Parched Land
East of the West - Out of Competition 2005 / Peresochla zemlja / Ukraine 2004
In a parched land dotted with iron structures, a simpleminded water deliverer unexpectedly runs into a markedly shabby angel, but there’s no communicating with him. He puts the angel into a cage and an oddly decked out crowd gathers around it. However, the apparition of an angel says nothing to them, so they abandon themselves to jubilant merrymaking.
Synopsis
Parched land broken up by iron structures. Here, a simple-minded water deliverer unexpectedly runs into a terribly pitiful angel with drooping wings, but there’s no communicating with him. He puts God’s messenger, now an apathetic wreck, into a cage in order to share him with his fellow countrymen. Crowds of people decked out in carnival gear rush to see the fairground curiosity, but the angel’s presence means nothing to them. Out of boredom they abandon themselves to jubilant merrymaking which soon develops into an uninhibited orgy.... This feature debut by a young director oscillates between fairground spectacle and the parable implied by the motif: a man found and killed his angel by rashly throwing him to a gluttonous crowd incapable of compassion, indifferent to mystery. The strange mystique and ambiguity of the event is strengthened by the poetic expression of the image.
About the film
25 min / Color, 35 mm
International premiere
Director Taras Tomenko
/ Screenplay Taras Tomenko
/ Dir. of Photography Mychajlo Markov/Myhailo Markov
/ Music Kipras Mashanauskas
/ Editor Natalja Lebeda/Nataliya Lebeda
/ Producer Taras Tomenko
/ Production Zoloti Vorota
/ Cast Mychajlo Golubovič/Myhailo Golubovych, Sergij Syplivyj/Sergiy Syplyvyy
/ Contact Zoloti Vorota
About the director
Taras Tomenko (b. 1976, Kiev) graduated in philology from the National Taras Shevchenko University in Kiev and in film from the Kiev State Institute of Performing Arts. He created the successful shorts The Slaughterhouse (Boynya, 1999) and The Shooting Gallery (Tyr, 2001), the latter awarded at the Berlinale.
Contacts
Zoloti Vorota
Saksaganskyj Street 6, 01033, Kiev
Ukraine
Phone: +380 44 227 4672
Fax: +380 44 227 4672
E-mail: bulba@svitonline.com
Guests
Taras Tomenko
Film Director, Film Director / Producer
Olena Dubova
Screenwriter
