"Vygotsky is a fascinating and highly relevant figure today": the director Anton Bilzho about the film Vygotsky

The director Anton Bilzho, the producer Egor Odintsov, and the actors Vladimir Mishukov, Nelly Uvarova, Yulia Volkova, Anastasia Vinokur and Bogdan Zhilin introduced the film Vygotsky, which is part of the Main Competition of the 48th Moscow International Film Festival.

The film focuses on the great Soviet psychologist Lev Vygotsky. The film is set in Moscow in 1934, toward the end of Lev Vygotsky’s life. Yielding to the persuasion of his family, the psychologist agrees to several psychoanalytic sessions with Sabina Spielrein, a student of Freud and Jung, whose views are largely opposite to his own. In their dialogues, the characters discuss the nature of consciousness, methods of upbringing, and the possibility of creating a "new man". This conversation forces the main character to take a different look at his beliefs and the path he has taken.

Anton Bilzho: "Egor Odintsov suggested making a film about Vygotsky, and I agreed with great pleasure, because he is a very interesting figure who remains highly relevant today. I wanted to immerse myself in his world. His thoughts and his life story: it’s a fascinating journey. The public death scene shown in the film is imaginary. It didn’t happen that way. However, we don’t know for sure if he died at that moment, it remains an open question in the film".

Egor Odintsov: "This film combines personal, social and creative motivation. I feel that the people who lived through the 1920s and were creating art at that time didn’t know about the Soviet system. Today, with the hindsight benefit, we do have an understanding of the Soviet system and the repressions. Yet they achieved the greatest success in their lives during the 1920s. As you see in the film, yes, they understood that the screws were getting tight in a way or another, but they had no idea of some terrible Soviet regime. They perceived these developments as part of the processes they were encountering for the first time in their lives. The most difficult times are times of contrasts".

Nelly Uvarova: "Is it difficult to play a loving woman? I think it’s possible to love someone, feel jealous, and give some freedom at the same time. One doesn’t preclude the other. I found it interesting to play this character, who is in quite a complicated situation: she sees everything, she loves Vygotsky, but doesn’t have him all to herself".