AWAY FROM ALL SUNS

In the back alleys of Moscow, forgotten treasures lurk: Utopian buildings, built in the 1920s in the spirit of Russian constructivism. Ruins of another future, reflecting the hopes and aberrations of modernity. Aren’t the buildings calling out to us?

The film follows three Muscovites who are struggling with the buildings’ heritage. One citizen fights for the preservation of her own house and the old printing factory next door – the only preserved building by El Lissitzky. Donatas wants to live with his friends in a artist community. Vsevolod wants to preserve an architectural monument yet has to rebuild it. “Everyone who has been inside this house, is infected”, says Vsevolod. What do these buildings hold for us? What will be wiped out, once the last ones fall prey to decay or into the hands of real estate-investors?

The filmmaker works with passages of manifestos by Rodchenko, El Lissitzky and Vesnin, as well as rare documentary footage from early Soviet film, among others by Dziga Vertov. A journey through time to the revolutionary 1920s and a portrait of Russian society today.

Isa Willinger is a documentary filmmaker from Munich. She studied film at the University of Television and Film Munich and she has an MA in Slavic Studies and American Studies. Isa spent one year in New York City, on a Fulbright scholarship, enrolling in film and sociology programs at the New School University. In 2010, she started researching the Constructivist buildings, while she lived in Moscow on a scholarship by the DAAD. Isa has been working on topics like gender, social upheavals, human rights, film theory and embodied film perception. Michael Ballhaus produced a social spot that she wrote and directed, dealing with energy consumption. She is working as a film educator for Munich’s documentary film festival. With AWAY FROM ALL SUNS she graduated from the University of Television and Film in Munich.

Director
Isa Willinger

Cinematography
Kaspar Kaven

Editor
Frank Müller

Music
Benedikt Schiefer

Producer
Stefan Kloos

Production Manager
Veronika Janatková

Production
Kloos & Co. Medien

Co-Production
Bayrischer Rundfunk & Arte

Commissioning Editor BR/ARTE
Dr. Claudia Gladziejewski
Monika Lobkowicz

World Sales
Rise and Shine World Sales

Rome International Festival of Films on Art and Architecture 2014
Best Documentary

Istanbul Architecture and Urban Films Festival 2014
Best Documentary

Starter Filmpreis der Stadt München 2014

ArtFilmFestival Asolo 2015
Best Film on Architecture, Design and Territory

World Premiere
DOK.fest München Internationales Dokumentarfilmfestival 2013, Germany

Further Festivals (Selection)
Architecture & Design Film Festival New York 2013, USA
Budapest Architecture Film Days 2014, Hungary
Istanbul Architecture and Urban Films Festival 2014, Turkey
The International Art Film Festival Tel Aviv 2014, Israel
Lisbon Architecture Film Festival 2014, Portugal
Lund International Architecture Film Festival 2014, Sweden

Buy DVD here: www.riseandshine-shop.de/produkt/away-from-all-suns-fort-von-allen-sonnen
Buy DVD plus booklet with photographs here: www.riseandshine-shop.de/produkt/away-from-all-suns-fort-von-allen-sonnen-inkl-booklet
Watch online here: www.vimeo.com/ondemand/awayfromallsuns