Unknown Parallel Cinema: A Retrospective of Dmitri Frolov

On February 19, 2022, a screening of Dmitry Frolov's films with the participation of the director and curator of the Film Laboratory Tikhon Pendyurin took place within the Film Laboratory of the Radio House of St. Petersburg. Dmitry Frolov's lens is aimed deep into time at the deceptive shadows of the Silver Age and surreal images of the pre-revolutionary years. The director transfers to the Soviet film the ideas and dreams of the poets of that era: expressionists, symbolists, mystics and futurists. Frolov's experimental and absurdist cinematography embodies the attitudes of early cinema: to combine theater, literature, music and painting. In his films, the resurrected and hypertrophied Art Nouveau, as if in a camera obscura, reflects the key moments of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Directed by —, Unknown Parallel Cinema: A Retrospective of Dmitri Frolov leans on a strong ensemble — Dmitri Frolov, Tikhon Pendurin — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about documentary titles of 2022.