HOW TO SAVE A DEAD FRIEND

HOW TO SAVE A DEAD FRIEND

Country/ies
Russia
Production
Ksenia Gapchenko,Mario Adamson
Editor
Length
103
Original Language
Original language
Status
Completed
Completed in
2022
Eurodoc Participant
Eurodoc Producer
No items found.
Year participation
2019
Distribution

Kimi, a young man in his late 20s is drowning in boredom and feeling useless. His way of escaping this is getting into random fights, jumping off of bridges, overdosing on meds and hard drugs and spiraling down a hole of self- destruction. Kimi has a plan - he’s going to pretend to suffer from schizophrenia in order to get a disability pension. “Fuck the system”,- he says. Also, it’s a lot of money and other benefits, such as free tours to health retreats twice a year, free travel cards, huge discounts on utility services and so on.

His plan is to tell doctors that he hears voices, as well as to simulate other symptoms of schizophrenia. He would need to stay in a mental hospital for at least 21 days for at least 5 times. It’s a long-term project, but Kimi always had bigger plans for himself. So Kimi’s odyssey in Moscow mental institutions begins...

At first he is happy as he’s able to get a temporary pension, but his happiness quickly fades because he is increasingly dragged back to hospitals, affected by strong medications and locked up in rules and regulations of the healthcare system. Because once you’re in - there’s no way out. His close friend and former wife films him in this journey, trying to keep him close for as long as possible – or, at least, as long as her camera keeps running. As Kimi’s memory quickly fades due to the side-effects of meds, they decide to document all Kimi’s scars, tattoos and other body marks along with the stories behind them.

After he passes away, she will go back to watching the footage recorded over more than 10 years. The documented body marks will play a crucial role in her looking for answers. They talk about the stories that created them, and with the help of a custom coded app, they can transform into music and illuminate some of the answers that she has been trying to find about him.

Festivals & Awards
2022 Festival de Cannes (France) - ACID Cannes
2022 Dok.Fest München (Germany) - Dok.International
2022 Visions du Réel (Switzerland) - International Feature Film Competition (World Premiere)
2019 Baltic Sea Forum (Latvia) – Main Award
2019 IDFA (Netherlands) – IDFA Forum
2019 DOK Leipzig / DOK Industry (Germany) – DOK Preview Training
Production & financial support