On Seeing The World For The First Time, At 67

One of the best short films on travel you will see all year. Imagine “Lost in Translation”, only through the eyes of a 67-year old retired Russian farmer who has never traveled. Esquire Russia commissioned this 20 minute film as a companion piece to its annual issue about “rules of living” from ordinary lives, a break from the usual celebrity heavy coverage.

In this documentary, the farmer Vasiliy Ilyn went from his home village of Ryshkovo in the Kursk Obast region of Russia to New York to be photographed on the cover of this special issue of Esquire mag. The film, directed by Alexander Khudokon, follows Ilyn as he leaves his village, visits Times Square and Brighton Beach in New York, and a dairy farm in New Jersey, before being shot for the cover of the mag by Martin Schoeller, the award-winning photographer.

Esquire’s (Russia) September issue is about common and regular people, not celebrities. This is the story of Vasily Ilyn, a retired farmer from the village of Ryshkovo, on a first time journey to see the world, New York, the ocean, and a cover photo shoot for Esquire.

director, camera, editor: ALEXANDER KHUDOKON
idea: DMITRY GOLUBOVSKY, MAXIM NIKANOROV
producer: LEV MASLOV
associate producers: KATJA KAGAN, POLINA EREMENKO
sound fx: VADIM KOLOSOV
music: VTGNIKE
production: STEREOTACTIC
shot on Kodak film

Moscow 2013