Film Archive

Welkome Home

Official Selection - Competition 2014 / Welkome Home / Russia 2014

Former Russian model Sasha, Armenian actor and carpet salesman Babken, his cousin Hamlet, who wants to become a woman, and Russian pensioner Mari Vanna have all come to the promised land to find happiness and live the American dream. The ups and downs of their lives in modern-day New York are observed by Russian director Angelina Nikonova (Twilight Portrait) in an ironic comedy filled with intelligent humour and wonderful characters.

Synopsis

Former Russian model Sasha can’t wait to get married; Armenian carpet salesman Babken dreams of becoming a famous American actor; his cousin Hamlet wants to be a woman; and Russian pensioner Mari Vanna covets a house with a swimming pool. All four have come to the promised land to find happiness and live the American dream. The ups and downs of everyday life in New York are experienced by various characters in this ironic comedy by Angelina Nikonova, who herself spent eight years in the Big Apple. After her bleak, internationally-acclaimed drama Twilight Portrait, the director opted for a change of genre and came up with a truly delightful piece, filled with intelligent humour and extremely well-written characters. Betraying appropriate insight, she takes a look at both the immigrant community and American society as a whole.

About the film

116 min / Color, DCP
International premiere
Director Angelina Nikonova / Screenplay Angelina Nikonova, Olga Dihovichnaya, Karren Karagulian / Dir. of Photography Jonathan Miller / Music Oleg Sadko / Editor Yelena Afanasieva / Producer Alexey Sonk, Marianne Slot, Carol Polyakoff / Production Baraban Films / Cast Olga Dihovichnaya, Karren Karagulian, Edward Baker-Duly / Contact Baraban Films

About the director

Angelina Nikonova (b. 1976, Rostov-on-Don, USSR) moved to New York at age 17 where she graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 2001 with her short film Isosceles. She followed this with the short drama My Mute (2002) and the feature-length documentary Flyover Country (2005), which she wrote, directed and coproduced. In 2011 she debuted in feature film with the drama Twilight Portrait (Portret v sumerkakh, 2011), which she wrote and coproduced with Olga Dihovichnaya, who was cast in the main role. The film had its international premiere at Venice in the Venice Days section and subsequently did the festival circuit (Toronto, Rotterdam, Thessaloniki), acquiring various awards along the way. Welkome Home is her second feature. Nikonova currently resides in Russia.