Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor)

Colour, 35 mm
Russia, 2004, 115 min
Section: Horizons
Oficiální stránky: www2foxsearchlight.com/nwnd/

Synopsis

The Others live among us - a chosen caste of proponents of the forces of Light and Darkness who take their magical strength from human energy. Its use is determined by the Agreement, controlled by the Inquisition. In accordance with it, every good must be balanced by evil. The forces of Darkness guard against the right to the unlimited freedom of human actions and hide the truth about the brutal nature of reality; the forces of Light continually question whether or not their own actions cause an escalation of undesirable consequences. In order to keep within the established order, they also issue licences to the Vampires, who suck human blood. The Sentries of Light and Darkness fulfil their mission through a clever combination of interventions, and in constellations which resemble a duel between justice and crime, or scout patrols. The indecisive results of their permanent confrontation is thus reminiscent of the situation in the world, with its sustained conflicts and uncertainties, and confusion of moral values. The attractive treatment of the film motifs will appeal particularly to young audiences.

About the director

Timur Bekmambetov (b. 1961, Kazakhstan) graduated in stage design at the State Theatre Institute in Tashkent (1987). He made his debut with Gennady Kayumov with the film Peshavar Waltz (Peshavarsky vals, 1994) about the circumstances of one of the tragic events from the war in Afghanistan; this film took Best Director at Karlovy Vary 1994. He then made his name with a series of commercials for Imperial Bank, inspired by Russian history. He studied the mechanisms of commercial production during his stay in the USA, where he worked with director Roger Corman. He put this experience to good use in the smash hit Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor, 2004) based on the "occult" trilogy by Sergei Lukyanyenko, whose subsequent parts, Day Watch and Evening Watch, are already in production. Night Watch was the highest earning film in Russia in 2004 - $16 million, with distribution also in Europe and the USA.