City Day

Natasha and Katya live in a large Siberian city and have never met. Both dream of a better life, so Natasha actively makes contacts with promising foreigners online, while Katya studies English. They were lucky: Katya happened to meet an American, Nathan, while he was traveling along the Trans-Siberian Railway, and Natasha charmed the Chilean Javier in messages—so much that he rushed to his beloved across half the world. In the girls’ hometown, there are many unusual things. Just think of the cult of a famous Russian writer of the 19th century, in honor of whom every year girls in white dresses lead round dances around a monument to the classic. And that isn’t even the strangest ritual… A story that begins as a romantic melodrama turns into a real folk horror in the spirit of the films “The Wicker Man” and “The Viy” (Dar’ya Bobyleva). “City Day” is a bright example of magical realism, generously laced with local color and black humor.