Deep Rivers

Day after day in a forgotten corner of the Caucasus Mountains, a family of lumberjacks trudges through the impassable landscape to chop down and bring home wood in order to fulfil their contract with the local sawmill. When the father is seriously injured by a falling tree, his place must be taken by the youngest of the brothers, who left the impoverished region years before. His arrival opens old wounds and fuels conflicts within the family and in the hostile village. Stifled emotions and an oppressive image of a fragmenting society highlight themes of ineffectual communication and xenophobia. The heightening animosity visually and emotively underlines the threat of destruction from nature itself, which could, at any moment, strike at the very foundations of the family home. This exceptional debut by Vladimir Bitokov was created under the watchful eye of Alexandr Sokurov.