Boris KHLEBNIKOV
Борис ХЛЕБНИКОВ
Boris KHLEBNIKOV
Russia, 2013, 77mn 
Colour, fiction
A Long and Happy Life
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Долгая счастливая жизнь

 

 Une longue vie heureuse

 Dolgaya schastlivaya zhizn

 
Directed by : Boris KHLEBNIKOV (Борис ХЛЕБНИКОВ)
Writing credits : Boris KHLEBNIKOV (Борис ХЛЕБНИКОВ), Aleksandr RODIONOV (Александр РОДИОНОВ)
 
Cast
Anna KOTOVA-DERYABINA (Анна КОТОВА-ДЕРЯБИНА) ...Anna
Aleksandr YATSENKO (Александр ЯЦЕНКО) ...Aleksandr
Yevgeni SYTY (Евгений СЫТЫЙ) ...Zhenya
Vladimir KOROBEYNIKOV (Владимир КОРОБЕЙНИКОВ) ...Volodya
 
Cinematography : Pavel KOSTOMAROV (Павел КОСТОМАРОВ)
Production design : Olga KHLEBNIKOVA (Ольга ХЛЕБНИКОВА)
Produced by : Roman BORISEVICH (Роман БОРИСЕВИЧ), Aleksandr KUSHAYEV (Александр КУШАЕВ)
Production : Koktebel Film Company
Film revenue in Russia : 0.0415 million dollars
 

Plot synopsis
Sascha lives in a village on the Kola Peninsular in northern Russia and dedicatedly manages what is left of an old collective farm. He gets on well with his farm workers who respect him and also tolerate his more or less clandestine love-affair with Anya, a secretary at the local government office. But then Sascha is suddenly faced with a dilemma: the district’s self-seeking administrators, none of whom could be termed squeamish, offer him a lucrative deal for the farm. In legal terms, Sascha doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on since his lease on the farm was only agreed with a handshake. The pressure mounts, and even more so when his employees convince him to stand firm. Against the backdrop of a landscape exposed to the elements, this unflinching man’s destiny takes its course. In this tragedy of a decent man who refuses to surrender to a quagmire of greed and corruption risks everything that is dear to him, director Boris Khlebnikov develops a story from rural Russia into an existential human drama.
 

Commentaries and bibliography
A Long and Happy Life (Dolgaya Schastlivaya Zhizn): Berlin Review, Stephen DALTON, hollywoodreporter.com, 2013
Berlinale : A long and happy life, un film russe fluide et très marquant, Olivia LEBOYER, toutelaculture.com, 2013
 

Selected in the following festivals or events :
- Russian film symposium. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh (USA), 2019
- Festival of Central and Eastern Film , Wiesbaden (Germany), 2018
- Sputnik nad Polska, Warsaw (Poland), 2017
- Russian Resurrection Film Festival, Different cities (Australia), 2014
- Göteborg International Film Festival, Göteborg (Sweden), 2014
- Yerevan International Film Festival "Golden Apricot", Yerevan (Armenia), 2013
- Russian Resurrection Film Festival, Different cities (Australia), 2013
- Vancouver International Film Festival, Vancouver (Canada), 2013
- Russian Film Week in Paris : Regards de Russie, Paris (France), 2013
- Berlin International Film Festival : Berlinale, Berlin (Germany), 2013
- Mostra Internazionale del Nuovo Cinema, Pesaro (Italy), 2013
- Debut National Film Festival "Dvijenie", Omsk (Russia), 2013
- Festival "Vivat Kino Rossii", St Petersburg (Russia), 2013
- Independant European Film Festival VOICES, Vologda (Russia), 2013
- Open Russian Film Festival Kinotavr, Sochi (Russia), 2013
- Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), Moscow (Russia), 2013