RIVER

 

director

Alexey Balabanov

cast

Tuynara Svinoboeva, Mikhail Skriabin, Vasiliy Borisov, Anna Flegontova

producers

Sergey Selyanov

production

Drama, 50 min,CTB Film Company, Russia, 2002

оriginal title REKA language Russian

 

synopsis

 

The end of the 19th century. A tiny colony of lepers in the isolated Yakut taiga. A healthy girl, brought there by chance, falls in love with one of the young male lepers. Soon she is bearing his child. His wife suddenly arrives from the outside world and tragedy ensues within this strange love triangle. Adapted from a novel by Vatslav Serashevsky, the Polish writer. The shooting of the film was abandoned following a car accident in November 2000 that took the life of the lead actress Tuynara Svinoboeva. A year later the director edited the existing footage and provided narration for the missing scenes, creating a powerful and emotional story which now stands as a complete film in its own right.

 

festivals & awards

10 Festival selections, including Venice