The Vanished Empire (Ischeznuvshaya imperiya, Russia 2008), Karen Shakhnazarov’s beautiful coming-of-age story set at the brink of the end of the Soviet Empire, opens Friday, October 23 on SFFS Screen at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas.

“In The Vanished Empire, Karen Shakhnazarov, a prolific and under-recognized Russian filmmaker with a surrealist touch, views the collapse of the Soviet Union as an inevitable conflation of the younger generation’s natural impulse to reject the past and of the seductive power of a monolithic pop culture that can seep through the most rigidly patrolled borders. The movie doesn’t strain for symbolism, but you might view Sergey, wonderfully played by Alexander Lyapin, as the embodiment of a young generation of Russians recklessly barging into an unforeseeable future. He is the ringleader of a group of three close friends, including Kostya (Ivan Kupreyenko), the bass player in a local rock band, and the earnest, geeky Stepan (Yegor Baranovsky), who share the usual excruciating postadolescent rites of passage.

This wise, elegiac film embraces a view of history that is more far-reaching than the rise and fall of the Soviet Union. There is an extraordinary coda, set three decades later, in which two of the three friends (one of whom remains unseen) meet accidentally in an airport. Without saying much, they acknowledge all that was lost in those years of unimaginable change.” —Stephen Holden, The New York Times

Written by Sergey Rokotov, Evgeny Nikishov. Photographed by Shandor Berkeshi. With Alexander Lyapin, Lidiya Milyuzina, Ivan Kupreyenko, Yegor Baranovsky. In Russian with English subtitles. 100 min. Distributed by Kino International Films.

For screeners and interviews contact hilary@sffs.org.
For photos and press materials visit: http://download.sffs.org/press/02_SFFS_Screen.

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 only to SFFS Screen programs and only at the box office, not online or at the lobby kiosks.

Now playing on SFFS Screen

September 18: The Headless Woman Lucrecia Martel, a major figure in contemporary Argentine cinema, directs this complex and exquisite film about a bourgeois woman who may have been involved in a hit-and-run accident.

Coming soon to SFFS Screen

September 25: You, the Living Roy Andersson continues to display his unique take on humanity in this dryly humorous, surreal and unforgettable amalgamation of encounters and tableaux covering various facets of existence.

October 2: Oblivion Heddy Honigmann’s sharp, tender, funny stories of ordinary Peruvians reflecting on politics and governmental corruption are woven together in a documentary about pride and self-respect, glory long gone, love, art and politics.

October 9: The Wedding Song The Nazi occupation of Tunisia strains the bonds of friendship between a Muslim woman and a Sephardic Jewess who are both preparing for their marriages in Karin Albou’s second feature.

October 16: Birdwatchers Tensions escalate when a tribe of indigenous Guarani Indians attempts to reinhabit their ancestral land—which lies on the border of a wealthy landowner’s fields—in Marco Bechis’s powerful critique of contemporary life in the Amazon.

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.

The San Francisco Film Society is a nonprofit arts and education organization dedicated to celebrating film and the moving image.
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 on a daily basis.

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