Civil Status
Asia Pacific Premiere
Grajdanskoe Sostoianie / Russia 2005 / 29min. Russian with English subtitles.
Director Alina Rudnitskaya
The St. Petersburg Civil Registry Office has the strange fortune to be privy to people’s most personal moments. Shot in black and white this whimsical, yet profound film looks like a 1960’s film, but the emotion present is timeless from infuriated husbands demanding a divorce to intimate whispers from a wife swearing she wasn’t unfaithful, young brides enthusiastically pledging vows and grieving widows looking for closure. Ultimately, the rigid structure of bureaucracy 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.”
Find similar films by topic: Experimental, Social/Human Interest
Awards
In Competition DOCNZ 2007
- Grand Prix, Belgrade 07
- Big Stamp Award for Best International Film, ZagrebDox 07
- Best Statement About the Eternal Spirit of Classical Cinema, Teatr_Doc Moscow 07
- Best Documentary, Interfilm Berlin 06
- Honourable Mention, Uppsala ISFF 06
- Special Mention, Winterthur 06
- City of Stuttgart Grand Prix, Kinoblick 06
- Grand Prix (Drama), Greek SFF 06
- Award Onda Curta, Vilado Conde 06
- Honourable Mention, Norwegian SFF 06
- First Prize, Documenta Madrid 06
- First Prize (International Jury) and Special Mention (Ecumenical Jury), Oberhausen ISFF 06