In the east of Ukraine lies Derzhprom, the House of State Industry. Built between 1925 and 1928, it was intended to embody the idea of Communism. Although it was a poster child for the avant-garde movement, now it seems almost forgotten. Derzhprom acts as a kind of time machine. Space becomes time here. The Building moves between classic, observational documentary and experimental cinema. With very little dialogue, it is rather a poem of moving images. Through the use of mixed materials, including archive films from the 1920s, it reflects on how past and present, movement and time are related to the static nature of architecture.
Tatjana Kononenko, born 1980 in Kirovograd, Ukraine, lives and works between Berlin and Tbilisi. She studied Media and Communication in Berlin and Film Directing at the German Film and Television Academy (dffb). She has been working with video and photography on projects often dealing with the issues of memory and history. Her first documentary, Keep Out, premiered at the 13th Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival in 2009. The Building is her graduation film from the German Film and Television Academy and her feature-length debut.
Keep Out (2009), Medea “Will We Be Free?”, She Asked Suddenly (2013), The Building (2019)
Matilda Mester is a director and cinematographer who graduated from the German Film and Television Academy (dffb). She currently lives in Copenhagen and works in the field of art film, experimental and documentary film. Her work as a cinematographer has been shown at several international festivals and art exhibitions. The Building is her first feature film as a director.
The Building (2019), Nakskov 1:20 (2020)
