Destination Moscow

The performance

A provincial theatre troupe in the former Soviet Union has ambitions of performing in Moscow. A sugar-smuggling pact with the mafia was supposed to make their dream come true, but endless circles in muddy outskirts are starting to rise doubts about the deal. Time has come for radical decisions and serious sacrifices.

DESTINATION MOSCOW was filmed entirely on location in Russia and Lithuania, to a large extent in previously forbidden areas. A combination of authenticity and deliberate play on preconceptions of the homo sovieticus, along with cascades of nonsensical language, quickly gave the film a cult status among moviegoers. Reviews differed from excellent to insultingly bad and some movietheatres even refused to show the film. The ambition was rather unusual for the Norwegian film industry – to produce a road movie with a Chekovian dramaturgy, inspired by European B-movies from the 1970’s where car chases definitively keep the speed limits. Unusual it was also for international distributors with the everlasting need for translated dubbing. But how can you dub nonsensical language? The overall outcome was a film with a longer life than the mainstream blockbuster, and with a reputation that has become somewhat of a reference, even to those who have never seen it. The film was the first collaboration of director/scriptwriter duo Runar Hodne and Jo Strømgren, initiated and produced by the renowned company Nordisk Film.

Length: 80 minutes
Language: Italian, Russian and nonsensical Lithuanian
Subtitles: Norwegian and English
Distribution: Cinemas and film festivals in Norway, Denmark, Lithuania, USA
Premiere: The Norwegian International Film Festival, Haugesund, Norway, August 2003

Media

© Mihail Rashkovsky / Nordisk Film
© Mihail Rashkovsky / Nordisk Film
© Mihail Rashkovsky / Nordisk Film
© Mihail Rashkovsky / Nordisk Film

Previously touring

Lithuania, Norway

Credits

Script: Runar Hodne, Jo Strømgren
Direction: Runar Hodne, Jo Strømgren
Actors: Thorbjørn Harr, Espen Reboli Bjerke, Kyrre Texnæs, John Fjelnseth Brungot, Anna Dworak, Silje Færavaag, Ivar Mykland, Jo Strømgren, Lubomiras Laucevicus, Vytautas Kupsys, Victoras Karpusenkovas, Arturas Orlauskas, Andrius Zebrauskas
Director of photography: Patrik Säfström fnf
Set design: Andrius Zibikas
Sound design: Lars Årdal
Editor: Pål Gengenbach
Line producer: Jeanette Sundby
Executive producer: Rune Trondsen
Producer: Nordisk Film
Co-producer: Jo Strømgren Kompani
Support: Norwegian Film Fund