SHORT GRAND PRIX COMPETITION

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE

CIVIL STATUS

(GRAJDANSKOE SOSTOIANIE)

Russia, 2006, 29 min., Russian

Director: Alina Rudnitskaya
Producer: Viacheslav Telenov
Script: Alina Rudnitskaya
Cinematography: Alexander Filippov
Editing: Larisa Solovcova
Sound: Alexey Antonow
Production company: St. Petersburg Documentary Film Studio
Print Source:
Werkleitz Gesellschaft e.V.
Marcel Schwierin
Schleifweg 6,
D-06114 Halle (Saale)
Germany
Tel.: +49 345 68246-0
Fax: +49 345 68246-29
e-mail: marcel@schwierin.de
www.werkleitz.de



Civil Status

The ladies of the civil registry office in St. Petersburg have the strange fortune to be privy to people’s most personal moments. From marriages to divorces and from births to deaths these women see it all and usually all in one day. In this antiseptic windowless bureau, staffed with dead-pan female clerks (all married as per office rules) we witness young brides enthusiastically pledging forever, grieving widows looking for closure, mothers with screaming babies and nervous couples ready to call it quits. Shot it black and white this whimsical, yet profound film looks like something out of the 1960’s, but the emotion present – from infuriated husbands demanding a divorce to intimate whispers form a wife swearing she wasn’t unfaithful – is timeless. Ultimately, the rigid structure of bereaucracy governs all these human moments where missed signatures, improper forms and incorrect filing disrupt people’s lives. “It’s like a theater in here,” one of the over-worked clerks comments, “every minute something happens.”

Alina Rudnitskaya was born in Zaozenryj near Murmansk, Russia. She is a graduate of the Academy of Aerospace Engineering in St. Petersburg (1997) as well as the St. Petersburg University of Arts and Culture’s Department of Film Directing (2001). She has joined St. Petersburg Documentary film Studio as a director. Resides and works in St. Petersburg.

Filmography (selected):

The Sound of Raspberries (2006);
Civil Status (2006), Main Award in Oberhausen 2006;
Besame Mucho (2006);
Amazons (2003);
Communal Residence (2002);
Driving Mad (2002);
Rural Lessons (2001).

SUNDAY, APRIL 1 AT 3:00 PM./FACETS CINEMATHEQUE

SCREENING WITH MY HUSBAND ANDREI SAKHAROW

MONDAY, APRIL 2 AT 4:00 PM,/THE WILMETTE THEATRE

SCREENING WITH MY HUSBAND ANDREI SAKHAROW

TUESDAY, APRIL 3 AT 3:00 PM./CHOPIN THEATRE

SCREENING WITH MY HUSBAND ANDREI SAKHAROW