Archive of films Generation P / Generation P

Russia / USA
2011, 112 min

Section: East of the West - Competition
Year: 2011

An open-handed adaptation of the apparently unfilmable novel by Victor Pelevin about the Pepsi generation, one of whom is Babylen Tatarsky, a tobacconist turned successful PR man who, in Russia’s wild 1990s, lives his dream of the Sumerian goddess Ishtar.

Synopsis

After the break-up of the USSR Moscow opens its doors to foreign investors: finding a career is primarily a question of making clever use of an opportunity. Babylen Tatarsky starts out as a tobacconist, but an encounter with a former classmate leads him to the world of advertising. Pepsi Cola, Sprite, Parliament cigarettes – such products need to reach the consumer fast. Babylen turns out to be good at his job, and he gradually finds his way into the kind of PR which serves to promote not only goods, but people in social roles as well. In addition to the gloss of success, however, he is also driven by his passion for Near Eastern mythology, an experience heightened through use of hallucinogenic substances. This open-handed adaptation of Victor Pelevin’s cult postmodern novel caused a major stir after its screening in Russian cinemas. One reviewer declared: "This film successfully blows your mind.”

About the director

Victor Ginzburg (b. 1959, Moscow) emigrated to the USA with his parents when he was 15. He studied filmmaking at the School of Visual Arts in New York, and subsequently made several successful music videos featuring various artists (Belinda Carlisle, Jody Watley, Lou Reed). He debuted in film with the documentary The Restless Garden (Nyeskuchny sad, 1994) which, he states, reflects the spirit of his native Russia. The film was provocative for its eroticism and for its association of the trash music scene with the conceptual art coming out of Moscow’s avant-garde movement of the era. In later years he worked on domestic and foreign TV programmes, was involved in the film technology business, and wrote screenplays.

Contacts

Generation P, LLC
10 Nineteenth Avenue, CA 90291, Venice
United States of America
Tel: +1 310 933 570 8
E-mail: [email protected]

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About the film

Color, 35 mm
International premiere

Section:	East of the West - Competition

Director:	Victor Ginzburg
Screenplay:	Victor Ginzburg, Djina Ginzburg podle románu / based on the novel by Victor Pelevin
Dir. of Photography:	Aleksei Rodionov
Music:	Kaveh Cohen, Michael David Nielsen, Alexander Hacke
Editor:	Anton Anisimov, Vladimir Markov, Karolina Maciejewska, Irakly Kvirikadze
Producer:	Victor Ginzburg, Djina Ginzburg, Stas Yershov, Yuri Krestinskiy, Aleksei Ryazantsev, Jim Steele, Roger Trilling
Production:	Generation P, LLC
Cast:	Vladimiir Yepifantsev, Mikhail Yefremov, Sergei Shnurov, Oleg Takhtarov, Andrei Fomin, Alexander Gordon, Ivan Okhlobystyn, Andrei Vasiliev, Renata Litvinova, Andrei Panin
Contact:	Generation P, LLC

www:	www.generationp.ru

Guests

Victor Ginzburg

Film Director

Djina Ginzburg

Producer

Andrei Fomin

Actor

Yuri Krestinski

Producer

Emilie Los

Producer