Document / UK premiere

Boris Ryzhy

  • Aliona Van der Horst /
  • Netherlands /
  • 2008 /
  • 60 mins

A poet’s work brought to life.

Aliona Van der Horst (Voices of Bam, EIFF 2006) returns to EIFF with a visionary lament for the poet Boris Ryzhy, who committed suicide at the age of 26, leaving a wife and son. Through powerfully empathetic work with Ryzhy’s surviving family and friends, and beautifully observed scenes from his snow-clad industrial hometown, Van der Horst weaves an absorbing tribute to a remarkable wordsmith who flourished all too briefly in the frozen hinterland of post-Soviet Russia.

2009 Archive

Image from Boris Ryzhy

Comments

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  • #1 DIANA VIRGINIA TODEA / Friday 26 June, 2009 / 16:28 GMT

    It was a nice movie, melancholic and with a documentary approach. I liked the way Van der Horst captured the images of the people surrounding the poet Boris Ryzhy. It lead me to a mysterious and yet untouched sympathy of his work and life, brought back memories from post-communist countries and Russia too. Still I felt it left pieces of his life undiscovered, mystifying him even more in the eyes of the public, who probably never heard of the poet. However, a lyrical movie with a nice quality of images.

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