I Love You

Colour, DIGIBETA
Russia, 2011, 81 min
Section: Another View

Synopsis

Two young Russian filmmakers, Pavel Kostomarov and Aleksandr Rastorguyev, launched themselves into an unconventional experimental project. In Russia’s tenth largest city, Rostov-on-Don, they organised a major competition to find the protagonists and also co-authors of a documentary film. After more than six months of casting sessions, the directors selected fifty people who would record their days on camera. The stories of three of them, whose lives intersect, ultimately formed the basis for this off-beat documentary which offers a fresh and, in places, pretty raw account of the lives of contemporary Russia’s young generation, particularly their relationships. The film’s young heroes often fumble about in the dark, trying to find their place in the world; and with them the viewer experiences both ordinary situations and defining moments. In front of the camera the lads behave naturally and very openly, which further reinforces the authenticity of the end product.

About the director

Pavel Kostomarov (b. 1975, Moscow) graduated in 2003 as a cinematographer from Moscow’s VGIK. He has stood behind the lens on the films of Sergei Loznitsa, Victor Asliuk, Alexei Uchitel and Alexei Popogrebsky. As director he created the internationally awarded documentaries The Transformer (2003), Life in Peace (2004) and The Mother (2007, screened in the doc competition at KVIFF 2008). Last year KVIFF included his film Together (2010) among its competing documentaries. Aleksander Rastorguyev (b. 1971, Rostov-on-Don) graduated from the St Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy in 1998 and then worked as a television director and dramatist. He directed the documentaries Mums (2001), Clean Thursday (2003) and Tenders’ Heat: Wild Wild Beach (2006), which were awarded at leading European documentary film festivals.