The Outcast / Otschepenets

9a3a375092006d34aa0bc3347433d275fa79fbf2

2020 | Fiction | 15 min. | Russia | 12+

After the ecological catastrophe, only a small population of people survived, who built the "sterile world" underground. Only renegades who have committed crimes against the system live on the surface. What happens if one of them is allowed to return?

Directors Statement

For me, this film is not only a story about external and internal freedom. I wanted to talk about how in one moment everything can change. Imagine: here you live, live, sure that you are happy that your life is right. You have a great, noble goal, as well as a clear idea of what is good and what is bad. And suddenly - bam. Everything turns upside down. And then you yourself have to choose: live by the old rules or open up to something new. It's like in the Matrix - there is a blue pill and a red pill - the choice is yours. It is believed that the open finale is not very good, but in “The outcast” everything should end just like that. My heroine saw everything. I got it. But what she decides for herself, what choice she makes, remains behind the scenes. The idea of "Rebuke" was born somehow very spontaneously. I remember how at the summer departure of our film school Ole Gotadze told her in general terms. I say: “I still do not know how we will remove it, but are you interested? Will you come to me as a producer? ” And she somehow very quickly agreed. The backbone of the crew almost immediately stuck together ... Anton Chereshnev (cameraman) long before the start of filming called me from some parties and shouted: “Julia, there is life in this scenario! Do not dare to leave him! I'm in". Well, I think it hurt. Need to shoot. The latest draft of “The outcast” script was written in September 2019. Then I was so proud of my fictional world! I came up with all kinds of chips, well, it seems that the inhabitants of the underground colony are all obsessed with sterility and cleanliness, they constantly rub their hands, they are afraid of germs, they have protective suits, respirators ... Then no one thought of any coronavirus. In February 2020, we shot the last scene, proceed to the installation, and then the world around us is changing rapidly. Everyone walks in masks, wipes their hands with an antiseptic, the streets are empty ... "Someday the planet will clean itself, and everyone will come to the surface to build a new world, but for now their task is to preserve the population" (quote from the film). Everything is like in a movie, only even more apocalyptic. For a long time they could not find an actor for the role of the Outcast. There were several castings. Perhaps the word "renegade" itself attracted a certain contingent - frank outcasts came. We have already shot two scenes, but the actor is still gone. When I was already in complete despair, Anton Figurovsky appeared. And it was a direct hit. That's exactly what I imagined my Outcast. I think if he refuses, then I'll drop everything! But, fortunately, everything came together.

Director: Julia Orekhova

Producer: Olga Gotadze

Сast: Daria Svistunova, Anton Figurovsky, Marina Barsukova, Vladislav Kuvitsyn , Vlad Sheng , Vadim Kuvitsyn, Oksana Lazarenko and Rina Vashenko