Albin

Logline: Young provincial aspiring photographer Albin falls into the trap of the modern internet world - The Falsehood. He is looking for any opportunities to shoot Kyiv Instagram "stars". Meeting the famous journalist Kostiantyn allows him to get into the desired party held for Kyiv Beau Monde. But the fake nature of this party "opens Albin's eyes" and turns him away from this pseudo-life, leading towards the Purification, i.e. "to the best through the worst".

Synopsis: Uzhgorod, III Millennium. Art journalist Kostiantyn comes to a famous hermit photographer Petro to cover the artist's work. In the workshop, Kostiantyn meets 25-year-old Albin, a student of Petro, a talented photographer who is in search of himself and opportunities to move up the career ladder. Kostiantyn is concerned about the boy's fate. On the occasion of the exhibition of works by the popular artist Inna Sokolova, he invites him to Kyiv. Arriving at the event, Albin experiences mixed feelings, because the works at the exhibition impress with the author's high art and creativity. But, at the same time, the boy realizes that most people are here not for their cultural enrichment, but to pursue selfish interests: free food and drinks, PR and self-love, hype on newfangled trends (such as vegans, freaks, LGBT, etc.). Inna herself is also forced to admit that recently, only in this way, through the involvement of party-goers and media, can art be promoted to the masses. While Kostiantyn communicates with Inna, Albin gets into the dressing room, which he perceives as part of the exhibition. But later, he realizes that the room is very unusual, even mystical. Everything that he sees and feels there is the personification of the Unreal, deceptive appearance and props in everything that happens around him. Leaving the Hall, Albin notices the famous blogger @Agressivebabe, whom he has been inspired by for the past few years. And he unsuccessfully tried to arrange a photo shoot for her. There was no limit to the guy's disappointment because @Agressivebabe turned out to be a mediocre short fat woman who just photoshopped her image on the network. During the evening, there are several more situations of forgery and games. This makes Albin think about the truth of what is being done. Each new moment seems to expose the whole world in front of him. Seeing Albin confused and ashamed, Kostiantyn decides to finally put off his "rose-coloured glasses". He offers to visit his long-time friend Oko Nerad—the gallery owner, Art Critic, and socialite. During their acquaintance with Oko Nerad, Albin behaves uncharacteristically, because the gallery owner is an unattainable star to him. The meeting is filled with conversations about art, culture, and trends. However, it turns out that Oko is a kind of pet of Fate. He seems to be fed up with all the benefits of life. All these joys and pleasures haven't pleased him for a long time, but by fashion and sociocultural status, he is rather forced to follow the unwritten rules such as possessing pieces of art from different eras, androgynous servants, fine non-traditional cuisine, etc. Subsequently, the topic of conversation turns into feminism, gender, and hype on these trends, where Oko Nerad doesn't speak very politely about these phenomena. Nevertheless, the "control shot in the head" for Albin is Oko's story about his romance with neighbour Yan Sergeyev, his sister's lover. Oko frankly does not reveal the cards but emphasizes that since the time of Julius Caesar, Gladiators, etc., the crowd demanded “bread and circuses”, so the relations between people had different colours and shapes, therefore the worst and best human qualities had no limits in their manifestations. With each subsequent minute of his stay in the house, Oko becomes unbearable for Albin. He feels a complete moral, ethical, spiritual, and worldview collapse. At that moment, when the situation is heating up to the limit, Kostiantyn decides to “finish off” Albin and suggests he end this evening with a visit to a club with LGBT and BDSM themes. Albin refuses because he is already fed up with everything artificial that is around. At the same time, he feels devastated, because his ideal world, the country of El Dorado, seems to be destroyed. Eventually, Kostiantyn offers him a dream job that is away from human eyes, to be the watching eyes that contemplate and document this world's true beauty. After all, this is exactly what he needs now. A year later, Kostiantyn visits Albin to interview him. After all, Albin is now a well-known, sought-after, and, first and foremost, happy naturalist photographer who has found the best through the worst in "this one the best of possible worlds".