Alex Galper is a Russian-American social worker/poet who is getting ready to celebrate his 50th birthday. After finding out that his former fiancée had fled Russia and made the news by marrying a Danish psycho-killer, Alex reminisces about his lost love and questions his and her life choices. The news about her sudden and ill- fated fame sends him into a spiral of self-doubt. He wonders what he would have become had he not chosen the comfortable and modest life of a New York government employee over the exciting bohemian lifestyle of an American poet in Moscow.

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Filmed, produced and directed by Ilya Popenko

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Language: Russian

Subtitles: English

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Duration: 24 min

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Russian folk songs are performed by Valentina Kvasova and Ksenia Akimova

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Ilya Popenko

Having two rival countries to call his home and feeling like an alien in both of them, Russian-American photographer, illustrator, songwriter, musician and filmmaker Ilya Popenko explores lines between national, collective and personal identities across different media.

Ilya was born in 1980 in Moscow, Russia. In 1996 he immigrated to the USА where he graduated from Pratt Institute with a degree in photography. In a recent series of solo exhibitions that took place both in Russia and in the US, Ilya has been successful in combining his photography work and illustrations with performances by his music project Mad Meg. He has taken part in numerous group shows, and his most recent photo series ‘Vlad and John’ won First Prize at the annual PDN Magazine competition.

Popenko is very new to filmmaking. He made a transition from still photography to moving images only in 2020. Before completing his first documentary short film Girl with Flair, he has mostly been doing educational and music videos.

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October 28th, 2021 7pm

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Fridman Gallery

169 Bowery, New York

NY 10002

RSVP ​via info@locus29.com

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