The Novgorod Spaceship
Directed by Andrei Rozen
2015/ 46 min / USA / US Premiere
Like an abandoned alien spaceship, the building
of Dostoevsky's Drama Theater stands on the bank of the Volkhov River, only a
kilometer away from the walls of famous Novgorod Kremlin. An architecture
freak, unloved and uncared for, it sails high above the comforting
provinciality of Novgorod the Great. Erected during the final years of Soviet
rule, this remarkable example of modernist architecture has, for many decades,
continued to mock the ancient heritage of the city, as well as the mediocre
tastes of its populace.
The story of the theater's uneasy survival, its
persistent inability to fit into the Novgorod's surroundings, and its slow but
sure demise at the hands of greedy bureaucrats is a metaphor for Russian
society today.