A remote village in the North-West of Russia. A mental asylum is located in an old wooden house. The place and its inhabitants seem to be untouched by civilisation. In this pristine setting no articulate human voice is heard, and pain is muted.

How long did it take to make your short? Was it difficult to get financing? I filmed the footage back in 2001, when I was making the documentary SETTLEMENT in a mental asylum. The material spent ten years in my archive until I finally had time and resources to edit it and to finance post-production. I invested my own money into this film. In fact, it was the first film produced by my company ATOMS & VOID. Which thoughts come to mind concerning a “European cinema community”? When I hear the words “European cinema community” all thoughts escape me... If you owned a theatre for one night, which films would you screen? SLEEP by Andy Warhol What is your next project? BABI YAR – a feature film about the murder of Jews in the Ukraine in 1941. I will shoot it next summer. I am also working on a short documentary film about Sarajevo.