Competitionfilms a-z

The Shadow of your Smile

D, ED: Alexei Dmitriev
RUS 2014, OS, 3‘5

 

A cassette is inserted into the video player, the old grainy tape contains scenes from a porno film, re-assembled, the soundtrack is an instrumental version of the song “The Shadow of Your Smile”. This ballad was written for the film “The Sandpiper” in 1965. The critics slated both the film and the song as kitsch, although the movie earned more than ten million dollars and so was similarly lucrative to the genre from which Dmitriev has now borrowed. Talking about his inspiration for this film, he says: “I was watching a porn film for recreational purposes in which I saw a laughing girl whose partners were clearly uncomfortable with the fact that she was having fun. So I decided to make a film that explores the female beauty in a pornographic environment.”

Alexei Dmitriev was born in Russia in 1986. He used to teach English and literature, and now works as a visual artist, curator and programmer. He previously made the short films “Abstract?” (2009) and “Dubus” (2005).

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