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Feb 11th at 12:00 & at 15:00 at Friedrichstadt Palast

at 22:30 at International

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SYNOPSIS

Russia 2017. The world could be on the verge of a great war. People are anxious that things could fall apart. Revolving around an unfinished building, a diverse group of outsiders struggle to find their place in this rapidly changing society, making up the mosaic of existence that is life itself… With sophisticated visuals and wit, writer-director Alexey German Jr. boldy pursues his exploration of Russian culture and politics by reaching deep into the soul of the human spirit.

A Kyrgyz construction worker arrives in Russia, finding himself almost on a different planet due to language problems and prejudice. His problems worsen when he discovers that the construction site has been shut down…

A brother and sister return from abroad to inherit their deceased father’s large estate. They have no plans to remain and complete their adored father’s ambitious architectural project. They are rejected by his close friends and they are pressured about the unfinished building…

A real estate lawyer and his haunting dreams about the past begin to push away the present, as if he is living some other life, not his own…

A musuem guide has been working on the same art dissertation for years. His museum is now in danger of closing due to the progressive new building under construction. He must choose whether to protect his museum or move on…

A war refugee who lost his entire family attempts to save a young girl held hostage near the abandoned construction site…

The 40-something architect of that unfinished building simply refuses to grow up. When he falls in love with a woman many years younger, he tries to find a common language. Soviet Russia is still a part of him, but for her those were medieval times.

COMMENTS FROM WRITER-DIRECTOR ALEXEY GERMAN JR.

A GENERAL SENSE OF RUSSIAIt was important to use the entanglement of human stories as an instrument to grasp the general sense of our country. The country that is so incredibly diverse, and filled with contradictions and sometimes incompatible mentalities. Essentially, we have attempted to return to the traditions of the classical epic Russian novel, with its complex approach to real life in different combinations thereof. This is why each of the chapters represents a new, different point of view. Just like during a soccer match you have to keep changing the viewing angles in order to see the most important thing, i.e. the game itself.

THE TRADITIONS OF IMPRESSIONISMAnother aspect that is just as important is the art of cinematography has always gone hand in hand with depiction and painting traditions. Our film is an attempt to speak in a language that springs from the traditions of impressionism. It is bending the reality, not copying it. It does not mean escaping the truth or creating a conceptual space; on the contrary, bending the reality offers the possibility of speaking more profoundly about the world in its vast variety, undertones, and complex combinations. As for connotations with reality, some characters have their prototypes, but not with regard to exact coincidence of specific fates, but with regard to general human nature and certain similarity of circumstances.

OUTRUNNING TIMEDespite the fact that the action of the film takes place in the near future, we did not perceive it as sci-fi. Our task was not to chase time, but to outrun it. Then stop. And wait for time to approach.

ALEXEY GERMAN JR. (Writer-Director) Alexey German Jr. was born in Moscow in 1976. Between 1996 and 2001, Alexey studied at the Russian Film School - VGIK. He shot three short films which won international and Russian film festival awards. Alexey made his feature debut with

THE LAST TRAIN which premiered in Venice in 2003 where it received a special mention from the “Future Lion” jury. The Russian Academy of Cinematography “Nika” named the director “Discovery of the Year”. His second film GARPASTUM took part in the official competition of the 2005 Venice International film Festival. In 2008, his third feature PAPER SOLDIER had its premiere in Venice and was awarded with Silver Lion for the Best Director and Osella for the Best Cinematography.

FEATURE FILMOGRAPHY2015 UNDER ELECTRIC CLOUDS (POD ELEKTRICHESKIMI OBLAKAMI)

2009 CRUSH (segment “KIM”)

2008 PAPER SOLDIER (BUMAZHNYY SOLDAT)

2005 GARPASTUM

2003 THE LAST TRAIN (POSLEDNY POEZD)

COMMENTS FROM WRITER-DIRECTOR ALEXEY GERMAN JR.

A GENERAL SENSE OF RUSSIAIt was important to use the entanglement of human stories as an instrument to grasp the general sense of our country. The country that is so incredibly diverse, and filled with contradictions and sometimes incompatible mentalities. Essentially, we have attempted to return to the traditions of the classical epic Russian novel, with its complex approach to real life in different combinations thereof. This is why each of the chapters represents a new, different point of view. Just like during a soccer match you have to keep changing the viewing angles in order to see the most important thing, i.e. the game itself.

THE TRADITIONS OF IMPRESSIONISMAnother aspect that is just as important is the art of cinematography has always gone hand in hand with depiction and painting traditions. Our film is an attempt to speak in a language that springs from the traditions of impressionism. It is bending the reality, not copying it. It does not mean escaping the truth or creating a conceptual space; on the contrary, bending the reality offers the possibility of speaking more profoundly about the world in its vast variety, undertones, and complex combinations. As for connotations with reality, some characters have their prototypes, but not with regard to exact coincidence of specific fates, but with regard to general human nature and certain similarity of circumstances.

OUTRUNNING TIMEDespite the fact that the action of the film takes place in the near future, we did not perceive it as sci-fi. Our task was not to chase time, but to outrun it. Then stop. And wait for time to approach.

ALEXEY GERMAN JR. (Writer-Director) Alexey German Jr. was born in Moscow in 1976. Between 1996 and 2001, Alexey studied at the Russian Film School - VGIK. He shot three short films which won international and Russian film festival awards. Alexey made his feature debut with

THE LAST TRAIN which premiered in Venice in 2003 where it received a special mention from the “Future Lion” jury. The Russian Academy of Cinematography “Nika” named the director “Discovery of the Year”. His second film GARPASTUM took part in the official competition of the 2005 Venice International film Festival. In 2008, his third feature PAPER SOLDIER had its premiere in Venice and was awarded with Silver Lion for the Best Director and Osella for the Best Cinematography.

FEATURE FILMOGRAPHY2015 UNDER ELECTRIC CLOUDS (POD ELEKTRICHESKIMI OBLAKAMI)

2009 CRUSH (segment “KIM”)

2008 PAPER SOLDIER (BUMAZHNYY SOLDAT)

2005 GARPASTUM

2003 THE LAST TRAIN (POSLEDNY POEZD)

UNDER ELECTRIC CLOUDS(POD ELEKTRICHESKIMI OBLAKAMI)a film by Alexey German Jr.2015 – Russia/Ukraine/Poland – 137 minutes – sound 5.1 – cinemascope - in Russian

MAIN CAST Louis FRANCK Petr Merab NINIDZE Nikolai Chulpan KHAMATOVA ValyaAnastasia MELNIKOVA IrinaRamil SALAHUTDINOV KostyaPiotr GASOWSKI Uncle BoryaKarim PAKACHAKOV KarimVictoria KOROTKOVA AlexandraVictor BUGAKOV DanyaKonstantin ZELIGER MaratDmitry VOZDVIZHENSKY Gleb

MAIN CREWwritten and directed by Alexey GERMAN Jr.senior art director Elena OKOPNAIAdirector of photography Evgeniy PRIVIN Sergey MIKHAL’CHUKcomposer Andrew SUROTDINOVeditor Sergey IVANOV sound design Ivan GUSAKOV

Executive Producers: Artem Vasilyev Andrey Saveliev Rushan NasibulinProducers: Sergey Antonov Egor Olesov Dariusz JablonskiCo-producers: Violetta Kaminska Izabela Wojcik Krzysztof Zanussi

Production: METRAFILMS (Russia), LINKED FILMS (Ukraine) in co-production with CHANNEL ONE RUSSIA (Russia), APPLE FILM PRODUCTION (Poland) and TELEWIZJA POLSKA (Poland) supported by Ministry of Culture of Russian Federation and Ukrainian State Film Agency, SAGA FILM (Russia), TOR FILM PRODUCTION (Poland) and STUDIO METRANOM (Russia)