Special Guest: DAAD Fellow Alina Rudnizkaja

Alina Rudnizkaja (born 1976) works for the renowned St. Petersburg Documentary Film Studios and is currently a guest of the DAAD Berlin Artists-In-Residence program. Her multi-award winning documentaries are dedicated to exploring everyday life in the "new" Russia and show a society in upheaval. COMMUNAL RESIDENCE (2002) provides insight into the Soviet concept of shared housing. AMAZONS (2003) is concerned with a group of urban Amazons, who keep horses in the middle of St. Petersburg and do not tolerate any man amongst their ranks. With a subtle feel for humor, CIVIL STATUS (2005) collects scenes from a registry office, where papers for married couples, the recently divorced and the bereaved are all issued with the same stoic expression. In VIXEN ACADEMY (2008), a group of young women attend a course in order to learn how to seduce, marry and control men. Behind their often absurd efforts, the personal and social motives for their actions shine through. (June 9)