Fedorchenko already conquered the Venice jury once with his pseudo-documentary “First on the Moon,” as part of the “Horizons” program in 2005. This year he brought his erotic drama “Silent Souls” to Venice. The film is based on a novel by Russian writer Denis Osokin. The movie was due to be first screened at Russia’s Kinotavr Festival in Sochi, but the director sacrificed participating in it for the sake of bringing it to Venice.

The movie tells a mysterious love story of a man whose beloved wife passes away. Together with his best friend they set out on a road trip thousands of miles across the boundless landscape to say goodbye to her according to the rituals of the Merya culture, an ancient Finno-Ugric tribe from Lake Nero in western central Russia. Their trip is followed with true love's memories and two little birds in a cage.

Fedorchenko is known to the cinema community as a director who makes “festival movies” – very artsy and far from commercial. However, the director says he just respects his audience, believing they'll understand and like his work.

After Venice, “Silent Souls” will be screened at six other festivals. In Russia, it'll be screened in Anapa and Vladivostok, and later it'll go to Toronto, New York, Warsaw and Soloniki.

Three other Russian films are scheduled to be screened as part of the “Horizons” program. This section of the festival was proclaimed experimental and this year it turned toward video art. "Diamonds" by Rustam Khamdamov features the Mariinsky Theater prima ballerina Diana Vishneva debuting as an actress, “Inspiration” by Galina Myznikova and Sergey Provorov, video artists from Nizhny Novgorod, and “Weak Rot Front” by Victor Alimpiev – these three movies are far from traditional cinema as we know it, balancing on the edge of cinema and video art.

The 67th Venice International Film Festival, organized by the Venice Biennale, will run until September 11 at Venice Lido.