Granny

Lidia Bobrova's personal appearance on behalf of her debut, “Hey You, Wild Geese” (16th CIFF, 1992) is a treasured Festival memory. We are honored to present her third feature, another unadorned, tremendously moving look at ordinary Russians outside modern sprawls of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Grandmother Tosia is an embodiment of Russia's hardy stock. She endured through Sovietization, the Great Patriotic War, purges and Perestroika. And she knows the old folk songs and hymns. That counts for nothing when her son-in-law Ivan declares her a burden and sends Tosia packing, first to stay with her aged sister in the countryside, then with the now-adult nieces, nephews and grandchildren she helped raise. Some, like chic, divorced TV commentator Lisa, prosper in the capitalist economy as “new Russia”; others have fallen victim to circumstances and their own flaws, like alcoholic Victor. None of them seem willing or able to make room for Granny in their lives now. While Tosia is a distinct cultural archetype (she could be Mother Russia herself), ponder whether our own elders are treated any better in the West. (In Russian with English subtitles)