No Place for Fools

Artist Oleg Mavromatti tells the story of Sergey Astahov—a gay man transformed by Church and State propaganda into a pro-Putin Orthodox activist—using videos Astahov uploaded to his blog. In this context, the mobile phone becomes the ultimate means of communication between an isolated individual and an imagined audience. Blending experimental documentary with artistic essay, and building a sequence of found internet footage into a crescendo of near-biblical proportions through acerbic editing, Mavromatti delivers a radical portrait of contemporary Russia and its many ideological conflicts.