The Loneliest Planet

by Julia Loktev

The Loneliest Planet

Synopsis

Alex and Nica are young, in love and engaged to be married. The summer before their wedding, they are backpacking in the Caucasus Mountains in Georgia. The couple hire a local guide to lead them on a camping trek, and the three set off into a stunning wilderness, a landscape that is both overwhelmingly open and frighteningly closed. Walking for hours, they trade anecdotes, play games to pass the time of moving through space. And then, a momentary misstep, a gesture that takes only two or three seconds, a gesture that's over almost as soon as it begins. But once it is done, it can't be undone. Once it is done, it threatens to undo everything the couple believed about each other and about themselves. All the while, they are not alone. They are always with the guide, who witnesses their every move. The film plays off the relationship between young travelers and the places they travel to, between guide and guided. But at heart, it is a love story -- a tale about betrayal, both accidental and deliberate, about masculinity, failure and the ambiguities of forgiveness.

Director

Julia Loktev was born in Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Russia. When she was nine, her family immigrated to the U.S., settling in Loveland, Colorado. Following university in Montreal and half a year traveling alone through Central Asia, she moved to New York. Julia's first feature, the documentary MOMENT OF IMPACT, which screened in Locarno Critics' Week, won several prizes including the Directing Award at Sundance, the Grand Prize at Cinéma du Reél in Paris, Best Documentary at Karlovy Vary. Her fiction debut DAY NIGHT DAY NIGHT premiered in Directors' Fortnight at Cannes in 2006, where it won the Youth Prize, and went on to win the Louve D'Or at the Montreal Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, Best New Director at the Chicago International Film Festival, and the Someone to Watch prize at the Independent Spirit Awards. It was nominated for two Gotham Awards, Breakthrough Director and Breakthrough Actor. Julia also makes multiple-screen video installations that have been exhibited in a visual art context, including at Tate Modern in London, P.S.1 in New York, Haus der Kunst in Munich, Bienal de Valencia, Mito Art Tower in Japan. She was recently awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Filmography

1998 - Moment of Impact (documentary)
2006 - Day Night Day Night (feature film)

Cast

Gael Garcia Bernal
Hani Furstenberg
Bidzina Gujabidze

Crew

Director: Julia Loktev
Director of Photography: Inti Briones
Editors: Michael Taylor & Julia Loktev
Production Designer: Rabiah Troncelliti
Sound Designer: Martín Hernandez
Music: Richard Skelton
Production companies: Parts and Labor (US), Flying Moon (D)
Producers: Jay Van Hoy and Lars Knudsen (Parts and Labor), Helge Albers (Flying Moon), Marie Therese Guirgis
Executive Producers: Dallas M. Brennan, Rabinber Sira, Chris Gilligan, Shelby Alan Brown, Gregory Shockro, Hunter Gray,
Line Producer: Jana Sardlishvili

Technical Data

Format: 35mm / 24fps / 1:1.66 / standard Stereo with Dolby SR noise reduction
Length: 113 Min.
Original language: English
Original Title: The Loneliest Planet

Artwork

Click here for the »The Loneliest Planet« artwork

Downloads

The Loneliest Planet
The Loneliest Planet

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