Description
A short but highly expressive chronicle of life in a camp for troubled adolescents. Criminal songs, collectivism, faith in corrective labour and lofty ideals, theft and chastity. Difficult Lads captures the atmosphere of the era, the mood and the social contrasts of Leningrad in the 1960s Thaw. At the same time, it tries to understand why the radiant energy of youth sometimes leads to destructive ends.
About the director:
Mikhail Litvyakov
Documentary director and one of the central figures of the LSDF. Born in 1938 in Pushkin. After VGIK he worked from 1965 as a director at the Leningrad Studio of Documentary Film. In 1989 he founded the Message to Man Film Festival; he is now its Honorary President.