In 1964, Ilyich’s Gate won the special jury prize at the film festival in Venice. Few knew that the original version of the film had been 90 minutes longer, but that it had not withstood censorship and Khrushchev himself. The director was convinced that his film about the Soviet youth of the 1960s was made in the spirit of the time, but authority apparently had its reasons to muzzle the spirit of the time.
Having served in the Soviet army, Sergey returns to Moscow. Much has changed: his friends have grown up and got married. He is overcome by a melancholy feeling and at a party he notices that a gulf has grown between him and his friends. This ‘Moscow poem’ was undoubtedly one of the most groundbreaking Soviet films of the 1960s, cataloguing life in the Russian capital at the time, full of hope, illusions and disappointments. Khutsiev created an authentic time capsule with iconic scenes.
Film details
- Country of production
- USSR
- Year
- 1964
- Festival edition
- IFFR 1990
- Length
- 164"
- Medium/Format
- 35mm
