The Facets Cinémathèque is located at 1517 W. Fullerton Ave. in Chicago. For more information on films playing in the Cinémathèque, please call 773-281-4114. To order advance tickets online, visit the TicketWeb website by clicking here.
U.S. Theatrical Premiere
VLAST (Power)
"Dark and compelling" -Washington Post
"Through the nightmare of phony democracy, this chronicle of an ugly open secret only underlines the importance and fragility of community" -Village Voice
Critic's Choice! "Dense with intrigue... fascinating" -Chicago Reader
Recommended! "Well-tooled, informed... powerful" -NewCity Chicago
In 2003, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Russia's wealthiest man, was arrested at gunpoint on a Siberian runway. Having openly challenged President Vladimir Putin, Khodorkovsky was convicted, his oil company, YUKOS, seized, and his pro-democracy efforts curtailed. He remains defiantly imprisoned and in unprecedented interviews with Khodorkovsky's family, his associates, and prominent politicians and journalists, director Cathryn Collins reveals how liberty and the rule of law have become casualties in modern Russia. This film also highlights the unchecked idealism characterizing a small group of the earliest generation of "new Russians", young people who came of age with the fall of the Berlin Wall, inspired by prospects of democracy and an open society. Vlast (Power) takes an unvarnished look at the consolidation of power in an oil-dependent Russia, revealing a frightening picture of repression and retribution reminiscent of Stalin's regime. (MoMA)
Directed by Cathryn Collins, U.S.A., 2010, 88 mins. In Russian and English with English subtitles.