Furman Film Series: Elena

Winner of Cannes’ Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize
Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev. Russia, 2011, 109 mins. In Russian with English subtitles.

Elena is a gripping, modern twist on the classic noir thriller. Sixty-ish spouses Vladimir and Elena uneasily share his palatial Moscow apartment—he’s a still-virile, wealthy businessman; she’s his dowdy former nurse who has clearly “married up.” Estranged from his own wild-child daughter, Vladimir openly despises his wife’s freeloading son and family. But then a sudden illness and an unexpected reunion threaten the dutiful housewife’s potential inheritance. Masterfully crafted, and featuring evocative, Hitchcockian music by Philip Glass, Elena is a subtly stylish exploration of crime, punishment and human nature, is a "sensational film... to crow about loudly" (The Telegraph) and "one of 2011's most accomplished films from any country" (Hollywood Reporter). With Nadezhda Markina, Andrey Smirnov, Elena Lyadova.

Speaker: KATHY BREW is an award-winning independent video of independent documentaries and public television productions. She is also a media arts curator and has worked with Tribeca Film Institute’s Reframe Collection; Lincoln Center’s NY Video Festival; the Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival at the American Museum of Natural; and WNET’s independent series, Reel New York. Her articles have been published in Documentary Magazine, The Independent, World Art, Civilization, among others. She is on the faculty in the MFA Computer Arts Department and the MFA Art Practice Department at the School of Visual Arts and the Department of Media Studies and Film at the New School.