08.20 (2022)

A philosophical adventure biopic, 08.20 is a contemporary story of a young Moscow photographer in search of meaning, contribution and purpose. He rejects a safe, well-fed and quiet future, then struggles to transcend his austere childhood. His goal: transform the surrounding Russian bleakness into vivid color photographs. To develop his artistic sensibility, a method: destroy the rational, the educated mind. Take risks, shoot heroin, experiment with sex and techno. His artworks grow, the Universe has his back. He dodges bullets, runs from cops and dupes his parents. To mature as a pro, he moves to Paris, the city of photography. Where he clashes with consumerism, post-modernism and the art establishment. So he amplifies the reckless habits, approaches the revelation. Until his new French girlfriend sways him towards comfort, advertising projects, money, health and family. Good fortune? Or a fatal mistake? Can he have it all? Or has he left the path of self-realization? Spanning 3 decades, the film portrays the work and doubts of a photojournalist, as he confronts the ethics of war photography, dives into music press awash with drugs, then photographs extreme sports (climbing, cycling, aerobatics and sailing), searching for his artistic core, questioning the boundaries between an artist and a sell-out. Shot in Moscow, Ural, Paris, Berlin, the Atlantic Ocean and the Alps; out of sequence, scene by scene, it assembles a puzzle of debauchery and sadness, of pleasure and sacrifice, of free will and fate. A dialogue of cultures, in English, French and Russian. A visually-stunning love story, with an abrupt and ambiguous ending.