Alexander Kuznetsov

Russia

Alexander Kuznetsov

director of photography, director

An Ordinary Life

Katya and Iulia are finally making their way out of the psychiatric hospital where they used to live since the age of their majority. That’s where I met and started to film them. Now that they regain citizenship, they’re now both settled in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. They found a job, a flat. They have their own doubts, hopes, fears, friends, and loves. After leaving the hospital, it’s like a reborn, a start to a brand new life. But their past - their former life in the institution - often comes back to haunt them.
Katya and Iulia have already changed. They became more open, more confident and more daring. They are now convinced that everything will be fine. They both took different directions in their new life. Katya quickly cut all links with the world of the hospital whereas Iulia kept touch with the solidarity network of the institution.
Katya tried to relink with her mother but finally cut off with her. She pursuits her professional goal: to become a manicurist. She lives by herself, works at home and has a cat. As for Iulia, she got married and is expecting a child. She first committed to photography, her new passion, but quit when she met her husband.
The story of this new film starts after they left the psychiatric institution. The film is filled with their daily life or more significant events, like a birthday, a significant professional event, a new flat. In short, all these tipping points around which life takes shape.
Through the life of these two women, I am also shooting the absurdity of living in Krasnoyarsk, my own city, an industrial and polluted town in contemporary Russia. In the movie, along with the present time, I am convening the past of the hospital in the form of dreamy memories. I also want to explore my own link with this story: this dialogue between Iulia, Katya and I, which has begun at the time of the hospital.
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