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THE RUSSIAN
WOODPECKER
A Ukrainian victim of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster discovers
a dark secret and must decide whether to risk his life by
revealing it, amid growing clouds of revolution and war.
Director: Chad Gracia
Producers: Mike Lerner, Ram Devineni,
Chad Gracia
Associate Producer: Marina Orekhova
Featuring: Fedor Alexandrovich
Editors: Chad Gracia, Alan Berliner,
Devin Tanchum
Cinematographer: Artem Ryzhykov
2014, UNITED KINGDOM, COLOR, RUSSIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES,
80 MINUTES, SECTION: WORLD DOCUMENTARIES
THE RUSSIAN
WOODPECKER
A complex documentary about Chernobyl
that is surprisingly, richly enjoyable.
– VARIETY
IN THE
MEDIA
This is one wild magic carpet ride of a film....
– JAMES MCNALLY
Rightly singled out by many as one of
the more arresting and formally inventive
documentaries at Sundance this year...
A must-see...Alexandrovich and Ryzhykov...
make an intriguing Holmes and Watson in
this beautifully photographed and inventive
documentary.
– THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER
– SALT LAKE MAGAZINE
It’s a rollicking ride of masterly narrative
construction unlike any other documentary
in Sundance.
This is such a curious and amazing film... I
have no idea now if this is a documentary
or a bizarrely truth conceived but
fantastical narrative film.
– THE GUARDIAN
An endlessly fascinating and sharply
bizarre documentary … mysterious, intense
and altogether prophetic…
– INDIEWIRE
Vibrating with a reckless creative urgency,
The Russian Woodpecker is a call for
political integrity lost long ago.
– SYDNEYSBUZZ
Fedor Alexandrovich has the hypnotic
power to become a generation’s counterculture icon … should leave most audiences
completely stunned. Passionate, audacious
and revolutionary… Watch at all costs.
– FICKS’ PICKS
– IONCINEMA.COM
TWITTER
@ALECBALDWIN
RUSSIAN WOODPECKER is a gripping
and fascinating film. Congratulations.
@SHOEBPOPATIA7
The Russian Woodpecker Is a
Revolutionary, Convincing Conspiracy
Theory Doc.
@BEN_WAGNER
One of the most powerful
documentaries I’ve ever seen.
@FILMFESTIVVIEWS
Standing ovation for Russian
Woodpecker. Amazing bravery.
@RYANLATTANZIO
Buzzed-about THE RUSSIAN
WOODPECKER, which had people
talking all week, takes the World Cinema
Documentary Grand Jury Award.
DOMESTIC SALES:
Dana O’Keefe / [email protected]
@DANSCHINDEL
THE RUSSIAN WOODPECKER is
instantly among the ranks of the
greatest conspiracy documentaries ever
made. Incredible.
INT’L SALES:
Mike Lerner / [email protected]
It’s a rollicking ride of masterly
narrative construction unlike any other
documentary in Sundance.
THE RUSSIAN
WOODPECKER
A well-deserved Sundance grand jury prizewinner in the World Cinema documentary
category, “The Russian Woodpecker” is a complex film about Chernobyl that is also
surprisingly, richly enjoyable. Chad Gracia’s first feature juggles Ukrainian/Russian/
Soviet history, a portrait of an eccentric artist, political current-events reportage,
and a shocking yet increasingly plausible conspiracy about the catastrophic 1986
nuclear-reactor meltdown. The result should break into niche theatrical distribution in
numerous territories, with broadcast and rental pickups likely to be plentiful as well.
There will surely never be a documentary about
nuclear disaster with a protagonist more endearing
than Fedor Alexandrovich, a shaggy young multimedia
artist descended from generations of Ukrainian
creatives. With his simultaneous wide-eyed fervor and
distracted air, not to mention an ever-mutating mound
of wild hair, he seems like Dostoyevsky’s holy-fool
“Idiot” come to contemporary life — and as frequently
onscreen colleague Artem Ryzhykov (also the film’s
cinematographer) points out, his unconventional
presence does tend to divide opinions on him into
“visionary” and “idiot” camps. Raised in Chernobyl, and
for a traumatic post-meltdown time separated from his
parents in an orphanage, he is fascinated by the stillmysterious causes and lingering aftereffects of a disaster
whose radiation remains lodged in his very bones.
Meanwhile, in the here and now, Kiev is being rocked
by protests in the struggle between pro-democracy/
European Union forces and President Yanukovych’s
increasing chumminess toward the Russian Federation.
Violent crackdowns on protests raised the grim
spectre of U.S.S.R.-redux empire building and Stalinist
oppression. Already worried for his family over his
political activities, Alexandrovich begins to think his
Duga/Chernobyl investigation might be even more
personally risky.
Deftly cramming a terrific amount of history, breaking
news, personal drama, culture and context into a trim
runtime, “The Russian Woodpecker” is surprisingly
inventive, even buoyant in its presentation of several
issues that could scarcely be more sobering.