No Place for Fools

Oleg Mavromatti / Russia, United States, Bulgaria / 2014 / Czech Premiere / 87 min.

synopsis

The internet, madness, and old and new Russia - these are the touchpoints of this film standing at the fine line between performance and raw documentary. Sergei Astahov is a mentally disabled man who spends most of his time closed up in his Moscow flat, sending his messages out into the world in the form of videoblogs. For a single man, the camera becomes his sole partner and repetitive speaking a demonstration of life. In his missives, he confesses his homosexuality, his admiration for President Putin, and his belief in the Orthodox faith. Paradoxically, his mind is the meeting point for all the extremes of the Russian world, which has no place for the mentally ill.

DETAIL:
“I, Astahov, Sergiy, am a Russian’s Russian. I live in the capital, in the city of Moscow, in the capital of our country of Russia, Russ’ and the Russian Federation. I know all the laws and the laws of God.”

biography

Oleg Mavromatti is a Russian artist, filmmaker, and performer who has earned fame for his controversial artistic projects. For carrying out an actual crucifixion during the filming of his unfinished film Oil on Canvas, he was sentenced to several years in prison in 2000, and is currently living in exile. In a project entitled Ally/Foe (2010), voters decided in an internet poll whether to give the death sentence to the artist strapped into an electric chair. He gained international recognition for his dystopian film Bastards (2000), about young people in contemporary Russia.

more about film

director:	Oleg Mavromatti
producer:	Boryana Rossa, Andrei Silvestrov
script:	Oleg Mavromatti
photography:	Oleg Mavromatti
editing:	Oleg Mavromatti, Boryana Rossa
sound:	Andrei Guryanov