The Road Movie

ARTDOCFEST RIGA

Super-objective dashboardcam videos grow into a strong image of Russian national character with its permanent awaiting for the miracle and habitual approach to real dramas. Everything can happen on Russian roads. Everything can happen on the road of life.

If you like car crash compilations and Russians with foul mouths, you will love this fascinating mosaic of asphalt adventures and landscape photography, in which video footage from a variety of dashboard cameras presents the absurd and frightening nature of Russia. Alongside a series of bizarre car accidents on the country’s roads, the dashboard cameras also capture other spectacles through the windshield, such as a hysterical wedding guest, a confused man and a horse-drawn sleigh. More than once, angry motorists brandish axes, pistols or sledgehammers at the camera, and at times the camera itself seems to come to life, when it is chucked out of the car or stolen by someone breaking in. The footage of spectacular trips through a forest fire, tall snowdrifts or flooded streets is almost poetic – and what’s that up there in the sky? Is it a plane crashing, or could it be a comet? Bemused commentary from unseen drivers and passengers or the sound of the car radio provides unintentionally comical moments. Would someone please call 911?

SCREENINGS
11/09
The Road Movie