Synopsis
Somewhere in Russia, life has (re)organized itself, with its ghosts, fears and desires for the future. Spaces in the city to produce or fix things, to keep alive a parallel economy, a sort of craft hacking. The destiny of the Soviet garage cities tells thirty years of the underground history of capitalist Russia, where mutual aid and the instinct of survival are still alive.
A word from Tënk
In this finely wrought documentary, Marc-Antoine Granier opens a door on the world of people forced to take shelter in a city of garages, evolving in a survival economy since the Soviet Union “broke down”: the Garazhnik.
A true sound film, this reflection on the economic violence of the most powerful tells the story of holdovers from the 1990s who could not—or would not—take part in the brave new world of capitalism. “I don’t want to work for the bankers. They have enough money.” It’s an ode to freedom, to mutual aid and to those who live on the margins, in a society where “22-year-olds don’t know how to dream anymore.” However, it’s far from a perfect world.
At the dawn of a catastrophic and unprecedented climate crisis, while we watch helplessly as public services crumble and inequality grows on a daily basis, this radiophonic creation raises important questions: is this the world that awaits us as well, in a future closer than we’d like to imagine?
Ville souterraine won the Human Word Archives Award at the 2019 Phonurgia Nova Awards.
Jenny Cartwright
Documentarian and audio artist
