PERM-MISSION

Perm, Russia. A documentary maker travels to the bottom of the Urals after an invitation by a local film festival. Usually this travelling filmmaker does not reflect on his medium, but this time he takes film and filming as his subject. Far removed from Europe and Moscow a new generation of enthusiastic Russian filmmakers break unexpected ground: they swear by Flaherty and abhor Vertov. Their heated film-theoretical debates at –25°C rewrite cinematic history as thoroughly as Perestroika altered world they live in.