Jan 17, 2011
SFFILM
How I Ended This Summer (Kak ya provyol etim letom, Russia 2010, SFIFF 2010), Alexei Popogrebsky’s vise-like psychological thriller set at a meteorological station on a remote Arctic island, opens Friday, February 25 on SFFS Screen at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas.
On a deserted, windswept Russian island inside the Arctic Circle, two men spend the summer working at a remote meteorological station. . . . Sergei, a gruff man in his 50s, is a polar veteran, used to solitude and now just about tolerating the inexperienced Pavel, a college graduate on a temporary posting. When Sergei leaves on a fishing trip, Pavel is slipshod in his reporting and, worse, he receives terrible news from the mainland. In beautifully minimalist fashion, director Alexei Popogrebsky has fashioned a taut psychological drama made all the more gripping by the isolation and desolation of its setting. Despite the evident rigors of location shooting, actors Sergei Puskepalis and Grigory Dobrygin give subtle, compelling performances, and the film also boasts striking cinematography and well-chosen music. -Sandra Hebron, London Film Festival
In a jury statement regarding the film’s award for Best Feature at the London Film Festival, Patricia Clarkson remarked, “The film turns the hunter-versus-hunted narrative on its head to provoke powerful questions about life and death, resilience and human compassion. Tense, moving and universal in its scope, this is a cinematic tour de force.”
Written by Alexei Popogrebsky. Photographed by Pavel Kostomarov. With Sergei Puskepalis, Grigory Dobrygin. In Russian with subtitles. 124 min. Distributed by Film Movement.
For screeners contact hilary@sffs.org
For photos and press materials visit: sffs.org/pressdownloads
At the Sundance Kabuki all seats are reserved, and an amenities fee is in effect for most shows. Tickets are available through the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas box office, at kiosks in the lobby and online at sundancecinemas.com/kabuki with print-at-home capability. San Francisco Film Society members receive discounted admission to SFFS Screen programs only and only at the box office, not online or at the lobby kiosks.
Coming Soon to SFFS Screen
February 4: The Time That Remains Spanning 60 years of history, Suleiman’s witty, elegiac film portrays the life of the director’s family and community known as Israeli Arabs, Palestinians who remained in Israel after its founding.
February 11: Come Undone Silvio Soldini’s film measures the day-by-day emotional cost of a love affair between a comfortably married accountant for a small insurance agency and a waiter with a wife and two young children.
February 18: And Everything Is Going Fine Steven Soderbergh’s assembled biographical tribute to Spalding Gray is as digressive and miraculously coherent as the monologues that are its principal inspiration.
March 4: Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives Part phantasmagorical masterpiece, part rural fable of the afterlife, the latest acclaimed film by celebrated Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul is a mystical meditation on the impermanence of life and death. Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
SFFS Screen, the innovative exhibition partnership with Sundance Cinemas, enables the Film Society to present its acclaimed film programs and events at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas year-round.
For full, complete and up-to-date information on all SFFS Screen programming, including buying tickets, visit sffs.org. Information and tickets are also available at sundancecinemas.com.