SHORT SYNOPSIS: Soviet Moscow in the late 1950’s- the space age begins with the launch of Sputnik 1. Irina - an octogenarian leading a dreary life in a cramped communal apartment is so far unaware of the of the concept of space travel….
Soviet Moscow in the late 1950’s- the space age begins with the launch of Sputnik 1 into orbit. Irina- an octogenarian leading a dreary life in a cramped communal apartment is so far unaware of the concept of space travel.  Increasingly shunned and marginalized by the other tenants of the apartment who are keen to see her disappear -she inhabits a tiny almost closet-like room the flimsy walls of which keep inching inwards.
Escaping the oppressive noise from neighbouring rooms in the night, Irina seeks solace in the kitchen radio. She plays with dial until she hears the far off melancholy bleep of Sputnik- glancing out the window she catches a silver streak across the sky – a beacon that promises a world beyond the grey walls of the communal flat. 

This project was borne out of my childhood experiences of growing up in Moscow and a lifelong fascination for Russian history and culture.  The film’s aesthetic was not only informed by my recollections of the Soviet landscape and people, but also by the Russian books, films, cartoons and art I was exposed to as a child. The muted colour pallete and dim lighting was not only drawn from my memories of the cramped interiors of apartment blocks in Moscow but from the visual language of the great Russian animators and directors such as Yuri Norstein, Andrei Tarkovsky and Aleksei German. I wanted to make a film that was at once intrinisically ‘russian’ but that also told a universal story of human loneliness and old age.
www.katherinehearst.com, www.behance.net/katherinehearst

RCA Debut Show 29 JUN 2015