girl of 13, and suggests that they wait for the boss together to avoid calling the police. The minimalist and austere thriller by Vera Pirogova uncovers the mechanics of psychological manipulation.

Pedophile
Director: Vera Pirogova
Russia, 2020. 21 min. 18+

Left One

Olga is a music teacher in a secondary school and leads a quiet life. One day a man she once loved is brought to her place wounded. The encounter forces her to embark on a dangerous journey into the world of secret headquarters, underground publishers, and illegal doctors.

Left One
Director: Egor Isaev
Russia, 2020. 21 min. 18+

Listen Papa!

Stylized to resemble paintings by Niko Pirosmani, this animation is set in Georgia. A local eccentric used to boast that he could swim from Batumi to Poti—the distance of two English Channels. However, after narrowly avoiding drowning in a storm, he became the laughingstock of the town. His son—also a swimmer—is determined to save the honor of the family.

Listen, papa!
Directors: Tatiana Poliektova, Olga Poliektova
Russia, 2019. 13 min. 12+

The Year of the White Moon

This is a heart-wrenching chronicle of a relationship between a superstitious mother from Yekaterinburg, and her homosexual son, who has moved to Moscow. The protagonists are never seen onscreen: we can only hear their telephone conversations. The Year of the White Moon is the winner of the 18^th Spirit of Fire Festival and the National Competition of the Moscow International Experimental Film Festival.

The Year of the White Moon
Director: Maxim Pecherskiy
Russia, 2020. 21 min. 16+

Seemed

One morning, a physics teacher Aleksandr Aksyonov discovers a huge pair of buttocks in his garden. But in Nizhnie Derbyshki, competing for the title of the best small town in the country, nobody else seems to want to notice the potentially dangerous object. Baibulat Batullin offers his cheeky take on the classical story about the conflict between an individual and the state.

Seemed
Director: Baibulat Batullin
Russian, 2020. 12 min. 16+

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the makers of the shorts.

About the moderator

Mikhail Zakharov is a film critic, curator of film programs, and writer. He has contributed texts on film and contemporary art to Afisha.Daily, BURO, SRSLY, aroundart, and Spectacle.