Synopsis
Director Victor Kossakovsky describes this film as “a comedy.” Tishe! was inspired by both the first picture in the history of photography, View from the Window at Le Gras (1826-1827) by Nicéphore Niépce, and the short story Des Vetters Eckfenster (My Cousin's Corner Window, 1822) by E. T. A. Hoffman. The latter tells the story of a paralyzed man whose sole contact with the outside world is the view from his window. Kossakovsky made what he calls an “accidental” film: “We don't normally look at things that are right in front of us. This is in a way an example of what can evolve right in front of your eyes if you care to look.” From his apartment window, he filmed a St. Petersburg street over the course of a year, during endless roadwork in preparation for the city’s 300th anniversary celebration in 2003. Time and again, the street is ripped open and repaved. The film shows each repair from the same point of view, but with different lenses, at various times of day and in varying styles - realistic, surreal, abstract. “Tishe,” which is Russian for “Hush,” is the only word spoken in the film.