The Golden Buttons


Poster image The Golden Buttons

“Everyone can accomplish a heroic act in their life”, says the instructor. But such a destiny is prepared for volunteer teenagers in the presidential school of cadets that trains them to serve in the National Guard created by Putin in 2016. Alex Evstigneev captures these future heroes and reveals their extreme fragility on the verge of indoctrination with sound and images. 



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Director

Alex Evstigneev

Actor

Claire Valade

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The Golden Buttons is a remarkably restrained fly-on-the-wall observation of the cadets of a Russian military academy who will go on to join the National Guard reporting to Vladimir Putin. Director Alex Evstigneev films his subjects like a portraitist—a fixed camera at eye level taking in faces with neutral expressions—but his filmmaker’s eye also creates panoramic frames and symmetrical compositions that play with depth of field, echoing the detached precision expected from these young men as they’re molded into an ideal for which they are ill-prepared, all while exposing their vulnerability. Shots of worried or weeping boys are contrasted with Evstigneev’s faux portraits and the strict discipline that they evoke. The film’s soundtrack, often at odds with the images on the screen, repeats the boys’ lessons—a mix of encouragement, admonition, mantras, threats, cajoling, rules and repetitions, congratulations, and slogans, a rapid-fire lesson in indoctrination. These words collide with the still-fresh faces of these young people, with their rosy cheeks and bright eyes, presenting an unsettling report that, while never openly criticizing the Russian president, manages to clearly convey the danger behind his propaganda- and repression-fueled regime.

 

Claire Valade
Critic and programmer

 


  • FR - The Golden Buttons

    FR - The Golden Buttons


    Language: Français
    Subtitles: Français
  • EN - The Golden Buttons

    EN - The Golden Buttons


    Language: English
  • Année 2019
  • Pays Russia
  • Durée 20
  • Producteur Alex Kozmenko
  • Langue Russian
  • Sous-titres French, English
  • Résumé court The Presidential Cadet School in Russia trains teenage volunteers to serve in the National Guard created by Putin in 2016.
  • Mention festival IDFA Spotlight Award 2020 - Visions du Réel, Switzerland
  • Programmateur Claire Valade|aucune;

The Golden Buttons is a remarkably restrained fly-on-the-wall observation of the cadets of a Russian military academy who will go on to join the National Guard reporting to Vladimir Putin. Director Alex Evstigneev films his subjects like a portraitist—a fixed camera at eye level taking in faces with neutral expressions—but his filmmaker’s eye also creates panoramic frames and symmetrical compositions that play with depth of field, echoing the detached precision expected from these young men as they’re molded into an ideal for which they are ill-prepared, all while exposing their vulnerability. Shots of worried or weeping boys are contrasted with Evstigneev’s faux portraits and the strict discipline that they evoke. The film’s soundtrack, often at odds with the images on the screen, repeats the boys’ lessons—a mix of encouragement, admonition, mantras, threats, cajoling, rules and repetitions, congratulations, and slogans, a rapid-fire lesson in indoctrination. These words collide with the still-fresh faces of these young people, with their rosy cheeks and bright eyes, presenting an unsettling report that, while never openly criticizing the Russian president, manages to clearly convey the danger behind his propaganda- and repression-fueled regime.

 

Claire Valade
Critic and programmer

 


  • FR - The Golden Buttons

    FR - The Golden Buttons


    Language: Français
    Subtitles: Français
  • EN - The Golden Buttons

    EN - The Golden Buttons


    Language: English
  • Année 2019
  • Pays Russia
  • Durée 20
  • Producteur Alex Kozmenko
  • Langue Russian
  • Sous-titres French, English
  • Résumé court The Presidential Cadet School in Russia trains teenage volunteers to serve in the National Guard created by Putin in 2016.
  • Mention festival IDFA Spotlight Award 2020 - Visions du Réel, Switzerland
  • Programmateur Claire Valade|aucune;

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