Garpastum

Colour, 35 mm
Russia, 2005, 118 min
Section: East of the West - Films in Competition

Synopsis

1914. Soon after the shot is fired in Sarajevo, Russia accepts a crucial call. Brothers Andrei and Nikolai, however, instead of the imminent war, are more interested in the fashionable game of football which the local English community has introduced into St Petersburg. With adolescents from the suburbs, the young medical students start to make a name for themselves and, using indiscriminate means, endeavour to acquire their own stadium. With the war waging elsewhere on some far flung field, these youngsters fanatically devote their time to sporting tournaments and romantic adventures. St Petersburg is renamed Petrograd, the city’s artists are seized by dark premonitions, and brutal murders are being committed in the city. The brothers’ stepfather dies and Nikolai is mobilised. Everything is caving in before their eyes, the revolution is drawing closer… Evidently, it’s human nature to fail to notice the symptoms of catastrophe, to ignore the tempestuous forces of history, and to live one’s unique life amidst all the conflicts which follow. Primarily with visual means, the director evokes the “spirit of the time”, its atmosphere and the nature of human attitudes and gestures – all in a fascinating rhythmical sequence of images.

About the director

Alexei German jr. (b. 1976, Moscow), the son of director Alexei German and screenwriter Svyetlana Karmalita, studied theatre science at the Drama Academy in St Petersburg, and film direction at VGIK (2001). As a student he became known for his formally sophisticated short films: Banner (Znamya, 1998), Large Autumn Field (Bolshoye osennyeye pole, 1999), Little Fools (Durachki, 2001). His feature debut The Last Train (Posledniy poyezd, 2003), for its unconventional insight in the story of a German physician during the war, won him the annual Nika prize awarded by the Russian Film Academy in the category Discovery of the Year, and led to participation at numerous domestic and international festivals (Karlovy Vary 2004). His second feature film Garpastum (2005) has enjoyed equal success at home and abroad, and won critical acclaim at last year’s Venice IFF.