Let his flesh be healthier than in his youth;
Let him return to his younger days.

After breaking onto the European film festival scene in 2021 with seven stunning features at the ready, 24-year-old Russian filmmaker Vadim Kostrov has quickly proved himself as an astute chronicler of poets, punks, misfits, and squatters of all stripes.

With a deliriously spaced-out filmmaking approach that modulates between documentary and fiction, ethnography and autobiography, slow cinema and bracing handheld directness, Kostrov’s work is deeply attuned to the seasonal flows of Nizhny Tagil, his hometown located in the mountainous Ural region. Kostrov now lives in Paris after deciding to flee Russia following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

This June,  we are delighted to join hands with Spectacle to introduce Kostrov’s burgeoning cinematic corpus to NYC in seasonal doses, starting with a selection of his beaming, nostalgic summer films: LOFT-UNDERGROUND (2019), ORPHEUS (2020), NARODNAYA (2020), and SUMMER (2021). To celebrate the North American premieres of his work and observe the solstice, Kostrov will participate in remote Q&As throughout the month.

We’re delighted for this ongoing partnership and to bring Kostrov in person to NYC for further seasons. The Summer series will all take place at Spectacle in Williamsburg.

FILM PROGRAM

SATURDAY, JUNE 3 – 7:30 PM with filmmaker Q+A!
(This event is $10.)
TUESDAY, JUNE 13 – 10 PM
FRIDAY, JUNE 30 – 5 PM with filmmaker Q+A!
(This event is $10.)

To properly contextualize Kostrov’s own place in the landscape of Russian art collectives would require a thorough historiography on the subject. Thankfully, Kostrov has done just that in this epic archival VHS accounting of Moscow squat culture. Beginning in the Soviet ‘80s and hypnotically colliding into the Putinist present halfway through, Kostrov traces a continuity of dreamers occupying the margins.

MONDAY, JUNE 5 – 7:30 PM with filmmaker Q+A! 
FRIDAY, JUNE 16 – 7:30 PM with filmmaker Q+A!
(These events are $10.)
SATURDAY, JUNE 24 – 10 PM

A solemn goodbye and an aquatic embrace of new beginnings. ORPHEUS forms its late-summer narrative from Kostrov’s return from Moscow to Nizhny Tagil to say farewell to his ex-partner Anya. While the director’s presence is always felt, his camera feels less like an intrusive element than an open space that allows Anya and other passing characters to perform and contemplate their changing worlds.

TUESDAY, JUNE 6 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, JUNE 10 – 3 PM with filmmaker Q+A!
(This event is $10.)
SATURDAY, JUNE 17 – 7:30 PM

The first of Kostrov’s concert film trilogy, NARODNAYA (which can translate to “folk”, “the people”, or “grassroots”) documents the explosive opening of the titular Tagil gallery with a set list of performances that includes hip-hop, rock, and bone-rattling noise. Kostrov’s camera eye is placed right in the center as a humble garage transforms into an energized microcosm of communal catharsis.

THURSDAY, JUNE 1 – 7:30 PM with filmmaker Q+A!
(This event is $10.)
SATURDAY, JUNE 17 – 10 PM 
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21 – 7:30 with filmmaker Q+A!
(This event is $10.)

Following the Narodnaya trilogy, Kostrov sets the summer as another starting point in the first installment of his autobiographical seasons cycle. SUMMER sees the director at 8-years-old as he spends the summer with his half-sister Christina. They watch passing thunderstorms, rendezvous with revelrous teenagers, and enjoy other transitory moments of restorative bliss.

BIOS

Vadim Kostrov shot his first feature-length documentary film Cherdak-Underground on VHS, telling the story of the Russian underground of the 1980s and 1990s. Returning regularly to the Urals, Vadim created Summer (2020), Winter (2021), and the documentary trilogy Narodnaya. Summer received a special jury mention at Sheffield Doc/Fest 2021, while his earlier work Orpheus (2019) was presented in the competition at FIDMarseille then the film was shown At RIDM (Montreal), Mar Del Plata international film festival and won Best Film at Black Canvas (Mexico City). In October 2021 the trilogy Narodanya (Narodnaya, After Narodnaya, Comet) premiered at Heart Beat Section at the 19th edition of Doclisboa as well as Winter which was shown in the International competition there. In March 2022 retrospective of Vadim’s films took place at FICUNAM (Mexico City) with Vadim Kostrov presenting 7 titles in person(Orpheus, Summer, Winter, Loft-Underground, Narodnaya, After Narodnaya, Comet) resulting in18 screenings, and 3 films (Orpheus, Summer, Winter) were presented online on MUBI.