Russian Ark (Russkiy kovcheg)

Invisible to everyone, a contemporary filmmaker magically finds himself in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg - in the early 1700s! He meets a cynical French diplomat from the 19th Century, the Marquis of Custine, and the men become accomplices in an extraordinary time-travelling journey. They encounter life at the Imperial Palace as it was in different ages: they see Peter the Great berate a general, Catharina the Great rehearse a play, the last Grand Royal Ball of 1913, the last tsar dining with his doomed family, the Nazi's bloody siege of Leningrad during World War II. As their voyage unfolds in a single, uncut steadicam shot, the two men engage in a passionate and ironic dispute. The Marquis has a Western love-hate relationship with Russia, whereas the filmmaker questions his country's uneasy connection to its past and to Europe today. The Hermitage is the Russian Ark, affectionately guarding art and history until the world sees better days.