The Restless Garden

In the last days of the Soviet empire, in the summer of 1991, the Russian-American filmmaker Victor Ginzburg tries to find the 'new Russian woman'. His quest starts in Neskuchny Sad, which is part of Gorky Park (a name taken from a Boris Pasternak poem from 1917). Gorky Park is well-known in Russian literature as the place where lovers meet. Here we attend a meeting of key figures from Moscow's counter-culture. An avant-garde group performs a mysterious ritual near a Stalinistic monument, which is the point of departure for a multi-layered journey submerging us in the world of brave women symbolizing the New Russia. For example: an eighteen-year old seamstress deciding to pose for a Playboy-like magazine; a ballerina with a philosophical attitude; an avant-garde fashion designer; a young woman selling her body for hard currency; a young actress on the verge of fame or oblivion. Through these and other people the film reflects the mood of a nation going through apocalyptic changes.