Marina Kondratieva

Nine real stories set in a taxi. A taxi driver on his first day of work has a priest who speaks to him about God. And then there's an accident. Dream or reality? He will live and participate in the lives of his passengers in his own way. Stories of life and death, humanity and chaos. Filmed on the streets of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.

Three individuals seek help from a psychiatrist: a young director struggling to get his film made, a lonely woman unhappy with her life, and an older woman unable to sleep without art books. The psychiatrist’s advice leads them to success and happiness. However, the psychiatrist questions his own happiness and dreams. Years later, he reveals to the now-famous director Garin that he always wanted to be an actor. Garin offers to help his former doctor pursue his dream.

Using the example of two elderly people, the film reconstructs the fate of the former USSR. Their generally quite comfortable lives unfolded against the backdrop of the difficult and bloody history of the Soviet Union — a country that disappeared, taking with it its way of life, its morality, and an entire generation.

The film consists of three parts: "Acquaintance," "Atelier," and "Time." It tells the story of the inventors of photography—Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, Hermann Wilhelm Fogel, and Franz de Mazer. The narrative of their pioneering work in the creation of the art of photography unfolds through the revelation of the era in which they lived and worked.