< THE NOSE OR CONSPIRACYOF MAVERICKS(Nos, Ili Zagovor Netakikh)>

The film is dedicated topioneers of art – the people who were aheadof their time and, most importantly, fearlessenough to dare the non-mainstream, even if atthe cost of their own life. Director, artist, andanimator Andrey Khrzhanovsky’s work is anadaptation of both Shostakovich’s opera andthe original novella. Entering into a dialoguewith both, he has created his own Nose—asurrealist, absurdist and scary story aboutthe relationships between the artist andtheir time—between art and power—whosecharacters, along with Shostakovich andGogol, include Vsevolod Meyerhold, MikhailBulgakov, and a few other historical figures.The combination of Khrzhanovsky’s uniqueanimation style, the opera score, the literature,and documentary footage creates a truerequiem for the Russian Avant-Garde of thetwentieth century, whose history resonates withthe modern day. A bewildering and absolutelyperplexing film that takes viewers some