Vasili SIGAREV
Василий СИГАРЕВ
Vassili SIGAREV
Russia, 2012, 119mn 
Colour, fiction
Living
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Жить

 

 Vivre

 Zhit

 
Directed by : Vasili SIGAREV (Василий СИГАРЕВ)
Writing credits : Vasili SIGAREV (Василий СИГАРЕВ)
 
Cast
Yana TROYANOVA (Яна ТРОЯНОВА)
Yana SEKSTE (Яна СЕКСТЕ)
Yevgeni SYTY (Евгений СЫТЫЙ)
Olga LAPCHINA (Ольга ЛАПШИНА)
 
Cinematography : Alisher KHAMIDKHODZHAEV (Алишер ХАМИДХОДЖАЕВ)
Music : Pavel DODONOV (Павел ДОДОНОВ)
Produced by : Roman BORISEVICH (Роман БОРИСЕВИЧ), Aleksandr KUSHAYEV (Александр КУШАЕВ)
Production : Koktebel Film Company
Film revenue in Russia : 0.113 million dollars
 

Awards :
First prize Festival of Central and Eastern Film , Wiesbaden (Germany), 2012
FIPRESCI Prize Festival of Central and Eastern Film , Wiesbaden (Germany), 2012
Best directing Open Russian Film Festival Kinotavr, Sochi (Russia), 2012
Best Cinematography Alisher KHAMIDKHODZHAEV , Open Russian Film Festival Kinotavr, Sochi (Russia), 2012
Guild of Historians of Cinema and Film Critics Prize Open Russian Film Festival Kinotavr, Sochi (Russia), 2012
Second Award Sputnik nad Polska, Warsaw (Poland), 2012
Best Cinematography Alisher KHAMIDKHODZHAEV , Award "White Elephant", Moscow (Russia), 2012
Best Actress in a Supporting Role Olga LAPCHINA , Award "White Elephant", Moscow (Russia), 2012

Plot synopsis
It is already a challenge to make a film on death and call it Living. But Sigarev fearlessly gets to the very heart of things, where life, death, God, love and the imagination form an indestructible whole. A harsh and sometimes brutal experience, but catharsis will follow.
Source : filmfestivalrotterdam.com
 

Commentaries and bibliography
Horreur et tragédie: huit films russo-soviétiques pour une soirée d’Halloween réussie, RUSSIA BEYOND, 2022
Les sept meilleurs films consacrés à la réalité russe, Ekaterina SINELCHTCHIKOVA, RUSSIA BEYOND, 2019
Vivre (Жить) Sigarev sous le sable, Emmanuel GRYNSZPAN, grincine.blogspot.com, 2013
Федерация Киноклубов России выбрала любовь., Larisa OSTROVSKAYA, Федерация Киноклубов России, 2013
В Роттердаме показали фильм Василия Сигарева Жить, filmyonli.ru, 2012
Жить и умирать [О фильме Жить Василия СИГАРЕВА ], Mariya TOKMASHEVA, ria.ru, 2012
Vasilii Sigarev: Living (Zhit’, 2012), Julian GRAFFY, kinokultura.com, 2012
 
Vasily Sigarev's second feature, after his acclaimed Wolfy, is an existential portrait of protagonists living in a wintry Russian province. A mother wants to reunite with her twin daughters. A young couple marry in church, but immediately after the ceremony, God - or maybe the Devil, or maybe Blind Fate - tests their love in the most brutal way. A boy wants to see his estranged father, despite his mother's violent protests. Each of these characters lives through their own ordeal. Among all the sorrows imaginable, Sigarev focuses on the most devastating: death. Without any sentimentality, but with brutal sincerity, he has made a fiercely personal yet artistically crafted film on the complexity of being. A prominent author of extremely truthful plays written in the tradition of 'new drama', Sigarev takes his art a few steps further by meticulously depicting the bleak routine of everyday life, while at the same time searching for something hidden beneath its surface. He tackles a fundamental question: Is there catharsis in life, and therefore in art? If so, can our sorrows be healed? And if not, how can one escape despair and go on living? An enigma that transforms this 'realistic' film into a universal parable, revealing a mystery and even - in spite of all the bleakness - a miracle.
Source : filmfestivalrotterdam.com

Selected in the following festivals or events :
- Russian film symposium. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh (USA), 2014
- Helsinki International Film Festival, Helsinki (Finland), 2013
- Lecce European Film Festival, Lecce (Italy), 2013
- Transilvania International Film Festival : TIFF, Cluj Napoca (Romania), 2013
- International Film Festival Tarkovski, Ivanovo (Russia), 2013
- "NIKA" Prizes, Moscow (Russia), 2013
- Art Film Festival, Trencin (Slovakia), 2013
- Göteborg International Film Festival, Göteborg (Sweden), 2013
- Yerevan International Film Festival "Golden Apricot", Yerevan (Armenia), 2012
- Festival of Central and Eastern Film , Wiesbaden (Germany), 2012
- Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Thessaloniki (Greece), 2012
- Rotterdam International Film Festival, Rotterdam (Netherlands), 2012
- Sputnik nad Polska, Warsaw (Poland), 2012
- Award "White Elephant", Moscow (Russia), 2012
- Festival "Vivat Kino Rossii", St Petersburg (Russia), 2012
- "Vyborg" Russian Film Festival (formerly ''A Window to Europe''), Vyborg (Russia), 2012
- Independant European Film Festival VOICES, Vologda (Russia), 2012
- International Film Festival of the Commonwealth Countries "Moscow Premiere", Moscow (Russia), 2012
- Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), Moscow (Russia), 2012
- Open Russian Film Festival Kinotavr, Sochi (Russia), 2012
- International Human Rights Film Festival, Moscow (Russia), 2012
- Award "White Elephant", Moscow (Russia), 2012
- Odessa International Film Festival, Odessa (Ukraine), 2012
- The Times BFI London Film Festival, London (United Kingdom), 2012
- Russian Film Festival, London (United Kingdom), 2012

Photos and videos