Adobe of Dawn

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia faced the unstable 1990s. The deconstruction of the anti-religious system made room for a colourful group of Christian missionaries. One of them, Sergei Torop, a former traffic policeman and painter who had experienced a spiritual awakening, later became known as Vissarion. He founded a religious community in the Krasnoyarsk region of Siberia, the Church of the Last Testament. Led by the self-declared resurrected Messiah, the congregation has built its natural microsociety over more than three decades, far away from the noise of the outside world.

Director Kristina Shtubert followed life in the community for ten years. The film centres on Christine, trapped in an unhappy marriage; Diana, who yearns for the outside world; and Anna, who follows Vissarion’s teachings religiously. Vissarion himself is rarely seen, existing mainly in photographs. To some, he is a holy man, to others, an intelligent con artist.

Shtubert approaches observingly and avoids criticism. The portraits reveal the cautious hopes and everyday worries of the villagers. The utopia that once existed in the dreams of the community’s original members seems distant against the backdrop of the harsh realities of life in the taiga. Even the Russian police have taken Vissarion to task. In the end, has anyone found the happiness they were looking for?

Ida Kumpulainen (translated by Siiri Kostamovaara)

Kristina Shtubert will attend the film screenings on 4 Feb and 5 Feb.