HOW I ENDED THIS SUMMER

Alex Popogrebsky studied psychology at Moscow State University and the University of Wisconsin.  How I Ended This Summer is his third feature film, the idea springing from his childhood interest in polar exploration, which. as a city boy, both fascinated and terrified him.  The two characters are a middle-aged, old-school professional, played by actor and theatre director Sergei Puskepalis, and a callow young graduate, played by Grigori Dobrygin, who’s most comfortable with and reliant on digital technology.  It’s a psychological drama about the growing conflict between the two, with the forces of nature becoming one of the main protagonists.

Popogrebsky says that he makes films about specific people and situations and doesn’t set out to create metaphors.  But he accepts that people may identify symbolic elements in his work – such as, in this case, the conflict between old and new Russia.