2022

OSTROV – LOST ISLAND

OSTROV – LOST ISLAND

Svetlana Rodina, Laurent Stoop | Switzerland, Russia 2021 | 93 Min. | OmeU

15.05. | 5pm
Votiv Kino, Gr. Saal | TICKETS

Austrian Premiere

© Svetlana Rodina, Laurent Stoop

On Ostrov Island in the Caspian Sea, the inhabitants were left alone by the Russian state after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Primarily, they survive thanks to pouching. Ivan regularly goes out to the lake, putting his life at risk. He truly believes that Putin will one day recognise Ostrov’s misery and help its inhabitants. Thus, a TV is purchased so that he can listen to the president’s speech.

OSTROV – LOST ISLAND shows how populism and propaganda can bind even those people who have been neglected by the state. Through cinematic proximity with the protagonists, the film creates a clear contrast to a place where time seems to stand still.

Directors: Svetlana Rodina and Laurent Stoop
Camera: Laurent Stoop, Mikhail Burov
Editing: Orsola Valenti, Karine Sudan, Svetlana Rodina
Composing: Marcel Vaid
Sound: Jérôme Cuendet, Alea Jacta
Color Grading: Christoph Walther, Trinipix
Production: Corinna Dästner, Sonja Kilbertus, Urs Schnell

Website

BIOGRAPHIES
Svetlana Rodina graduated in philology in Kazan and later in film directing in Moscow. She has worked as a reporter and host for various TV programmes on the  RTR channel. In 2011 she became editor-in-chief of the documentary department of one of the largest production companies in Russia; United Media Group. Since 2006 she has primarily worked as a script writer and director for documentaries.

Laurent Stoop has a degree in literature and photography. Just after the end of the Soviet Union he moved to Moscow and worked as a freelance photographer with the photo agency Lookat. In 1995 he founded the production company Mayak-Film. Since then he worked as DOP for various television and feature documentaries, including the award winning and critically acclaimed CITIZEN KHODORKOVSKY (2016).