EFA Selection

LETO-SUMMER

Kirill Serebrennikov | Russia, France | 2018 | 126 min.
O.V. in Russian and English subtitled in Spanish

Leningrad, 1980. At the height of the Soviet thaw, a few young people saw the light when they discovered rock. Lou Reed’s glasses, the Pistols’ hair, Marc Bolan’s happiness, the sound of Velvet: new wave, psychedelia, glam rock and punk, all mixed up and assimilated suddenly in a heroic, high-spirited scene, in the middle of which a love triangle develops between Mike, an acclaimed musician, his wife Natasha and Viktor, Mike’s disciple. An exultant and at the same time nostalgic film, shot in black and white, in Anton Corbijn style and scattered with vibrant animations, presented at Cannes while its director, Kirill Serebrennikov (The Student), was under house arrest for his opposition to Putin.

Direction: Kirill Serebrennikov
Script: Michael Idov, Lily Idov, Kirill Serebrennikov
Cinematography: Vladislav Opeliants Music: Ilya Demutskiy
Sound: Boris Voyt
Cast: Teo Yoo, Irina Starshenbaum, Roman Bilyk, Aleksandr Kuznetsov, Filipp Avdeev
Production: Ilya Stewart, Murad Osmann, Pavel Buria, Mikhail Finogenov
Production Company: Hype Film, Kinovista

Kirill Serebrennikov

He was born in Russia in 1969, and is a director of theatre, television and film. He staged his first work while he was still a student, and he graduated in Physics from the University of Rostov. Since 2012 he is artistic director of the Gogol Centre in Moscow, and has received great recognition in his theatre career. As film director, he made his debut in 2004 with Ragin, with which he won the East of West Award in Karlovy Vary. This was followed by Bed Stories (2005), Playing the Victim (2006), with which he won the Gold Marco Aurelio in Rome, Yuri's Day (2008), which won two awards at Locarno, and Betrayal (2012), part of the Official Section at the Venice Festival. The Student, his previous film, was at Seville after its premiere in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, where he presented Leto, this time in the Official Section. Since August 2017 he is under house arrest because of his opposition to Putin.