Participating Films:

New Russian Independent Filmmakers

The following films will be presented in screenings in New York as a part of the Open World Cultural Leaders Program, hosted by CEC ArtsLink and the Telluride Film Festival.

SHULTES (2008, 100 min) 
by Bakur Bakuradze

25-year-old Lyosha Shultes is a former athlete who, after suffering serious trauma in a car accident, becomes a pick-pocket.  Theft becomes his only mode of communication with the outside world.  In his life there is no place for love, friendship, or loyalties.  Then one day he finds a video message from a young girl that he robbed the night before…an occurrence that brings fateful changes for our hero. Screened at Festival de Cannes, 2008 (Directors’ Fortnight)

TAG (2008, 13 min) 
by Natalia Uglitskikh

A comedy in its barest form.

“Natalya Ugliskikh … possesses the rare talent of being able to evoke sympathy and laughter in her viewers using minimalist and laconic language.” —Kirill Razglozov, Moscow International Film Festival

TASYA (2007, 17 min)
by Roman Artemyev
Her name is Tasya.  He misses a train, and finds himself her unwitting guest.“Roman Artemyev [an actor by training] shot his first film as an independent director without any assistance from public or private sponsors – this fact says a lot about his character. What makes Tasya so notable compared to other debut works is its calm and almost Bunin-like intonation, as well as its deep understanding of the nuances of human relationship. Roman’s very first film demonstrated his interest in classical cinema (including Russian classical cinema) and a high visual culture. ” 
–Marina Razbezhkina, award-winning filmmaker

WHAT IS THE YEAR... (2007, 26 min)
by Valeria Ivanovskaya

In this short film, eschewing dialogue and employing a unique visual vocabulary, Ivanovskaya explores the fate of two families during an unnamed war. Andrei Gerasimov, President of the Higher Academy for Screenwriting and Directing, Moscow, writes, “[Ivanovskaya’s] works are distinguished first and foremost by their exact stylistic approach and interest in the development of film language, which is rare in Russian film and is undoubtedly her triumph.”

All films are in Russian with English subtitles