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SUNLESS CITY
GOROD BEZ SOLNTSA

Drama, 2005, Russia, 101 min, 35 mm, Color, 1:1.85, Dolby Digital

Production and Sales:

KINO PLUS
21-18 Bolshaya Morskaya
St. Petersburg 191186 Russia
Tel/fax +7 812 314 87 03
Email: domkinoplus@mail.ru

Synopsis

Egor meets Lucy after he accidentally brushes her with his car. Lucy is an artist and amateur actress in a children's theatre. Egor is an engineer at a tobacco factory. They are from different worlds, but it is this difference that attracts them to each other. Lucy invites Egor to "Sunless City", a performance art piece presented by her brother Alex. While black and white photos of St. Petersburg are projected on the walls of a big cube, artificial rain falls on the umbrellas held by the spectators inside. Alex perceives human life as a "sunless city". Alex has AIDS, but he hides his illness from everyone except Lucy. The overriding atmosphere of decadence at the after-party depresses Egor. He feels sorry for the people around him, but they don't need his compassion - they are all quite content, including the charming Lucy. Egor is infatuated with her and they become lovers. But soon he finds out that Lucy is addicted to drugs. Egor losses himself in his efforts to save Lucy.

CAST

Lucy - Julia Mavrina

Egor - Maxim Averin

Alex - Sergei Bezrukov

Semyon - Semyon Furman

Carina - Julia Kamanina

Sexton - Nikolai Trofimov

Probationer - Maxim Gudkov

Doctor - Alexander Bolshakov

Constantine - Kirill Korolev

Critic - Mikhail Trofimenkov

Salesgirl - Anna Duris

Captain - Dmitri Masyukov

Clown Igor - Igor Hertzev

Clown Sergei - Sergei Potemkin

CREW

Directed by Sergei Potemkin

Original Screenplay by Igor Hertzev, Sergei Potemkin

Produced by Vitali Potemkin

D.O.P. and Camera Operator Sergei Yurizditsky

Production and Costume Designer Olga Rostrosta

Editor Leda Semyonova

Original Music by Sergei Schurakov

Original Music Performed by "Vermicelli Orchestra"

Non-Original Music by "Chufella Marzufella":

Sound Designer Leonid Lerner

Sound Mixing by Vladimir Persov

Makeup Artists Ludmila Chumakova, Tatiana Pavlova, Svetlana Rassohina

Photos of St. Petersburg by Kirill Efimov

Festivals

Karlovy Vary, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sofia, Bradford, Milan, Prague, Molodist (Kyiv), Sochi, Stalker (Moscow), Golden Knight (Chelyabinsk), Vyatka, etc.

Awards

Festival of Festivals, St. Petersburg - Prize of Creative Support

Vyatka Festival - Best Feature

Stalker Festival, Moscow - McArthur Foundation Prize

Director Sergei Potemkin

Sergei Potemkin was born in St. Petersburg in 1978. Since 1997 Sergei has worked as a film journalist for the St. Petersburg TV program CINEMA HOUSE. He studied directing at the State University of Film and Television. In 1997 and 1999 he interned on two films by Krzysztof Zanussi. His short film THE MACHINE IS HERE (2001), starring the great Russian actor Nikolai Trofimov and with music by Oleg Karavaichyk, was successfully screened at film festivals including Karlovy Vary, Moscow, Mannheim-Heidelberg, Clermont-Ferrand, Warsaw, and Bilbao. In 2003 and 2005 he participated at the Berlinale Talent Campus.

DOM "KINO PLUS" FUND, Production Company

The DOM "KINO PLUS" FUND was founded in 1997 by the leading cineastes of Russia: director Alexei Guerman (Honorary President), scriptwriter Rustam Ibraguimbekov, director Sergei Soloviev, Vice Minister of Culture Vladimir Malyshev and producer Vitali Potemkin (President). The Fund produces the TV program CINEMA HOUSE for St. Petersburg TV as well as creative documentaries dedicated to men of art and cinema. It has made documentaries about Andrzey Wajda, Gina Lollobrigida, Jane Fonda, Ettore Scola, Tonino Guerra, Liliana Cavani, Annie Girardot, as well as many Russian directors and actors. In 2000 the FUND co-produced Konstantin Lopushansky's feature THE TURN OF THE CENTURY and in 2001 produced Sergei Potemkin's short THE MACHINE IS HERE. Since 2002 the Fund presents the "Our Contemporary Award" to the most outstanding men of art. Directors Andrzej Wajda, Roman Polanski, composer Krzysztof Penderecki, and the actors of legendary Tovstonogov's theatre company have received the award. In 2005 KINO PLUS released Sergei Potemkin's feature SUNLESS CITY.