Polustanok

The Train Stop

Russische Kinder, Frauen und Männer schlafen Seite an Seite im Wartesaal einer kleinen beschaulichen Bahnhaltestelle. Donnernde Züge preschen durch die Station, mit der Ruhe ist es vorbei. Das Pfeifen der Lokomotive und das tosende Rattern der Räder verlieren sich in der Nacht. Die Menschen am Bahnhof schlafen, schlafen dem Lärm zum Trotz einfach weiter. Worauf warten sie? Was wird sie aufwecken?

Speeding trains slice through the silence of the small train stop. The whistle on the locomotive and the thunder of the wheels disappear into the night, but fail to wake up people at the station. People just continue to sleep. In this film, we are brought to a remote train station deep in the Russian woods. It’s nighttime. The station, a small wooden building, sits silently, surrounded only by snow and train tracks. Inside, everyone is asleep. The camera pans slowly over the sleeping bodies. Some are leaning backwards, others are hunched over. Occasionally, someone moves a hand, coughs, turns. At one point, an elderly woman seems to wake up, only to look around and fall back into slumber. Without narration, and bathed in a ghostly light, the film is in its own serene way, gripping ... and frightening. Why is everyone asleep? What is everyone waiting for?

Regie Biografie

Sergei Loznitsa was born 1964 in Belarus and grew up in the Ukraine. Graduated from the Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow in 1997. He has been making documentary films since 1996 and has received numerous national and international awards. In 2010 Loznitsa’s feature debut MY JOY premiered in the main competition at the Festival de Cannes followed by IN THE FOG in 2012 and MAIDAN in 2014. SEGODNYA MY POSTROIM DOM (Today We Are Going To Build A House, co-directed by Marat Magambetov, 1996, short doc), ZHIZN, OSEN (Life, Autumn, co-directed by Marat Magambetov, 1998, short doc), POLUSTANOK (The Train Stop, 2000, short doc), POSELENIJE (The Settlement, 2001, doc), PORTRET (Portrait, 2002, short doc), PEYZAZH (Landscape, 2003, doc), FABRIKA (Factory, 2004, short doc), BLOKADA (Blockade, 2005, doc), ARTEL (2006, short doc), SEVERNY SVET (Northern Light, 2008, doc), PREDSTAVLENYE (Revue, 2009, doc), SCHASTYE MOE (My Joy, 2010), V TUMANE (In The Fog, 2012; CE '13), O MILAGRE DE SANTO ANTÓNIO (The Miracle of Saint Anthony, 2012, short doc), PISMO (The Letter, 2012, short doc), REFLECTIONS. DIRECTOR'S CUT (2014, short doc), MAIDAN (2014, doc), THE OLD JEWISH CEMETERY (2014, short doc)