- Russia
SILENT SOULS
Synopsis
Miron’s wife Tanja has died. He asks his friend Aist to help him say goodbye, and the two men set off by car, her body in the boot, two small birds, buntings, in a cage on the back seat. Their destination is a sacred lake where Tanja is to be buried according to the customs of the Merja, a Finno-Ugric people they believe themselves descended from. On the way, as custom demands, Miron talks about the intimacy of his marriage, and Aist listens, having known the dead woman in his own way. Aleksei Fedorchenko’s “Silent Souls” (Russia 2010, original title “Ovsyanki”), based on a story by Denis Osokin, is a road movie through the river landscapes of central Russia, 77 minutes long, quiet and concentrated.
The film combines ethnographic invention with a meditation on love, loss and the rituals that make both bearable. In competition in Venice it won the FIPRESCI Prize and the Osella for best cinematography (Mikhail Krichman) in 2010. “Silent Souls” was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2010.
Festival
Shown at the 2010 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.
