Shadow Distribution Makes Sure that ‘Silent Souls’ Isn’t Cremated

After you see Alexsei Fedorchenko’s Silent Souls sometime in the second quarter of 2011, you can send Shadow Distribution’s Ken Eisen a kind thank you note for championing this pearl of a film and saving it from what would have been a certain death after its showings on the film festival circuit. Shadow Distribution picked up the distribution rights to a picture that preemed at Venice, TIFF and NYFF (where we caught it a second time).

Gist: Based on the novel “The Buntings” by Aist Sergeyev, after a man’s young wife dies suddenly (the cause is never disclosed) he enlists the help of a colleague in disposing of the body in accordance with the local custom. The characters here are Meryar, descendants of a 400-year-old Finnish tribe once native to that part of western Russia, but now all but forgotten. They have different and non-traditional names for places and people, but most strikingly different are their rituals to do with marriage and death and the expression of grief.

Worth Noting: Silent Souls won the Best Cinematography award in Venice. You’ll understand why once you see the film. 

Do We Care?: I caught the film at the tale-end of my TIFF coverage and while I was overwhelmed by the film’s qualities I was too exhausted to appreciate what was working on so many other levels, and this is why I’m glad our on Sean Glass reviewed the picture at NYFF with a fresh mind and set of eyes.