Archive of films Artel / Artěl

Russia
2006, 30 min

Section: Documentary Films - Competition
Year: 2007

A classic of Russian documentary film, Sergei Loznitsa uses 35 mm black-and-white film to follow the exertions of four young men. Under harsh natural conditions, with the aid of fishing nets and a chain saw, they try to rip from the frozen depths of nature something which will provide them with a livelihood.

Synopsis

A classic of Russian documentary film he also stamps his typical hallmark on his latest film. Long shots fragmented with fade-outs, a sophisticated composition and the effective use of 35 mm black-and-white film. Loznitsa is able to raise seeming banality to the status of an artistic testimony indirectly reminiscent of the classics of Russian cinematography. On this occasion, he takes his camera along to record an attempt to catch fish in a frozen lake in the middle of the snowy Russian plains. In this harsh natural environment, four young men try to rip from the frozen depths of nature something which will provide them with a livelihood.

About the director

Sergey Loznitsa (b. 1964, Baranovichi, Belarus) graduated from Kiev Polytechnic (1987) and from Moscow’s VGIK (1996). He created the documentary films Today We Are Going to Build a House (1996), The Plaster Dictator (1998), Life, Autumn (1998), The Halt (2000), Settlement (2001) and Portrait (2002), which brought him the Special Jury Mention at the Karlovy Vary IFF in 2003. In 2004 the KVIFF section East of the West screened his film Landscape (2003).

Contacts

Deckert Distribution
Gottschedstr. 18, 04109, Leipzig
Germany
Tel: +49 341 215 6638
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.deckert-distribution.com

About the film

Black & white, DIGIBETA

Section:	Documentary Films - Competition

Director:	Sergei Loznitsa
Screenplay:	Sergej Loznica / Sergey Loznitsa
Dir. of Photography:	Sergej Michalčuk / Sergey Mikhalchuk
Editor:	Sergej Loznica / Sergey Loznitsa
Producer:	Vjačeslav Tělnov / Vyacheslav Telnov
Production:	St. Petersburg Documentary Film Studio
Contact:	Deckert Distribution

Guests

Sergei Loznitsa

Film Director

Anastasia Lobanova

Producer