RFW Short Film Programme / Competition entries

Russian Film Week Short Film Programme / Competition entries

Q&As with the short films directors and producers followed by a short discussion: Young Filmmakers – How to Find Your Own Voice In the World of Film? All films in Russian with English subtitles.

MERRY-GO-ROUND, 2017
Comedy / Russia / 13 min
Director and scriptwriter: Ruslan Bratov
Producer: Grigory Dobrygin
Cast: Evgeny Sytiy, Alexey Vertkov, Pavel Vorozhtsov, Sergey Abroskin

The restaurant is closing, and Oleg Maratovich wants to go on celebrating. Taking along three of his employees, who are no longer able to resist, he sets off in search of an adventure. The story then has a completely unexpected twist.

MILK, 2017
Russia, Lithuania / 15 min
Director and scriptwriter: Daria Vlasova
Producer: Yanna Buryak
Cast: Vitaly Khodin, Yaroslava Bazaeva, Maria Bolonkina, Gleb Orlov, Moorka

High up on the 14th floor of a tower block, a seemingly perfect family live in their spotless, shiny apartment. One fine morning, they find themselves faced with a bizarre dilemma: what should one do with a cow in the kitchen? It doesn’t take long for the house-trained colossus to win the hearts of everyone in the family. Only Grandpa still has some serious doubts.

THE FIRST, 2017
Drama / Russia / 23 min 30 sec
Director: Lado Kvatania
Scriptwriter: Andrey Koroteev
Producer: Ekaterina Kononenko
Cast: Maria Krylova, Vladimir Verevochkin

The USSR in the 1960s. A young woman, Marina, lives in a solitary farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. One morning, while out in the field, she discovers a mysterious metal sphere, and inside it, an unconscious man wearing an orange flight suit and a white helmet…

THE PASSENGER, 2017
Russia / 11 min 16 sec
Director and producer: Egor Abramenko
Cast: Artur Smolyaninov

A Russian cosmonaut grapples with post-traumatic stress following his return from orbit. But that’s not all he’s brought back.

HUH, 2016
Comedy / Russia / 15 min
Director and scriptwriter: Irina Vilkova
Producer: Vsevolod Lisovsky
Cast: Danyil Vorobyov, Alexey Ilyin, Irina Vilkova

It is a story about the fickleness of relationships between adult children, about the eternal search for love and the inability to see it when it comes.

PERCENT / Проценты, 2017
Drama, thriller / Russia / 18 min 11 sec
Director: Vladimir Kudryashov
Scriptwriter: Ernesto Suarez
Producers: Maxim Dobromyslov, Vladimir Kudryashov, Kirill Cheremhin
Cast: Roman Madyanov, Boris Tokarev, Maria Fortunatova

Vladimir offers money to Nicholas, as Nicholas’ firm is on the verge of bankruptcy. Nicholas at first doesn’t recognize the man, but Vladimir tells Nicholas that he had arranged the bankruptcy of the Nicolas’ company and messed up his life some 30 years ago…

THE LAW OF THE EXCLUDED THIRD OR NO THIRD IS GIVEN, 2016
Comedy / Russia / 24min 20 sec
Director, screenwriter and producer: Alexandra Sokolovskaya
Cast: Yulia Aug, Nikolay Kovbas, Maria Ivashchenko

A literary magazine editor cheats on his young lover with his own wife, a university maths professor. He still feels the need in their intellectually rich and open discussions. But the real challenge is deeper, than the usual crisis of the middle age and sexual dissatisfaction. The small family is broken apart along the same lines as the society in general: politics.

AKADO, 2017
Comedy, horror / Russia / 7 min
Director and scriptwriter: Kim Belov
Producer: Max Volovik
Cast: Evgeny Tsyganov, Pavel Tabakov, Elena Nikolaeva

A cable guy comes to a customer’s apartment and meets his fate.