Breakfast in Rubljovka. 2011 05:39

The video investigates the contrasts in the Russian society after perestroika on the example of residents of Rubljovka (a district near Moscow), to whom usually only the new rich and the political elites are counted. The real residents are season workers from former Asian soviet republics, because they work and live there, whereas the oligarchs are seldom in their houses, which are usually built only as an investment. Expatriate workers are usually not included into consideration in the western societies, although they do the hardest part of the work. This omission, regarded as normal, dehumanise.

The camera does not estimate, it follows Tajiks in their simple everyday life and hard work without emotions. The young workers live in harmony with themselves and accept the situation as it is. They do not pose for nice pictures, never become objects. They live in habitual clock time, counting days and hours till returning back home. Their time is defined by nature: they sleep, when the sun is too strong and work at noon or early in the morning, eating during pauses in the working process.

The title reminds of famous Breakfast at Tiffany, where the meal is also taken as a metaphor for the close view at the protagonists. The contrasts are also shown in the choice of music, bearing eastern characteristics with repetition and speeding up of Ravel Bolero. Short cuts, rhythm and change of plans remind of the Russian avant-garde film stylistic. Are the Tajiks suppressed tragically heroes? The video, showing a poesy and hardness of their work, does not give a definite answer, denying populist slogans of actual migrant-debates.

Free like a leaf in the wind

Free like a Leaf in the Wind. 2007

The video is based on the intensive correspondence between two philosophers - Karl Jaspers and Hannah Arendt. The Theme is Time. It transforms the correspondence into a rhythmic sequence of short cuts from scenes of New York, where Hannah Arendt lived and her teacher- friend has never been, because of his illness. Hannah Arendt has brought the world to him - wrote Jaspers. New York is recognisable in the moments of communication - the main idea of existence-Philosophy. The hard cuts correspond to the quick change of impressions and the flow of time in the world Metropolis. The Video is like a report about today's New York.

The material is shot in New York. The cuts are determined by the rhythm of the correspondence - a pattern created by the posting of 403 letters between New York and Basel. The panoramas (1 sec.) represent the writing of a letter. The length of the scenes corresponds to the intervals between the letters (1 day - 0,1'). In this way New York will be recognizable only in the moment of communication - one of the central terms of the existence philosophy of Jaspers and Arendt.The length of the 10 chapters corresponds to the intervals between the meetings during H.A. visits to Europe.