Holland Doc 24
Presents
Documentary classics
Imagine, it's winter, you're old, you live in a for the greater part abandoned Russian village
and for bread you're completely dependent on a freight train which brings once a week
a carriage with food.
And that carriage, which is unhooked at two and a half hours walking distance from the village
has to be pushed to the village by yourself
This bleak world, far from here and with a reality far away from ours
is depicted by director Sergei Dvortsevoy in the documentary Bread Day
Bread day, made in 1998, is a slow and still film, which immerses the viewer into the freezing cold
and severe conditions of the frozen village.
At the same time, it's a rather absurd film
with cursing and mostly drunk elderly and their hard struggle for their daily bread.
Among themselves, but also with the railway carriage which can hardly be pushed any further
and with the shop assistant in the baker's shop who determines who will get bread and how much.
[Man: Tomorrow I want a whole rucksack full.]
[Woman: Why do you have to give me so much pain!]
If there were a hell on earth, you'd instantly believe it would look like this.
It's a village where time stands still and where only survival matters.
We see the daily routine, the bleakness and the scarcity.
Get to know a place where people only long for the next delivery of bread.
Nominated in 1998 for the prestigious Joris Ivens Award.
This is Bread Day...