The Village Detective: A Song Cycle

In 2016, four reels of Derevensky Detektiv ('The Village Detective'), a 1969 Russian film starring the Soviet-era character actor Mikhail Zharov, were found in a fisherman's net off the Icelandic coast. The recovered reels lead filmmaker Bill Morrison (director of Dawson City: Frozen Time) on another cinematic odyssey of mystery and discovery. The decayed footage is combined with original music by David Lang, and interwoven with interviews and clips from Zharov's lengthy filmography to form an alchemical story of its star - and of Soviet cinema itself. Morrison weaves another unique and mesmerising document reflecting how life, history, and art intersect, transform and forever endure on film.

Special Features

Booklet, Bonus Footage, Interviews: Bill Morrison (director), Short films by Bill Morrison: 'Beyond Zero: 1914-1918' (2014), 'The Unchanging Sea' (2018), 'Sunken Films' (2020), 'Let Me Come In' (2021), Trailers

Audio Languages: English, Russian

Duration: 81 minutes

Number of Discs: 1

Subtitle Languages: English

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