ON THIS LAND
2024, Russia, 99 min., b/w, o. v. — Russian, documentary, full-length
Director Renata Dzhalo
In the late 18th century, a runaway peasant who has taken refuge in a village attempts to take flight with homemade wings, but the locals disapprove of the audacious ideas of this Russian Icarus. This world is steeped in superstition: holy fools are shunned, a traveling actress is killed, twin sisters are separated, with one condemned for the other’s illness. In this black-and-white phantasmagoria, history merges with mythology, echoing the great works of literature.