(Boris Barnet, USSR 1961, 86 min., 35mm, Russian with English intertitles)
Alionka is a nine-year-old girl who must travel 500 kilometers in a truck across the steppes. Her
fellow travelers share stories from their lives: funny ones, tragic ones, absurd ones—and all of
them are presented on screen through the little girl's perspective. Ignored at the time of its
release, Alionka was later considered one of Boris Barnet’s best works, praised for its almost
post-modernist narrative and yet remaining a delightful family film. More importantly, it is also a
vivid (quite literally, withs color palette) example of Soviet poetic cinema of the Thaw, the time
of long-awaited freedom and great expectations.
35mm print provided by Österreichisches Filmmuseum (Austrian Film Museum).
Post-screening discussion with Senior Curator Peter Bagrov.