The Last Day

The 5th Apricot Tree Ujan International Documentary Film Festival opens with the screening of “The Last Day” in memory of filmmaker Alexander Rastorguev.

Born in 1971 in Rostov-on-Don. Rastorguev studied at the Philosophy department of the Rostov State University and graduated the St. Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy. In 2001, he founded Kino Studio. Rastorguev worked as a director on the state regional channel Don TV, but was fired along with the crew for directing the documentary Clean Thursday (2004). He also worked at the St. Petersburg office of the Russian TV channel NTV.
Rastorguev was a pioneer and leading figure of new Russian documentary cinema, perfectly capturing the atmosphere of post-Soviet Russia in the 2000’s, most notably in the film Tender’s Heat. Wild, Wild Beach (2005), praised by masters such as Andrey Zvyagintsev. In 2009, he wrote a manifest, where he argued that documentary cinema of the modern age should not to just humbly observe and take a peek into the lives of people, but to become the people, strive to “inobjectivity”, rather than objectivity, by hunting down and displaying the solely personal on screen.
Among his accolades were the Laurel Branch at Moscow’s ArtDocFest (Mommies, 2001, and Tender’s Heat. Wild Wild Beach, 2005), the Grand Prize at the Russia Documentary Festival (Mommies, 2001), the Special Jury Award at the Amsterdam IFF, the White Elephant Award from the Russian Guild of Film Critics (all for Tender’s Heat. Wild Wild Beach).
On July 31st, 2018, Rastorguev along with colleagues Orkhan Jemal and Kirill Radchenko, was killed in Africa, while filming a documentary about the Russian private mercenary group Wagner operating in the Central African Republic.

The Last Day
Russia, 2018, 26’
Director: Alexander Rastorguev
Scriptwriter: Susanna Baranzhieva
Cinematographer: Alexander Rastorguev
Producers: Maria Gavrilova, Mikhail Baryshnikov
Sound: Georgiy Ermolenko
Editor: Alexander Rastorguev
Production Company: Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

On April 23rd, 2018, after 11 days of massive acts of civil disobedience, the Armenian prime minister finally decided to resign from his post. The day preceding this historic event was one of worries and emotional turmoil, especially for the family of the leader of the protests Nikol Pashinyan, who was detained by the police and kept in a secret location. Russian director Alexander Rastorguev manages to capture unique and emotionally charged footage, primarily focusing on Ashot, Nikol’s son, as he leads us through this last decisive day, barricading streets and pondering about the state of things.