Kombinat
In the heart of Russia, the city of Magnitogorsk is home to the Kombinat, one of the largest iron and steel factory in the country. Here, Gabriel Tejedor films the day-to-day lives of Lena, Sasha, Guenia and their families, while this new generation of young parents wonder about their living and working conditions, which seem pre-determined by the Kombinat and its State capitalism.
In the heart of Russia, the city of Magnitogorsk is home to the Kombinat, one of the largest iron and steel works in the country. From generation to generation, its inhabitants follow the rhythm of its activities, which seem to govern the social, economic and political fabric that defines their lives. Lena teaches the salsa lessons proposed by the plant. In dance, Sasha finds a way to forget the pressure of his work. As for his brother and his wife, they are intending to leave the city to escape the heavy pollution that is causing their daughter health problems. In their own way, everyone questions what keeps them in, and attaches them to, Magnitogorsk, while their present and future hopes are implicitly sketched out. Over the seasons, Gabriel Tejedor (Rue Mayskaya, VdR 2017) paints a portrait of this new generation of workers and young parents whose living conditions seem to be inevitably determined by the Kombinat and its State capitalism. In the intimacy of their day-to-day and their family, the director sensitively and lucidly follows these lives that recount today's Russia.
Camille Kaiser
