Documentary, 68 min.
Year: 2005
These days, even poverty can be bought. A Russian psychologist, Sergei Knyatzev, provides the experience of being a beggar to wealthy people who have tried everything and are looking for something new.
But this is only one of the games that this psychologist has developed. He specializes in role-playing and mental manipulation, starting with animals and small groups of people, and climaxing with his mass control of 7000 individuals.
The film speaks in an interesting manner of our time: when nothing is enough, people try to acquire both basic and extreme experiences by buying them. Everything is for sale. Richness often alienates people at the expense of a balance in life. That in turn opens out a market for any entrepreneur with even the slightest understanding of the human psyche, just like for Sergei Knyatzev. Through these games he also is working up people's attitudes and society's structure.
DISTRIBUTION
- Theatrical distribution in Finland and Sweden. Finnish cinema premiere 24.2.2006
FESTIVALS
- World premiere 28.11.2005 at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), Joris Ivens Competition
- Finnish premiere 26.1.2006 at Docpoint - Helsinki Documentary Film Festival
- Opening Film, International Documentary Film Festival Flahertiana, Russia, 2006
- Documentary Fortnight, MoMA, USA, 2007
- Best Films of All Time series, International Film Festival ”Meetings in Siberia”, Russia, 2007
Since its premiere the film has been selected for 20 international film festivals, including:
- Zagreb Dox: International Documentary Film Festival, Croatia, 2006
- Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival, Greece, 2006
- Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival, Israel, 2006
- Midnight Sun Film Festival, Finland, 2006
- International 1001 Documentary Film Festival, Turkey, 2006
- International Documentary Film Festival CRONOGRAF, Moldova, 2007
- Mexico City International Festival of Documentary Cinema, Mexico, 2007
AWARDS
- Honorary Mention, The Kettupäivät, Finland, 2006
CREW
Director and screenwriter: Arto Halonen
Research: Kevin O´Flynn
Cinematography: Vladimir Bashta, Dmitri Avrorin, Igor Tšernyšov, Arto Halonen
Sound design: Martti Turunen
Sound recording: Dimitri Zimin
Music composer: Tapani Rinne
Editor: Sanna Liinamaa
Producer: Arto Halonen
Production company: Art Films production AFP Ltd