The Village detective : a song cycle
(DVD)

Title from sell sheet.

Originally released as a documentary film in 2021.

Bonus features: three short films by Bill Morrison: Buried news (2021, 12 min.), Let me come in (2021, 11 min.) and Sunken Films (2020, 11 min.); trailer.

Music, David Lang.

Mihail Zarov.

During the summer of 2016, a fishing boat off the shores of Iceland made a most curious catch: four reels of 35mm film, seemingly of Soviet provenance. Unlike the film find explored in Bill Morrison's Dawson City: Frozen Time, it turned out this discovery wasn't a lost work of major importance, but an incomplete print of a popular comedy starring beloved Russian actor Mihail Z̆arov. Does that mean it has no value? Morrison thought not. To him, the heavily water-damaged print, and the way it surfaced, could be seen as a fitting reflection on the life of Z̆arov, who loved this role so much that he even co-directed a sequel to it. In The Village Detective: a song cycle Morrison uses the story as a jumping off point for his latest meditation on cinema's past, offering a journey into Soviet history and film accompanied by a gorgeous score by Pulitzer and Grammy-winning composer David Lang.

DVD, NTSC, Region 1 ; wide screen 1.78:1, 16x9 ; 5.1 surround, 2.0 stereo.

For private home use only.

English and Russian dialogue; English subtitles.