DOCUMENTARY

Old Clown

2011

28 min | HDV | Betacam SP | Stereo

Synopsis

Documentary film tells a story of legendary Soviet time clown Sergey Fatkin.
Due to popularity he was allowed to pass iron curtain and visit 35 countries in times when many Soviets didn’t see any foreign country ever. At Paris nightclub Olympia Fatkin performed together with Jaques Brel.
Later on Sergei Fatkin made a fatal mistake smuggling Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago into the country.
Officially banned book was hand copied and passed around.
KGB soon traced down Sergei Fatkin and the legendary clown was arrested, liberated from his titles, awards and private possessions.
Ironically – the man who had passed around a book about Soviet prisons was imprisoned for years.
Nowadays Sergei Fatkin, free again, is still working modestly as a clown, performing at kindergartens mostly.

Author: Manfred Vainokivi
Editor: Kersti Miilen
Sound: Ivo Felt
Producer: Marju Lepp

Produced by: Filmivabrik / 2011

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