The Three (Fofan)

Director: Alexander Baranov, Bakhyt Kilibaev
Screenwriters: Alexander Baranov, Bakhyt Kilibaev

Institute History

  • 1990 Sundance Film Festival

Description

The Three is a tragicomic tale of three tramps who believe that someday they can return to normal life, despite their miserable situation. They occasionally perform menial labor, but more often they drink themselves into a stupor. In one hilarious, darkly comic scene, they daringly risk death by drinking wood polish to get high.

The Three begins as a study of the dregs of humanity, plumbing new depths of degradation. But when the trio meet a smug film crew on location, our harsh judgment of these characters is shaken. The film crew tauntingly offer to pay the two younger men if they will perform a stupidly dangerous stunt. The two men agree, realizing that the sum of money proffered would be enough to send their aged buddy back home to his family. The resulting clash of values between the ragged threesome and the film crew turns contemporary Soviet society upside down, suggesting that those who reject the values they see around them—the powerless, the disenfranchised, the completely alienated—maintain a dignity and humanity that is otherwise absent.

Wednesday, January 24,1:30 p:m.
Holiday Village Cinema I

Thursday, January 25, 4:15 p.m
Holiday Village Cinema II

$5.00

— Forrest Ciesol

Screening Details

Credits

As you use our Online Archives, please understand that the information presented from Festivals, Labs, and other activities is taken directly from official publications from each year. While this information is limited and doesn't necessarily represent the full list of participants (e.g. actors and crew), it is the list given to us by the main film/play/project contact at the time, based on the space restrictions of our publications. Each entry in the Online Archives is meant as a historical record of a particular film, play, or project at the time of its involvement with Sundance Institute. For this reason, we can only amend an entry if a name is misspelled, or if the entry does not correctly reflect the original publication. If you have questions or comments, please email [email protected]