How Long Is “Silent Souls”?

A man attempts to honor familial traditions as he deals with the death of his wife in this drama from director Aleksei Fedorchenko. Aist (Igor Sergeyev) is a photographer and writer who lives and works in a small community on the outskirts of Kostroma, a city in Central Russia. Aist's ancestors were the Merya, an indigenous Finno-Ugric tribe whose ways and traditions were largely abandoned with the rise of the Soviet Union. But Aist still remembers some of the key rituals of his forefathers, and when his wife, Tanya (Yuliya Aug), dies, he wants her funeral to be in keeping with Merya traditions. With the help of his close friend Miron (Yuri Tsurilo), Aist sets out to take Tanya's body out to a spot near the Volga River, which was of great spiritual importance to the Merya people and near where Aist and Tanya enjoyed their honeymoon. When they reach their destination, Aist will cremate Tanya in accordance with Merya rites, and en route, he shares with Miron many stores (some quite intimate) of their lives together as man and wife. Ovsyanki (aka Silent Souls) received its North American premiere at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.