The Move

Marat Sarulu : 2014
Pereezd

In the village, in a small house by the river, an old man lives with his granddaughter. They live a simple life in harmony with the surrounding world. One day, the man's daughter, living in the city and doing everything in order to survive in a hostile social environment, comes home and asks him to sell the house and move in with her. The old man reluctantly agrees and moves with the child to live with his daughter in the city. However, it transpires that the daughter cannot repay a bank loan and soon the family lose their home. Being in a desperate situation, she leads the child to her ex-husband, but he refuses to take her into his house, even temporarily. She then attempts to attach her daughter first to one relative and then another, but all to no avail. Finally, in horror and despair, she places her father in a nursing home, and her child in an orphanage, and leaves for Russia to find work. Unable to bear the separation from his granddaughter, the old man goes to the orphanage to see her. Surrounded by the memories of their lost home, they sadly huddle together. One evening the girl runs away from the orphanage and comes to an urban wasteland. A shepherd passes her and for a long time she watches after him, until the night comes, in which the girl disappears. Marat Sarulu's feature premiered at Busan International Film Festival 2014, and won the award for Best Director at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2014.