2025 | Fiction | 9 min. | Russia
In the near future, a new service has been introduced. It is possible to dispose of any person by simply filling out a few forms. Masha, a modest woman, wants to get rid of her abusive husband who refuses to grant her a divorce. However, she encounters a problem with Grasha Chertova, an overly meticulous employee at the Company «One Window».
Directors Statement
In this film, I portrayed real representatives of the Russian people. Everyone lives in Russia, and at some point anyone can find themselves on different sides of the same window. Some are applicants, others are those being asked. Not only Masha Zadolboeva, but also Grasha Chertova are victims of the system. Due to a mistake in her birth certificate, Grasha has spent her whole life not as *Glasha*, but as *Grasha*. The letter “R” has made her *Rough* and *Rude*. Originally, the film even included a monologue by the character played by Tatyana Orlova, explaining why she fights so fiercely for every letter in official documents. However, during editing, this speech had to be cut for the sake of the film’s overall rhythm. Still, the characters’ names continue to reflect their personalities. As a director, I wanted to visualize the hopelessness of Masha’s attempts to submit her application. With each new attempt, Grasha’s window becomes smaller. At the beginning, it is a large, welcoming window, but by the end, the heroine is knocking on a tiny opening no bigger than the palm of her hand. And the window is closed. Whether Masha will solve her problem remains unclear. Most likely, she will not. For the filming, together with the production designers, we created three versions of the window in different sizes. At the same time, the challenge was to make each one look as similar as possible to the previous one, so that the viewer would not immediately notice the change, but would still feel it. With this artistic device, I try to reach the viewer’s subconscious and evoke emotion. I showed the film to friends, and they said they hadn’t noticed the window shrinking, yet they felt that the heroine was unwell, that the space was suffocating. That is exactly the effect I was aiming for. Those who have seen the film call it satire. I, however, wanted to speak about my pain through laughter. I come from an ordinary Russian family where there was both violence and struggle, as well as a Soviet past with queues and attempts to change something. The crooked letters in the sign “One Window” and the setting are not accidental—they echo my intention to depict not a specifically Moscow reality, but a broader Russian one. In the characters’ dialogues lies my love for ordinary people who speak as they can, who are not cruel inside, and who, instead of destroying, keep knocking on the window. “One Window” is a dark comedy in which everyone can recognize themselves. And may these ten minutes of laughter add a little more life to the audience.
Director: Anastasia Pastori
Producer: Ekaterina Ushakova
Сast: Elena Ponomareva and Elena Ponomareva
