The Stone Guest

Single-channel video, 2017-2018, 8:20

“Oh, it’s heavy,
The stony grip of his right hand!”
Alexander Pushkin “The Little Tragedies”*

The key figure of the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917 in Russia was Lenin. After his death in 1924 Lenin’s image was immortalized in countless numbers of monuments in the Soviet Union and in the Soviet bloc’s countries.

In her video, the artist refers to depicted in stone image of the Revolution leader based on archival materials and found footage. There is neither living nor dead Lenin in the film; only “the stone guest” become ingrained in Soviet people lives after his death. The "birth" of each new stone Lenin is accompanied by a special ritual with speeches and festivities before a vast assembly. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the life cycle of the "stone guest" is coming to the end.

This film uses the materials of the Russian State Documentary Film and Photo Archive (RGAKFD).

* The video is preceded by a quote from «Little Tragedies" drama ("The Stone Guest" play) by Alexander Pushkin, in which a monument kills touching.

AWARDS

⦁ 2020 - The Best Experimental Film, Festival of Nations, Австрия
⦁ 2020 - The Best Experimental Film, Porto Femme International Film Festival
⦁ 2020 - BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM, Couch Film Festival, Canada 
⦁ 2019 - 22nd FALUDI FILM FESTIVAL, Budapest, Hungary - 2 ПРИЗ В КАТЕГОРИИ КОРОТКОМЕТРАЖНЫЙ ДОКУМЕНТАЛЬНЫЙ ФИЛЬМ
⦁ 2019 - Cinalfama Lisbon International Film Festival, Lisbon, Portugal - СПЕЦИАЛЬНОЕ УПОМИНАНИЕ ЖЮРИ

Exhibitions/Festivals

2020 - GrandOFF Festival, Poland, Nominated for The Best Documentary

2020 - 9th ULTRACINEMA - CINE EXPERIMENTAL Y DE FOUND FOOTAGE, Mexico
2020 - PORTO FEMME - INT'L FILM FESTIVAL, Portugal
2020 - Festival of Nations 2020, Austria
2020- American Documentary And Animation Film Festival and Film Fund, USA

2020- American Documentary And Animation Film Festival and Film Fund, USA

16th BUSHO FILM FESTIVAL (http://www.busho.hu/) in Budapest, Hungary

2020-15th SOLE LUNA - INT'L DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL, Italy

2020, 13-17.05 - 15th German International Ethnographic Film Festival, Gettingen, Germany

2020, 9-30.04 - Master of Art Film Festival, Bulgaria

2020 - 15th EXPERIMENTS IN CINEMA FESTIVAL, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA 

2020 - 5th COURTS D'UN SOIR - MONTREAL INT'L SHORT FILM FESTIVAL, Montreal, Quebec, Canada 

2020 - 32nd FILMFEST DRESDEN 

2020 - 46. Internationales Filmwochenende Würzburg, Germany

2020 - Revolutions Per Minute Festival, Boston, USA

2020 - 2nd Le Prince International Film Festival, Caracas, Venezuela

2019 - FIVA’9 International Video Art Festival, Buenos-Aires, Argentina

2019 - 22nd FALUDI FILM FESTIVAL, Budapest, Hungary - 2nd PRIZE IN THE SHORT DOCUMENTARY FILM CATEGORY

2019 - 12th FESTIVAL CINEMA ZERO, Trento, Italy

2019 - Near Nazareth Film Festival, Israel

2019 - Cinalfama Lisbon International Film Festival, Португалия (October 2019) - HONORABLE JURY MENTION

2019 - PORI FILM FESTIVAL, Finland

2019 - Amarcort Film Festival, Italy

2019 - Corti di Lunga Memoria 2019 (Long Memory Short Film Festivall), Italy

2019 - Lausanne Underground Film & Music Festival, Film&Music Festival, Switzerland

2019 - ArtDocFest, Latvia-Russia

2019 - Montage of Oppositions and Absolute Convergences, Agency.Art.Ru, Moscow

2019 - Beyond Earth Film Festival, Kolkata, India

2019 - DOCfeed Festival, Eindhoven, the Netherlands

2018 – 35th The Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival

2018 – 20th FESTIVAL DES CINÉMAS DIFFÉRENTS ET EXPÉRIMENTAUX DE PARIS