TC

The script

Video and Audio remarks

01:00:00:00

[NAT SOUND music in the car - Russian traditional song, the same song sounds in the end of the film when Oleg listens to his audioplayer]

Krasnoyarsk-Lesosibirsk road, shots from the car A song mixed with a sound of car engine started 01:00:00:00 ends 01:00:27:00

01:00:08:00

VO: 5 hours by car from Krasnoyarsk airport to Eniseisk-15, a rocky road drive into the depths of the Siberian wilderness. 3 hundred of kilometres from civilization…In a region four times the size of France... even the massive Enisei river is dwarfed by the vast and empty expanses of land ...01:00:27:00

Krasnoyarsk-Lesosibirsk road, shots from the car

01:00:30:00

[NAT SOUND with sounds of dog barking, cows moo]

GV of a remote Siberian village

01:00:33:00

VO: The villages in this region are postcard Siberia as it may seem. Traditional wooden huts called izbas line the roads, every back yard has a woodpile, the one-roomed cottages are still heated by stoves… Life lived as it was decades ago... The corner of the world sleepy and remote enough to place a giant military secret town. Local woods hide an extraordinary ghost of the Soviet past. 01:01:05:00

Shots of a remote Siberian village

01:01:05:00

[UPSOT MUSIC - shots of the Eniseisk-15]

GV’s of Eniseisk-15 abandoned part Music is “Recollections” by Heatchplay, starts 01:01:05:00, ends 01:02:29:00, the music mixed with the natural sound

01:01:28:00

VO: So clandestine it was only known by a number - Eniseisk 15 is a former top-secret Soviet radar site. Known to the world as the Krasnoyarsk radar - the controversial 'eye on the sky' outraged the United States… Thousands of people lived here - working on one of the USSR's most expensive construction projects... Once a symbol of Soviet power and military might - now it's a wasteland of brick and steel… an industrial graveyard frozen in time... And an impromptu stage for an act that tells much about modern Russia. Six apartment blocks has survived in the middle of the ruined secret town, standing side by side with the abandoned blocks and installations. And life is returning… Eniseisk 15 is gradually being turned into a town for pensioners and invalids - who are given free housing here. Some of the most vulnerable members of Russian society - eking out an existence in tough and often shocking conditions. 01:02:29:00

GV’s of Eniseisk-15 abandoned part, than the inhabited part

01:02:30:00

[NAT SOUND OLEG CLIMBING THE STAIRS WITH HIS WEELCHAIR]

Oleg hits heavily each step with the wheelchair and counts “One, two, three” in Russian

01:02:38:00

VO: Oleg lives on the third floor of his building. Like other 5 apartment blocks in the town, it doesn't have a lift. [pause, we see that Oleg has no legs] At almost 40, Oleg is one of the town's younger invalids. 01:02:54:00

Oleg climbs stairs

01:02:54:00

[SOT: OLEG LIKHOVIDOV, resident of Eniseisk-15][RUSSIAN] TRANSLATION SUBTITLES: 01:03:12:00 You're a journalist, help me. Help me find my father, my uncle, get my life back on track. Because I can't take it anymore. My breath… [climbs the stairs again] I’ve got enough health. I always had enough health. There you go …01:03:37:00 [END SOT]

Oleg rests at stairs, breathes hardly, speaks to himself and the cameraman, climbs the stairs again and goes on speaking

01:03:45:00

[SOUNDBITE: OLEG LIKHOVIDOV, resident of Eniseisk-15] [RUSSIAN] TRANSLATION SUBTITLES: How can I carry this wheelchair up to the third floor, this is unbelievable. People saythe authorities are humiliating me. And then they ask me to vote for them. And I say: “For whom, for you? I'll never dothat. [END SOUNDBITE] 01:04:15:00

The soundbite starts over the shots at the stairs, Oleg seats at sofa speaking

01:04:15:00

VO: Oleg is an alcoholic … he lost both feet to frostbite after he fell asleep outside during winter drinking session. It happened in his native village not far from Eniseisk -15. With his disability he got the right for a free flat from the state. So now he lives in a one-bedroomed flat with his mother Valentina… An apartment they both rarely leave …Valentina recently became blind. More than 70 disabled people live in the town … There are two social workers here, but no professional doctors, no pharmacy, no ambulance service or any medical clinic. Tamara Vassilievna, a social worker in the town says life for the elderly here is good. The problems start when the pensioners take their families to live with them. 01:05:07:00

Shots inside Oleg’s flat, his mother, view from the window, outside shots of the city Tamara walks on the street

01:05:08:00

[SOUNDBITE: TAMARA VASSILIEVNA, SOCIAL WORKER, ENISEISK-15] [RUSSIAN] TRANSLATION SUBTITLES: I think this is the most normal place for pensioners. Its quiet and calm here, there is no noise, only dogs barking, no noisy cars even. [cutaways start]On the other hand there's no work for young people. If we had some kind of a manufacturing here, people would go to work, [cutawaysend]now many young men don’t do anything, they live on unemployment payments. [END SOUNDBITE]01:05:42:00

Tamara speaking inside her office, part of the soundbite is covered by shots of the photos on the walls

01:05:43:00

VO: This family has seven people living in one-room due to leaking pipes. Three generations living on top of one another. Galina’s children grew up here… now her grandchildren too will grow up here…The family got a free housing at the center of an abandoned military town as former workers of the radar. Galina says they were not given much of a chance to move to another place.She says faulty plumbing is the least of the town's problems

Shots inside the flat of Galina

01:06:14:00

[SOUNDBITE: GALINA SAVINA, resident of Eniseisk-15] [RUSSIAN] TRANSLATION SUBTITLES: The young guys able to work they go to a shift jobs far from here, so they are always away, others here are pensioners, they cope as they can. We don’t see any positive perspectives here… [END SOUNDBITE]01:06:37:00

Galina speaks inside her flat

01:06:39:00

VO: Galina's husband was one of the workers who dismantled the radar site. A process that took several years. Like many other residents he's bitter about the town's change in fortune.

Mikhail Savin seats at the kitchen, speaks to Galina

01:06:51:00

[SOUNDBITE: MIKHAIL SAVIN, resident of Eniseisk-15] [RUSSIAN] TRANSLATION SUBTITLES: The radar registered any missile launch of from the space and redirected the missiles back. America wanted to start the space war, that’s why we decided to build this radar, and then dismantled in Gorbachev’s times. [cutaways start] They were very afraid of this radar. So when they signed the disarmament deal Americans said - this radar has to be dismantled. We said: we’ll do it partially, we’ll dismantle some installations, and they said - only to the ground zero. [END SOUNDBITE] 01:07:27:00

Mikhail speaks, part of the soundbite from 01:07:10:00 is covered by GV’s of the abandoned part of Eniseisk-15

01:07:27:00

[UPSOT MUSIC GVS ABANDONED BUILDINGS]

Outside and inside of the abandoned buildings Music is “Recollections” by Heatchplay, starts 01:07:27:00, ends 01:08:17:00, the music mixed with the natural sound

01:07:36:00

VO: The United States demanded the radar site be closed in the late 1980s - saying it violated an international arms treaty. At the height of glasnost as Gorbachev tried to reach out to the West, he agreed. The once sprawling base shrank to a barely functioning ghost town… Offices, corridors, homes - marked by time and by teenagers' graffiti…Today there are dozens of abandoned buildings in the town and only six inhabited ones. The town is so small it doesn't even have street names - there's simply no need for them. 01:08:12:00

Outside and inside of the abandoned buildings

01:08:18:00

[SOTS OLEG TRYING TO PUT ON A PROSTHETIC LEG, SPEAKING] [RUSSIAN] TRANSLATION SUBTITLES: What is this? Is it what they call a medical care? I have to put on a prosthetic leg now… So I put it on, and you will see soon my real size. [END SOTS]01:08:38:00

Shots of Oleg putting on the leg, Edited so that the shot remains the same, but the time “jumps” (done in order to stress how long it takes to put the leg)

01:08:38:00

VO: Oleg was given a crutches and a prosthetic leg - but he rarely uses them.It's an effort for him to fit it on. The whole process takes almost half an hour… [pause, natural sound goes up briefly] The social worker doesn’t like to visit the family. And Oleg says he doesn’t wait for her, among other reasons - also because there is not much she can do. 01:09:00:00

Various shots inside the flat, the natural sound goes up for 2 secswhen TV shows a music clip

01:09:00:00

[SOT OLEG TRYING TO STAND UP, SPEAKING] [RUSSIAN] TRANSLATION SUBTITLES: Sharply, I have to do it sharply… [END SOT OLEG]

Oleg struggles to stand up, TV music sounds on the background

01:09:10:00

VO: And there's little sympathy among the town's residents for the man they consider young enough but unwilling to work …01:09:17:00

01:09:17:00

[SOT: OLEG WALKING HARDLY, THAN STANDING, SPEAKING] [RUSSIAN] TRANSLATION SUBTITLES: 01:09:31:00See how tall I was. This is how tall I was. [END SOT]

Oleg struggles to walk, TV music sounds on the background,

01:09:36:00

VO: Oleg's mother, a pensioner, is also one of the town's 70 invalids. She has been waiting for an operation on her eyes for the past few months.But like many residents, they simply don't have the money to make it to the nearest hospital.01:09:54:00

Various shots inside the flat,

01:09:54:00

[SOUNDBITE:VALENTINA LIKHOVIDOVA, resident of Eniseisk-15] [RUSSIAN] TRANSLATION SUBTITLES: There is a problem with my eyes, my pupils, but to treat it I have to go to Krasnoyarsk or Moscow, there is no doctor here, there is one eye specialist in Eniseisk, but he can’t help much. He had enough equipment in the times when I was young, and he did surgery than, but now he doesn’t. So now its only Krasnoyarsk or Moscow. Question: Is it easy to go there? You need money to go there, not everyone here can afford that. 01:10:37:00 [END SOUNDBITE]

Valentina speaks at her armchair

01:10:37:00

[NAT SOUND : INDUSTRIAL NOISE]

GV’s of Eniseisk and Lesosibirsk

01:10:39:00

VO: The city of Eniseisk has the same name but without a number and is placed 100 kilometres North from Eniseisk-15. Together with the city of Lesosibirsk they form an island of civilization in the middle of this part of Siberia. Oleg sees this town once a year during his annual state medical check-up. He's required to prove he is an invalid every year. As if his legs will grow back, he jokes with visitors. 01:11:07:00

GV’s of Eniseisk and Lesosibirsk

01:11:08:00

[NAT SOUND : a lady cleaning snow]

01:11:13:00

VO: Lesosibirsk, The place many of Eniseisk 15's young people dream of moving to. Here there's the industry, the employment, the excitement they long for. Shopping centres, services and a bustling town life compared to Eniseisk 15… Lesosibirsk was founded initially as a settlement of the prisoners who behaved well and were let to spend the rest of their term living like free people. And working at the main industry - wood logging and manufacturing. Eniseisk and Lesosibirsk are dominated by the Enisei river. Frozen in winter and crisscrossed by dozens of makeshift paths - in summer it's a vital shipping lane for the local export - wood.01:11:59:00

GV’s of Lesosibirsk, streets, industry, frozen Enisei river, man walking by the path

01:12:00:00

[NAT SOUND : a guy chopping wood in a village]01:12:15:00

01:12:15:00

VO: For hundreds of kilometres around from Eniseisk and Lesosibirsk is taiga and frozen empty land with small villages like this one 10 kilometres fromEniseisk -15. It’s the villages like that supply most of the new arrivals to Eniseisk 15 Life is hard for old people who live alone here. The environment is harsh - minus forty during winter - and winter here often lasts almost nine months - the snow only melting in May. Most homes are old and ill equipped with modern conveniences. Lyuba was born several months before the Russian Revolution. She lost her parents in the Russian civil war - fought in the Second World War and outlived two husbands. She's survived times of desperate hardship… And now she's spending her old age in conditions that most people - young or old - would balk at. She lives by the banks of the Enisei River in a one-roomed izba with her grandson… Like many of his age in this village he is an alcoholic. Lyuba's daughter, his mother also drinks…. Alcoholism is a crippling problem in Russia, and these remote Siberian villages don't escape its touch …01:13:38:00

GV’s of the Shapkino village near Eniseisk-15 Lyubainside her house, interior shots of the house Her grandson drinks vodka

01:13:38:00

[SOUNDBITE:LYUBA SOKOLOVA, resident of Shapkino village] [RUSSIAN] TRANSLATION SUBTITLES: He never hurts me, we never fight, we never have brawls, like many others, I’m telling you truth, we never have brawls. He comes home drunk, I keep silent. He lays down, and sleeps till the morning. [END SOUNDBITE] 01:14:03:00

The grandson goes out of the house, Lyuba speaks while he goes out, the camera moves from his action to her

01:14:04:00

VO: Lyuba's second husband froze to death after getting drunk. She doesn't drink or smoke… the secret of her long life she says. And also - healthy style of life as she puts it.The nearest shop is a half hour of walking… a trip she makes several times a week. Sometimes she has no enough money to buy food. The shop owners in the area trust her and lend her some food, they know - she will return the money, because she doesn’t drink and because she always does return money. Leaving her village hut and moving to Eniseisk 15 isn't an option she says…01:14:42:00

Lyuba walks outside, inside the shop, speaks outside

01:14:42:00

[SOUNDBITE:LYUBA SOKOLOVA, resident of Shapkino village] [RUSSIAN] TRANSLATION SUBTITLES: I will die here in my small sponk house. They offered me a flat, but I can’t move away from my house. [END SOUNDBITE]01:14:54:00

01:14:55:00

VO: Lyuba is much of an exclusion, most pensioners here would like to flee from this sort of life. But what is the choice? An isolated location…. Bleak, harsh terrain…At first glance, and even second and third glance Eniseisk 15 looks like the kind of place people usually try to avoid. Especially the elderly… But officials say there's a waiting list of pensioners wanting to move there. The formal head of Eniseisk 15 and the surrounding areas is based in Shapkino village nearby and he is one of the most active defenders of the policy to give free housing to pensioners and invalids in the abandoned town. 01:15:39:00

GV’s of the area GV’s of Eniseisk-15, plaque with the name of the town in Russian Building of local administration Head of administration enters the building, shots inside the office

01:15:39:00

[SOUNDBITE:Ivan Nikolayevich, head of local administration] [RUSSIAN] TRANSLATION SUBTITLES: People want to come here because the housing here is comfortable. You don't have to chop wood, you don't need to heat the stove, the toilet is inside the flat. [END SOUNDBITE]01:15:53:00

The soundbite starts over the shots inside the office

01:15:54:00

VO: Tamara is a decorated World War Two veteran. She’s almost the same age as Lyuba and also has live most of her life in one of the local village the villages but here the similarity ends. Tamara has three daughters working in Lesosibirsk quite successfully. But she decided to take the granted flat from the state in Eniseisk-15 as she explains that - so that she wouldn't be a burden on her daughters as her life comes to an end. 01:16:22:00

Tamara shows her medals , shots inside the flat, she watches TV, looks at the photo of her daughters

01:16:23:00

[SOUNDBITE:TAMARA POPOVA, resident of Eniseisk-15] [RUSSIAN] TRANSLATION SUBTITLES: My children call me all the time and invite me to live with them, but I don't want that. Here I am master to myself here, I don't bother anyone, if I feel bad I can go through it... [END SOUNDBITE]01:16:36:00

01:16:37:00

VO: Her husband died four years ago, she's lived alone since then. Tamara never complains , she says she’s lucky to have a warm flat.01:16:47:00

Shots inside the flat

01:16:47:00

[SOUNDBITE:TAMARA POPOVA, resident of Eniseisk-15] [RUSSIAN] TRANSLATION SUBTITLES: Its better here. The bad thing is that the settlement is isolated from the world, The nearest hospital is one hundred kilometers from here, and if you go for a regular medical examination you don’t have enough time for all the necessary procedures because you have to return home in time. And their ambulance service doesn’t take us for a medical check to Eniseisk Question: Why? They carry only those patients who are so ill they can’t walk. [END SOUNDBITE] 01:17:44:00

01:17:45:00

VO: For other people, being resettled to Eniseisk 15 was actually a reward for years of work. After almost two decades in the Russian mining town of Norilsk - one of the most polluted places in the world - this woman was moved south for her retirement by the state. Even if it gets to minus 40 in the winter, she says her family welcomed the chance to come here... 01:18:08:00

Tatjana on the street, her children play

01:18:08:00

[SOUNDBITE:TATJANA VASILYEVA, resident of Eniseisk-15] [RUSSIAN] TRANSLATION SUBTITLES: You can't earn much in Norilsk especially if you have three kids, so we ruined our health there and the only thing we could get from the state is here. It is good here in the summer, you can collect mushrooms and berries in the forest. [END SOUNDBITE]01:18:24:00

01:18:24:00

VO: Residents complain about the isolated existence. They say the water is contaminated, the apartments are often in bad repair. It's a lifestyle that may suit the town's pensioners but for young people it's catastrophic. Many find themselves trapped here. There's little employment in or around Eniseisk 15. No industry, no agriculture - a job in any of the two shops in the town is highly sought after. The result: chronic unemployment and a town most young people are desperate to escape from.01:18:56:00

GV’s Eniseisk-15 outside, shots inside the shop

01:18:56:00

[SOUNDBITE:MARINA LOBACHOVA, resident of Eniseisk-15] [RUSSIAN] TRANSLATION SUBTITLES: Young people have to stay in our town, because you can’t go anywhere else, apartments are very expensive everywhere,[the cutaways start] its very hard to go out of this town. We deal mostly with grandmas and grandpas, [the cutaways end] who are very hard to deal with, we are like social workers, [the cutaways start] its very hard to communicate with them. They settle here mostly people who have nowhere to live or who can’t live alone,[the cutaways end] from the villages to this town. I wish we could have less of this kind of people. [END SOUNDBITE] 01:19:32:00

Marina speaks in the shop, cutaways cover part of the soundbite

01:19:33:00

VO: So, welcome to the hidden world of Eniseisk 15. It says much about how hard life is for many Russians that this ghost town is seen as better than the alternatives; but what must it be like for young families here, with no prospect ever of a job in their community, and surrounded by elderly people who are simply waiting to die in the ruins of a town.01:19:55:00

GV’s of Eniseisk-15

01:19:55:00

[NAT SOUND: WIND] [TITLE: P.S.]

Shot of a window

01:20:02:00

VO: Oleg has never served in the army. But he keeps the military jacket of his neighbour, a retired officer, as a sort of - how he explains that - a reminder, a way to control himself. He avoided the service because he was the only son of the lonely mother - his father died in an accident when Oleg was 3 years old. He spends his time drinking and watching videotapes of cartoons and taped American music shows.01:20:30:00

Shots inside Oleg’s flat, the jacket, Oleg puts the VHS tape into the deformed player

01:20:30:00

[SOT : mother listens to music from TV her head on her hands] 01:20:51:00

Mother listens to music her head on her hands, Music from a TV clip as a natural sound

01:20:51:00

Oleg says he wants to learn a trade and start earning money. But his tiny apartment is a de facto cage. He is trapped between disability, alcoholism and absence of any care. Eniseisk 15 has provided him with a home, but little else… So when he or his mother are tired of listening foreign music on tape, Oleg switches on the old audio player. [pause - Oleg pushes the button, music starts]They listen to Russian traditional songs, and think of a better place on Earth. 01:21:31:00

Oleg watches TV, various shots, oleg switches on the audio player

01:21:31:00

[SOT: OLEG AND VALENTINA LISTEN TO THE MUSIC]01:21:55:00

Oleg and his Mother listen to the music

FILM CREW TITLES: Camera, Editing, Production: Anton Verstakov Script: Ruth Hetherington Music: Heatchplay, “Recollections”

SPEAKERS NAMES TITLES (in order of appearance): OLEG LIKHOVIDOV, resident of Eniseisk-15 TAMARA VASSILIEVNA, social worker in ENISEISK-15 GALINA SAVINA, resident of Eniseisk-15 MIKHAIL SAVIN, resident of Eniseisk-15 VALENTINA LIKHOVIDOVA, resident of Eniseisk-15 LYUBA SOKOLOVA, resident of Shapkino village Ivan Nikolayevich, head of local administration TAMARA POPOVA, resident of Eniseisk-15 TATJANA VASILYEVA, resident of Eniseisk-15 MARINA LOBACHOVA, resident of Eniseisk-15

LOCATIONS: Eniseisk-15, Siberia Eniseisk, Siberia, Lesosibirsk, Siberia Shapkino village, Siberia