The Year of the White Moon

The Year of the White Moon is shot almost entirely in a deserted home, inviting the spectator into the intimacy of a living room: the camera traces over a sofa, a chandelier and cracks on the ceiling, and lingers on a small TV set. Like a film within a film, a series of tensely humorous phone conversations between a superstitious mother living in the provinces of Russia and her gay son living in the capital emenate through the TV. She lives according to astrological predictions; he complains about problems with his boyfriend. She sings karaoke; he travels the world. She is sick; he is silent. She insists that the performance of a ritual, to the ‘White Moon’, will bring him light and grace. The Year of the White Moon is a tragicomedy about a conversation between two people who hear each other, but are not listening.