Film Comment:
A New Land
Astrid and Lara tell their love story: Astrid from Berlin had the dream of founding a circus for street children in St. Petersburg, Russia, where she met Larissa, a theater director from Siberia. Larissa shared Astrid's dream, they started working together and… fell in love.
Astrid and Lara now live and work together in St. Petersburg and have forgotten about what's going on 'outside'. They're living their dream together with the children. But when they step outside of the “new land” they have created for themselves, they encounter difficulties. A banal, routine visa problem gives them trouble, so they decide to get married. But this decision catapults them headlong into a series of barriers – a marathon run through German and Russian bureaucratic procedure.
It's not only the state offices throwing wrenches into the works; the prospect of saying 'I do' also leads the women to reflect upon questions of personal identity, their relationship, and how the prejudices of friends and relatives affect them and their relationship.
The filmmakers accompany Astrid and Larissa for three months in Berlin and St. Petersburg, drawing an intimate portrait of the two women and their unusual-usual love story.
This film is not available in Russia.
Credits
Original Title: Ein neues Land
Language:
Russian original version with German subtitles
Country of Origin: Germany
Year : 2004
Duration: 35 Min.
Color
Director: Kerstin Nickig
Script: Kerstin Nickig
Camera: Andre Frenzel, Nikolai Kanow, Kerstin Nickig
Editing: Karoline Schulz
Sound: Kerstin Nickig
Music: Zemfira, Schubi Dubi
Starring/Featuring: Larissa Afanassjewa , Astrid Schorn
Production: Michael Truckenbrodt
Festivals: 2007: identities, Wien (A); Bimovie 11, München (D); 2005:
Awards: 2005: Publikumspreis, schwul/lesbischen Filmfestivals, Hannover
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About the Film
Their work brought Astrid and Larissa together. In St. Petersburg they developed a circus project with street kids. In this Russian metropolis, approximately 40,000 children live on the streets. Their circus project enables some of these kids to gain a new outlook on life. It's also more than just a job for Astrid and Larissa; the project represents their bid to create their own, private world; a refuge in an environment that is otherwise unfriendly to minorities and other outsider groups. This documentary takes a look at their self-made 'safe haven', which can't really protect them from the outside world. For one thing, visa problems soon make traveling between Germany and Russia difficult.
So the women decide
to exchange vows in Germany, a decision that sees them facing one hurdle after another as they navigate through all the official red tape. It's a serious challenge that puts their relationship to the test. As we follow the lives of these two women, we subtly become aware of the travails that gays and lesbians still face in Russia today. We see first hand how these prejudices effect the relationship between the two women.
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