The Russian model city Ж has been completely shielded from change and reality. A poetic film-essay, The Radiant Screen explores this Soviet utopia which is cloaked behind a smokescreen of plutonium waste. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, it has consciously – and unconsciously – remained closed.
The Radiant Screen explores the city Ж, also known as Zheleznogorsk, located in the heart of Siberia. This still-closed model city was built in the 1950s to conceal a secret plutonium programme. It is home to 100,000 Russians, who live their lives secluded from the rest of the world.
This hybrid documentary takes viewers through the Siberian landscape as former residents talk about their lives and memories of the city. Filmmaker Ine Lamers is not so interested in what the city is actually like, but rather in the meaning of this socialist utopia and the snow globe around it. It works both ways: what is inside, stays inside, and what is outside, stays outside too.
– Christiaan Boesenach
Also in this combined programme
-
Surge of Transference
The introduction and expansion of the internet transforms everyday textures of a small Romanian town.
Trailer
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Film details
- Countries of production
- Netherlands, Russia
- Year
- 2025
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2025
- Length
- 47'
- Medium/Format
- DCP
