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Papa Srapa

PAPA SRAPA is not a typical music documentary, but rather a condensed trip to the very heart of Noise. It is loaded with music that can hurt and heal, Russian weird avant-garde and savage vigor of its preeminent performer.

The film takes us to bizarre noise festivals and performances with ravers, tripsters and freaks immersing into worlds of sonic violence and ecstatic states of mind. Together with Papa we trace Noise back to 1920-s, binding it to early Soviet avant-garde figures, such as Dziga Vertov, Arseniy Avraamov and Nikolai Kulbin.

The craftsmаn should make his own tools - so Papa makes his of old Soviet radio components and cheap junk. We show it is not just about the way he plays them, using blood and saliva, but about the way he brings them to life. His weapons, known to the best part of Russian electronic musicians.

Our camera followed Papa Srapa at every step and turn. We sneaked into numerous dim rooms and spacious halls he was performing at, chased him to the eerie underworld of an abandoned factory. We listened to his liquored up revelations on the Soviet underground - and tasted of his doomsday DIY synth shrieking.

This film shows that Noise music was not born in Europe or Japan, but came to be as a bright child of a century-old tradition of Russian avant-garde.

  • Konstantin IvAnov
    Director
  • Nikita Kabardin
    Director
  • Damir Khalilov
    Writer
  • Nikita Kabardin
    Producer
  • Konstantin IvAnov
    Director of Photography
  • Eduard Srapionov
    Key Cast
    "Papa Srapa"
  • Vera Yudina
    Key Cast
  • Leonid Kotelnikov
    Key Cast
  • Vlad Kreimer
    Key Cast
  • Anatoly Rykh
    Key Cast
  • Denis Tretyakov
    Key Cast
  • Oleg Sitkovsky
    Key Cast
  • Maxim Berezin
    Key Cast
  • Tamara Ryazantseva
    Key Cast
  • Valentin Sohorev
    Key Cast
  • Tala Nikitina
    Key Cast
  • Oleg Bezlutsky
    Key Cast
  • Vera Barkalova
    Key Cast
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Папа Срапа
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Portrait, Music
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 14 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    February 23, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    7,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Sweden
  • Country of Filming:
    Russian Federation
  • Language:
    Russian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1:2,35
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Russian International Documentary Film Festival (Artdocfest)
    Moscow
    Russian Federation
    April 5, 2021
    Russian premier
    Official selection
  • Lausanne Underground Film & Music Festival (LUFF)
    Lausanne
    Switzerland
    October 20, 2021
    Europe Premier
    Official Selection
  • Kiev International Film Festival (KIFF)
    Kiev
    Ukraine
    May 21, 2021
    Ukranian Premier
    Official Selection
  • International Film Festival ZILANT
    Kazan
    Russian Federation
    February 20, 2021
    Official Selection
  • Best Istanbul Film Festival
    Istanbul
    Turkey
    May 1, 2021
    Turkey Premier
    Award Winner
  • MosFilmFest
    Moscow
    Russian Federation
    September 14, 2021
    Finalist
  • International Moving Film Festival
    Abadan
    Iran, Islamic Republic of
    December 27, 2021
    Semi Finalist
  • KinoDUEL International Film Festival
    Podolsk
    Russian Federation
    March 24, 2022
    Nominee
  • Sputnik Film Festival
    Warshaw
    Poland
    November 22, 2021
    Poland Premier
    Official Selection
  • Diametrale Film Festival
    Innsbruck
    Austria
    May 19, 2022
    Austrian premier
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Konstantin IvAnov, Nikita Kabardin

Director's duet of cameraman and programmer:

Konstantin Ivanov is a cameraman who worked with Alexander Mitta, Alexey German Jr., Vladimir Khotinenko, Ivan Vyrypaev and other directors. Graduate of St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Technology, workshop of Eduard Rozovsky and Sergei Astakhov, teaching cinematography at Lenfilm.

Nikita Kabardin is a programmer, engineer who has worked on projects such as the Battlefield games, Spotify and Groupon, and is seriously into avant-garde music and art in his spare time.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Papa Srapa is amazing, and our project began with the fact that we just realized that this is a phenomenon. We thought we were filming a movie about a musician, but now we are sure that this movie is about the main true representative of the century-old Russian musical tradition, which, ironically, no one knows about yet.

Surprisingly, it is the USSR that is the birthplace of industrial music. Back in the 1920s, Dziga Vertov recorded musical compositions from the sounds of a sawmill, and Arseny Avraamov created a symphony entirely consisting of the sounds of the city: factory whistles, whistling steam and the sounds of aircraft. With this film we want to show the world a modern representative of a century-old tradition who has dedicated his life to noise, performance and synthesis.

And we are lucky - Papa Srapa is an amazing character. He is a documentary filmmaker's dream. Turn on the camera and fix it. There will be everything. And incredible love stories. And fantastic horror stories reminiscent of footage from Lynch. And Soviet radio components in the underground. And the smoke of a soldering iron in a room that looks like a cyber shaman's cell.

Every person from Sweden or the USA or Brazil, but from anywhere, to whom we show just a few screenshots from our material, looks and says “wow, when will it be possible to watch it?”. This is because, believe me, few people have ever seen or imagined such a person as Papa Srapa.