Dark Sky. White Clouds. (2015)

It is a philosophical poetic full-length documentary film on childhood and the following life that gradually robs grown-ups from all that was given to a child - tenderness, trust, a sense of beauty, and true freedom. The film is based on the comparison of personal and historical experiences from Russia and Sweden, but, in fact, it is about the path each of us follows... Through the entire film we pursue the story of the great children's author Astrid Lindgren (her daughter Karin took part in the film). The books of Lindgren teach us how to be happy and change the world around us. According to these principles, a children's film studio "Poisk" was established forty years ago in Siberia. In this studio, children create amazing cartoons with their own hands, regularly winning awards at film festivals. Yet, the surrounding world lives according to its own laws: the famous studio is located in old barracks, and its exhausted Director Petr Anofrikov (a descendant of the Dutch enlighteners, repressed by Stalin) struggles during decades with the bureaucrats over the construction of a new building for the studio. One of the most famous cartoonists of the world, Yuri Norstein, tries to help him, but his destiny is even more complicated despite his international fame and awards. In the course of the narrative, these stories turn into a metaphor of the humanistic attitude to childhood, culture, and each other, which is relevant on a large part of the Earth.