The Fool
by Yury Bykov
Russia 2014, 116 min
Can an honest man‘s morals change a corrupt society, or will he be taken for a fool?
A plumber‘s assistant, honest and idealistic Dima devotes his free time studying to fulfill his dream of becoming an engineer. Leaving his family at home one evening, he goes to a seemingly derelict building housing the city‘s poor to investigate a leak. What he finds is much worse, however, and he realizes that the 800 tenants need to be evacuated immediately. Requiring municipal authorization, he goes to see the mayor, and realizes that things aren‘t as clean as they should be. Dima spends the night chasing the corrupt in order to save those whom everyone has forgotten.
Awards
Best Actor Award (Artem Bystrov), Ecumenical Jury Prize for Humanism, First Prize & Special Mention of the Junior Jury - Locarno IFF 2014
Special Mention - L‘Aquila Film Festival 2014
Atlas d‘Argent for Best Director, Audience Award, Award of the Junior Jury - Arras IFF 2014
The Chrystal Arrow, Best Cinematography, Young Jury Prize - Les Arcs European FF 2014
Individual Merit Award for Best Music (Yury Bykov) - Richmond IFF 2015
Jury Prize - Belgrade IFF 2015
Winner of the George Gund III Memorial Central and Eastern European Film Competition - Cleveland IFF 2015
Dublin Film Critic‘s Award for Best Screenplay - Jameson Dublin IFF 2015
Special Jury Prize for Storytelling - Montclair FF 2015
Best Feature Film - Uruguay Human Rights IFF 2015
Honorable Mention - Let‘s CEE FF 2015
Cinema Ponrepo of National Film Archive, Prague 2019
Festivals
World Premiere: Locarno IFF 2014
Asian Premiere: Busan IFF 2014
North American Premiere: Chicago IFF 2014
Latin American Premiere: São Paulo IFF 2014
Australian Premiere: Russian Resurrection Festival 2014
New East Cinema, Manchester 2018
Cairo IFF 2018
Cast & Crew
Artem Bystrov, Natalia Surkova, Yury Tsurilo, Boris Nevzorov, Kirill Polukhin, Aleksandr Korshunov, Olga Samoshina, Daria Moroz, Sergey Artsybashev, Elena Panova, Dmitry Kulichkov, Ilya Isaev, Maxim Pinsker, Lyubov Rudenko, Irina Nizina, Gordey Kobzev, Petr Barancheev
Production: Rock Films
Yury Bykov
Yury Bykov was born in 1981 to a working-class family in the town of Novomichurinsk. In 2005 he graduated from the All - Russian State Institute of Cinematography where he studied acting. Yury had a number of jobs prior to graduation, including a loader and an engine driver. He never studied film directing but was close friends with students of famous Russian director Alexey Uchitel, who later became the producer of his films. Yury began his career by directing and producing 'Principal', his first short film, and received the main prize at the Kinotavr Open Russian Film Festival. Following this, Alexey Uchitel offered to produce Yury's first feature film 'Live!' which was based on Yury’s own script. The film was well received by film critics and won several prizes at national and international film festivals. Then Yury wrote the script for 'The Major', and again the film was produced by Alexey Uchitel and his studio Rock Films. «The Major» premiered during the Critic’s Week at the Cannes Film Festival, received the Grand Prix at the Shanghai IFF, received the Canal + Nouveau Genre Award at the Etrange IFF, was shown at the Karlovy Vary IFF, Toronto IFF and many other. «The Fool» is the 3rd feature film that Yury Bykov wrote, directed and edited.
