pereSTROIKA - reCONTRUCTION of a Flat - Films

The film pereSTROIKA - ceCONSTRUCTION of a flat shows the sale of a communal flat in St. Petersburg. In such a flat each room has another owner and accordingly the sale of such a complicated piece of real estate becomes nerve-racking for everybody involved. At the end even an inconspicuous ink-spot is able to decide on the fate of these people on their way into better living conditions.

Synopsis

Imagine you and your family would have to live in just one single room and share the kitchen, bathroom and telephone with up to two dozens of other people. In St. Petersburg this is not an uncommon sight but a relict from the times of the Soviet Union's normative resource allocation. And it won't be a thing of the past for a long time yet. Unskilled in handling property but trained in getting hold of public allowances, establishing an adequate market value for a single room in this flat spurs a dramatic dynamic. For a last time, the relations between all people involved are put to the test in this confined space.Now, it's no longer about who takes up the bathroom for how long or who pollutes the kitchen with especially pungent food smells. Now that their ways will irrevocably part, every one wants to make the most of the situation for himself and will stop at nothing. Because either everybody moves out or nobody! By patiently following every narrative strand, the film unravels this search for potential solutions. Instead of morally distorting its protagonists - on the one side the profit hungry estate agents and, on the other, powerless occupants of a communal apartment - the film stays close on its protagonists' heels while showing them in the context of a movement that takes erstwhile neighbours into different directions. 'pereSTROIKA' engages with the details of its protagonists' existential struggle for a new home. And precisely because of that, the film is able to draw a picture of how free market economy feels in the Russia of today.

pereSTROIKA - reCONTRUCTION of a Flat