¡ Vivan las antipodas!

Since his debut film Belovy (1992), Victor Kossakovsky has made a name for himself with observational films notable for the simplicity of their concepts—Tishe! (2003), for example, was filmed entirely from his bedroom window. In ¡Vivan las Antipodas!, the Russian filmmaker adopts a much broader perspective for the first time.

He travels to four pairs of antipodes, locations that lie directly opposite each other on the globe. Using playful camerawork and editing, he at times literally turns the world upside down, or zooms out until the curvature of the Earth bends the frame. While the landscapes steal the show, Kossakovsky always has an eye for the people he encounters in them.

The director’s signature approach remains unmistakeable despite the larger scale. Using the imaginary line through the Earth’s core as a simple narrative premise, and Alexander Popov’s operatic score as the single point of reference, the film takes the viewer on a journey through inhabited parts of our planet. With his ever-curious eye, Kossakovsky makes surprising and unforeseen connections between places that are each other’s opposites in many ways.