COACHELLA VALLEY PREMIERE

The lives of hundreds of the dregs of society are at stake in this stark, grotesque portrait of a new Russia on the verge of catastrophe. Investigating a maintenance problem in a decaying provincial housing project, plumber and engineering student Dima (Artyom Bystrov) discovers two massive cracks running the length of the building. Convinced that the building is about to collapse, he rushes to alert the mayor, who is celebrating her birthday with a drunken crowd. The town’s councillors, who’ve siphoned off much of the town’s budget to feather their nests, greet his warning with skepticism and hostility—and as events spiral out of control during one long night, Dima learns that nobody, even those he’s trying to help, likes a whistle-blower. Building on his first film, THE MAJOR (DFS / Feb 15, 2014), about a police cover-up, writer, director, and actor Yuriy Bykov’s stinging rebuke to the endemic corruption of the Russian body politic earned him four awards at the 2014 Locarno Film Festival. …. New Directors/New Films Festival 2015

Can an honest man’s morals change a corrupt society, or will he taken for a fool?

Writer|Director:  Yury Bykov (“The Major” – DFS 2/15/2014)
Running Time:  116 min.
Genre:  Drama
Distributor:  M-Appeal
Country:  Russia
Language:  Russian w|English  Subtitles
Rating:  N|R
Starring:  Nina Antyukhova, Sergey Artsibashev, Pyotr Barancheev

FESTIVALS:  São Paulo IFF, Brazil; Russian Resurrection Festival, Australia; USA: AFI Fest  LA, Portland International Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, NY; Cleveland International Film Festival, Montclair Film Festival  NJ; Canada, Vancouver International Film Festival; South Korea, Busan International Film Festival; Poland, Warsaw Film Festival; Ukraine, Kiev International Film Festival; Germany, Film Festival Cottbus; France, Arras Film Festival; Egypt,  Cairo International Film Festival; Estonia, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival; Poland, Sputnik Russian Film Festival; India, Bengaluru International Film Festival; Les Arcs International Film Festival, Norway; Belgrade Film Festival, Serbia; Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, Ireland; Istanbul Film Festival, Turkey; D’A – Festival Internacional de Cinema d’Autor de Barcelona, Spain; Transylvania International Film Festival, Romania; Jerusalem Film Festival, Israel; New Zealand International Film Festival

AWARDS:  Locarno IFF, Switzerland: Best Actor Award, Ecumenical Jury Prize for Humanism, First Prize & Special Mention of the Junior Jury; Arras IFF, France: Best Director, Audience Award, Award of the Junior Jury; Les Arcs European FF, Norway: The Chrystal Arrow, Best Cinematography, Young Jury Prize; Belgrade IFF, Serbia: Jury Prize; USA: Cleveland IFF, George Gund III Memorial Central and Eastern European Film Competition; Montclair FF, NJ Special Jury Prize for Storytelling; Ireland: Jameson Dublin IFF, Dublin Film Critic‘s Award for Best Screenplay; Uruguay Human Rights IFF, Best Feature Film

“After playing Cannes with his previous feature, “The Major,” writer-director Yury Bykov delivers another major work, this one even more deserving of international attention, in festivals and commercial venues.” Variety

Official Website w/Trailer: http://www.m-appeal.com/M-Appeal.com/our_films/Seiten/THE_FOOL.html