THE FIRST ON THE MOON

PERVYE NA LUNE confronts the astonished viewer with a catalogue of evidence supposedly proving that a secret space-travel project was pursued in the USSR in the 1930s. Working mainly with film footage presented as never-before-seen archive material and backed up by statements from “eye witnesses”, an absurd competition begins in which detective work is played off against concealed traces. The resultant effect is surreal. With its ironic nods to various genres, Aleksej Fedorchenko’s directorial debut is as entertaining as it is subtle, and resounds with critical undertones questioning the memory function ascribed to visual media.