Life in Art

This is a story about us, about the creators of this film, about fragile and vulnerable artists, living somewhere deep inside. Work on this film lasted about three years. During this time, the story managed to influence our own lives, seeping out of the confines of the film itself. We started to encounter the same problems, and to be subjected to the same events. Trying to stay true to the original idea but also acknowledging the influence that it began having over us, we tried to keep a safe distance between ourselves, the creators, and our characters. What we hoped to accomplish was something similar to what Brecht called the « alienation effect. » We plunged our heroes into a world that they made up themselves, an enchanted and absurd world, a world of artists, a timeless space in which the same problems of joy and despair are endlessly lived through. There, the game is played by different rules than the ones that govern life. We didn’t try to imitate life. We wanted to understand, we searched for a way to convey what is most important to us today, without using typical methods and without drowning in our own feelings. Russian theater and film have a tradition and culture of deep emotion. We wanted to take leave of this tone and try telling a story as simply and ironically as possible. You might say that our film is a collection of our thoughts and questions. It is our attempt to enter the timeless conversation about what it means to be an artist in this world.