Grumant: Island of Communism

“An island of communism” is how tourists refer to Barentsburg, a settlement on the island of Svalbard where Russian seasonal workers live. The filmmaker follows a group of miners from their home country, where they say an emotional farewell to their loved ones, to bleak Barentsburg, where Lenin stands lonely and freezing on his pedestal, and where cash money doesn't exist – all purchases are deducted from the workers’ salaries. “There’s nothing good here,” one of the miners tells us. And he’s by no means the only one who thinks so. Nevertheless, most of these Russians have been coming here since the 1990s to work the mines in a place where the sun never shines, even aboveground. The miners find warmth in a former ski chalet that’s used as a church. Their funny traditions and rehearsals for the New Year’s party provide a welcome diversion. The candid stories of the miners are told in voice-over alongside those of other workers, including a music teacher from Ukraine who runs the recreation center, a surgeon who didn’t like the pressure of working in Moscow, and a married couple who keeps livestock and talks with great melancholy about the old days on the island.