Rustam KHAMDAMOV
Рустам ХАМДАМОВ
Roustam KHAMDAMOV
Russia, 2017, 104mn 
fiction
Meshok bez dna
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Мешок без дна

 

 The Bottomless Bag

 Le Sac sans fond

 
Directed by : Rustam KHAMDAMOV (Рустам ХАМДАМОВ)
Writing credits : Rustam KHAMDAMOV (Рустам ХАМДАМОВ)
Based on Ryunosuke Akutagawa's "In a Grove"
 
Cast
Svetlana NEMOLIAEVA (Светлана НЕМОЛЯЕВА)
Sergey KOLTAKOV (Сергей КОЛТАКОВ)
Yelena MOROZOVA (Елена МОРОЗОВА)
Andrey KUZICHEV (Андрей КУЗИЧЕВ)
Kirill PLETNYOV (Кирилл ПЛЕТНЕВ)
Alla DEMIDOVA (Алла ДЕМИДОВА)
Anna MIKHALKOVA (Анна МИХАЛКОВА)
Yevgeni TKACHUK (Евгений ТКАЧУК)
Anastasia TSOY (Анастасия ЦОЙ)
 
Cinematography : Pyotr DUKHOVSKOY (Пётр ДУХОВСКОЙ), Timofei LOBOV (Тимофей ЛОБОВ)
Production design : Irina OCHINA (Ирина ОЧИНА)
Sound : Andrey DERGACHYOV (Андрей ДЕРГАЧЕВ), Sergey SADYKOV (Сергей САДЫКОВ)
Produced by : Rustam KHAMDAMOV (Рустам ХАМДАМОВ), Liubov OBMINYANNAYA (Любовь ОБМИНЯННАЯ)
Companies : СТУДИЯ РУСТАМА ХАМДАМОВА / Studio de Roustam Khamdamov
Film revenue in Russia : 0.0605 million dollars
Spectators : 10 529
Release Date in Russia : 18/01/2018
 

Awards :
Special Jury prize Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), Moscow (Russia), 2017
Best Set Decoration Award "White Elephant", Moscow (Russia), 2017

Note :
For his new film, the legendary Russian filmmaker and artist Rustam Khamdamov adapted Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's In a Grove (1922), a classic short story which had already inspired Akira Kurosawa's masterpiece Rashomon (1950). Khamdamov sets this story of the unknowability of truth within a frame story that takes place at the Court of Czar Alexander II. A female courtier, played by iconic Russian film star ​Svetlana Nemolyaeva, tells the czar a fairy tale about his son’s murder, and we see three different versions of this event. Which is true? The Bottomless Bag, shot in stunning, radiant black-and-white and named after one of the stories in A Thousand and One Nights, takes place by turns at the Court, in palatial rooms and in a grove where the murder takes place. Khamdamov loads his narrative with references to European culture and silent cinema as well as Russian mythology. Baba Yaga – a witch from Russian legends – is played by tragedienne Alla Demidova. Exuberant and ironic, this film is like a magic box, full of secrets, dreams and truly cinematic jewels.

Plot synopsis
Story takes place during the times of Tsar Alexander II. A lady-in-waiting tells the Emperor in his bedroom a metaphysical story about a 13th century prince who is killed in the woods under mysterious circumstances. Fairy tale characters who have witnessed the terrible death, all share their version of the events, gradually shedding light on what really happened.
http://39.moscowfilmfestival.ru
 

Selected in the following festivals or events :
- Shangai International Film Festival, Shangai (China), 2018
- Festival of Central and Eastern Film , Wiesbaden (Germany), 2018
- Rotterdam International Film Festival, Rotterdam (Netherlands), 2018
- Festival ''Cinema and literature'', Gatchina (Russia), 2018
- International debut film festival, Khanty Mansiysk (Russia), 2018
- Russian Film Week in London, London (United Kingdom), 2018
- Seattle International Film Festival : SIFF, Seattle (USA), 2018
- Award "White Elephant", Moscow (Russia), 2017
- Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), Moscow (Russia), 2017