16.11.2025 at 14:30. Secret [mis]communication system 2 | Dar band / Citizen-Inmate | Insomnia | The Birches | The Spectacle | The Death of a Hero | Neva | Like Horses Standing in the Rain, Kazan, The Smena Centre for Contemporary Culture

Time and place

Sunday, 16 November 2025 at 14:30

Kazan, The Smena Centre for Contemporary Culture: Казань, Бурхана Шахиди, 7

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Description

Insomnia

Genres: Documentary, Short-length

Director: Artyom Senkovsky, Xenia Gaun

Year: 2025

Country: Russia

Duration: 9 min.

Languages: Russian

Description

World premiere

A train carries sleeping passengers. The monotonous clatter of wheels marks the journey’s progress. What lies ahead, and how long will this night endure? No one knows. There is only memory. Or a dream. Or delirium.

About the director:

Artyom Senkovsky
Filmmaker. Born in 1998 in Izhevsk. In 2020, he graduated with distinction from the Faculty of Journalism. He then enrolled in the general directing workshop at the St. Petersburg School of New Cinema. In 2023, he directed his debut live-action short film, Garden.

Xenia Gaun
Cinematographer, director. Born in 1999 in Tobolsk. After four years studying journalism in St. Petersburg, she enrolled in the general directing workshop at the St. Petersburg School of New Cinema in 2021. In her first year, she worked as cinematographer on four short films and, after graduating in 2023, shot another film as director of photography.

In 2024, the filmmakers competed in the International Competition of the 34th Message to Man International Film Festival with their short documentary Great People.

Dar band / Citizen-Inmate

Genres: Documentary, Short-length

Director: Hesam Eslami

Screenwriter: Hesam Eslami

Producer: Hesam Eslami

Producer company : Aras Films

Year: 2025

Country: Iran

Duration: 15 min.

Languages: Farsi

Description

Russian premiere

The electronic monitoring has transformed Tehran into a digital panopticon. But what happens when the roles are reversed and the focus is turned on the surveillants?

About the director:

Hesam Eslami
Tehran-based filmmaker, directing and producing documentaries for international television and cinema since 2013. He earned his BFA and MA in Cinema from the Tehran University of Art. His recent work focuses on the margins of Iranian society, including 20th Circuit Suspects (Hot Docs, 2017), The Marriage Project (Visions du Réel, 2020), and A Band of Dreamers and a Judge (IDFA, 2023).

Like Horses Standing in the Rain

Genres: Experimental, Short-length

Director: Nicolaas Schmidt

Year: 2024

Country: Germany

Duration: 16 min.

Languages: German

Description

Russian premiere

It’s Christmas. Train stations are decorated in a glitzy glow, the times are festive…

A Docu Essay about tradition and resignation. How long does one have until considering oneself not only deviant, but sick? How long can each individual endure this state? How long can we all as community still endure?

A Capitalist Realism Questioning. A Hold On Christmas Diary.

About the director:

Nicolaas Schmidt
Filmmaker, video and concept artist based in Hamburg. He studied Fine Arts, Time-Based Media, and Visual Communication/Film at Hamburg University of Fine Arts. His works have been presented at international film festivals and art institutions. Schmidt’s Sence+Innocence received the Jury Diploma of the In Silico competition in 2011.

Neva

Genres: Experimental, Short-length

Director: Elizaveta Zharikova

Year: 2025

Country: Russia

Duration: 10 min.

Languages: no dialogue

Description

In various states and forms (liquid, vapour, ice; raw and refined stone), the elements of this union aim to evoke, with a near-tactile chill on the skin, a multifaceted St. Petersburg: austere and enigmatic, monolithic yet secretive. Water and stone—two opposing forces—merge through human will, not to destroy one another but to create something marvellous. At a certain point, the boundary between ice and granite dissolves: ancient ammonites, once dwellers of the seas, turn to stone; the river’s icy veneer cracks like an old embankment. Out of mist or blizzard, Petrograd emerges before us.

About the director:

Elizaveta Zharikova
Filmmaker. A student at the St. Petersburg State University of Film and Television, workshop led by Alexander Markov and Maria Popritsak. In her work, she often turns to the theme of memory, weaving together archives, interpretations, and dreams in search of a single recollection—whether forgotten or not yet lived.

Secret [mis]communication system 2

Genres: Experimental, Short-length

Director: Nikita Spiridonov

Operator: Vlad Chizhenkov and Nikita Spiridonov

Screenwriter: Nikita Spiridonov

Editor: Vlad Chizhenkov and Nikita Spiridonov

Composer: Fedor Vetkalov

Year: 2024

Country: Russia

Duration: 8 min.

Languages: Russian

Description

The “secret [mis]communication system 2” is a part of a diptych that emerged at the intersection of musical systems and military technology. “Secret Communication System” is a patent by composer George Antheil and Hollywood actress Hedy Lamarr, registration № US 2292387 This technology is based on the transmission of information by random radio frequencies with the principle of a mechanical piano. The musical composition “Signal” is an homage to “Signal System” series painted by Yuri Zlotnikov (based on the study of an impact of a painting on a person). Composer Fedor Vetkalov recorded “Signal” with Virtual ANS — a digital replica of the photoelectronic optical synthesizer ANS by military engineer Yevgeny Murzin.

About the director:

Nikita Spiridonov
Artist, composer, curator, and founder of the u/n multitude collective. In the context of the artistic practice of u/n multitude, he explored the political dimension of sound, creating performances and political scores. As a video artist, Spiridonov continues to take historical events as a starting point and investigates the difficulties of memory work along with the ways of remembering. Spiridonov is a participant of numerous exhibitions, including: Orchestras (Solyanka Gallery, Moscow, 2016), Notes for Tomorrow (diverse cities, 2021-2025), Limits of visibility (CCA Winzavod, Moscow, 2025). He participated in the In Silico competition of Message to Man IFF with Volga Song (2020), Dots, Lines and Zigzag (2022) and Meat Grinder 2 (2024). He was a jury member of the In Silico competition in 2023.

The Birches

Genres: Feature, Short-length

Director: Maria Sergeeva-Kashlachyova

Operator: Nikita Sergeev

Screenwriter: Maria Sergeeva-Kashlachyova

Cast: Ekaterina Reshetnikova, Tatiana Samarina, Alisa Slepyan

Producer: Nikita Sergeev

Year: 2025

Country: Russia

Duration: 27 min.

Languages: Russian

Description

Olga travels to her native village to visit her mother, with whom she hasn’t spoken in years. Her mother, the village’s “whisperer,” is sought out by those in need of help when all else fails.

About the director:

Maria Sergeeva-Kashlachyova
Director, screenwriter. Born in Berdsk, Novosibirsk Oblast. Graduated in 2022 from the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts, Department of Film and Television Directing, under the mentorship of Boris Gersht and Anna Boguslavskaya. Student directorial works include Silt (2021), The Land Under Snow (2022).

The Spectacle

Genres: Feature, Short-length

Director: Bálint Kenyeres

Operator: Thimios Bakatakis

Screenwriter: Bálint Kenyeres

Cast: Vilmos Jónás, Jolika Józsefné Oláh, Soma Sándor

Producer: Anna Bartók, Zita Kisgergely, Tamás Hutlassa

Producer company : Anabanana

Year: 2025

Country: Hungary-France

Duration: 17 min.

Languages: Hungarian

Description

Russian premiere

A young Roma boy is chosen for a television feature after word spreads of his unusual gift. As expectations rise, his quiet talent faces the harsh glare of media scrutiny. What follows is a quiet unraveling – for him, and for those around him.

About the director:

Bálint Kenyeres
Filmmaker born in 1976 in Budapest. After studying philosophy, film history, and film theory, he graduated as a film director from the Budapest Film and Theatre Academy in 2006. Since then, he has been a member of the European Film Academy. His film Closing Time premiered at the Venice Film Festival and was selected for more than 30 other festivals. His short Before Dawn was in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 2005, won a Jury Prize at Sundance, and received the European Film Academy Prix UIP for Best European Short in 2006. His third short, The History of Aviation, premiered at Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes in 2009 and was selected for 50 film festivals. Bálint’s first feature Hier, a European co-production, premiered in Competition at the Locarno Film Festival in 2018.

En hjältes död / The Death of a Hero

Genres: Feature, Short-length

Director: Karin Franz Körlof

Operator: Ari Willey

Screenwriter: Karin Franz Körlof

Cast: Svante Malm, Hulda Lind Jóhannsdóttir, Weine Johansson

Producer: Hanna Hannerz Simå, Elin Bennett

Producer company : Nordantill film

Year: 2024

Country: Sweden

Duration: 15 min.

Languages: Swedish

Description

Russian premiere

Sensational news: a young man plans to jump from a church belfry to reignite the waning interest in religion among the congregation.

About the director:

Karin Franz Körlof
Screenwriter, actress and director. Educated at the Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts, she has acted in numerous films, TV productions and plays. Karin has written and directed four short films as well as one play, Barbienazisten (The Barbie Nazi).