My grandfather turns 89 soon. He is unsure about the date. All the boys born the same week in his village in Bashkiria were registered on the same random day. And with the same surname - the name of the village.
His name is Boris Stepanovich.
My brother and I have always called him Borya, and he gets annoyed when other grandchildren say ‘ded’ or even worse ‘dedulya’. “I am Borya and not some old person.”
He used to go for a run every morning in his village and then in Moscow, or go skiing in winter. He stopped running a few years ago and only goes for a walk and has a nap every day after lunch at the same time.
“If I wake up in the morning and nothing hurts it means I am dead. So if my knees hurt - I am still alive and I will go for another walk.’’
He taught me to love nature and dirt, be disciplined and stubborn, maybe too stubborn like him; he also taught me how to heat a thermometer to pretend sick and skip school. He would then laugh at me and say I was a truant.
My grandfather worked in the construction of the Russian Underground and Railway tunnel in Siberia. I have heard a million stories about those places and every time they took a different turn and had a new detail. But that’s him and his stories.
We always have had a unique connection, but I know he is sad I don’t have a ‘proper’ job in Russia and disappointed I am going to leave again soon. He does not hide that. I guess if I had made different choices I would never go to his places in Siberia.
Sharing again the early work we shot in Siberia in 2015. Probably one of the reasons I still come back to Russia. Probably one of the reasons I love and hate it so much.
After editing, we brought a projector to Borya’s home to show the story. To be honest, he did not care much about the interviews, the landscapes and just wanted to find familiar faces. But didn’t see them - most of them are already gone.
Sometimes it feels this village is gone as well. Swollen somewhere in time and erased from the world map.
Short video filmed inside Silent House where eight deaf-blind people live together learning new ways to feel the life.