INSIDE A SPIDER
Full-length feature film
Genre: surrealism, necrorealism, drama, absurd, punk, trash, experimental
The film was shot without state or institutions of the Russian Federation funding
Scriptwriter and director: Arseniy Gonchukov
Producers: Arseniy Gonchukov, Sergey Zakroyshchikov
Director of photography: Dmitry Tarkhov
Composers: Andrey Manilkin, Anastasia Listopadova
Year: 2025
Duration: 72 minutes
Actors: Vladimir Lyubovsky, Inessa Krylova, Regina Tselik, Yuri Vaganov, Yuri Skulyabin, Mikhail Salin, Eva Roytman, Alisher Zhumaev, Ekaterina Pavlova and others.
“Inside a spider” is a story of a family living in the Russian outback. It’s trying to hide from the chaos that is sucking the world into a black funnel of the apocalypse. But barricades in the apartment corridor, splash suits and mystical rituals with animals won’t help. Absurdity and nightmares crawl into their refuge through disturbing dreams full of lust, death and horror.
They didn’t notice how they crossed the edge of the world and are now inside the deadly spider. The Devil, Stalin, Madonna, Bill Gates, Russian soldier and Coffin Man are at the threshold of the dwelling wrapped in the darkness.
“Inside a spider” is an absurd film, a mystery, punk, art horror, a dream. Covid, degradation, stuffiness, a tornado of all-consuming darkness that sucks in all living things.
Russian existential drama-collage, surrealism, nightmares of Dali, Magritte and Buñuel. A mixture of Parajanov and Cargo 200.
The film features a record number of actors for independent cinema – almost seventy people. Turkeys, toads, spiders, beetles, dead mice and even worms took part in the filming.
The film production was entirely independent and took three years to complete, although it was shot in just seven days. All actors and crew members worked without payment.
During 2024, the film won a number of awards at international film festivals: “Best director”, “Best production designer”, “Best lead actor” on Experimental Brasil Film festival (Brazil), “Best film” and “Best plastic makeup” on Hollywood Blood Horror Festival (LA, the USA), was shown in Melbourne and Atlanta, Georgia (the USA)
An interview with the director
EXPERIMENTAL BRASIL: INTERVIEW ARSENIY GONCHUKOV
IMDB
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27031874/
Shots from the film — https://disk.yandex.ru/d/oz8RWWjGI5Au6Q
A poster in English — https://disk.yandex.ru/i/6J4fd-sHnRQ9Hg
A trailer in English — https://disk.yandex.ru/i/6HRj_nHdr7WAuQ
Film critics and experts reviews:
«You did what you wanted to and as best you could. And that’s the main thing.»
— Alexander Sokurov, film director, winner of the European Film Academy Award
«The film is truly special.»
— Bernd Bader, selector of the Cottbus Film Festival
«I rather liked the film. It’s a mixture of satire, trash and subjective auteur cinema.»
— Andrey Plakhov, film critic and film expert. Film columnist for the Kommersant newspaper. President of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI). Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation.
«What can I say? A weighty, juicy, expressive work on the theme of Covid disintegration and madness in the weird Russian cultivation. Homage to Cronenberg and Lynch. Cute. What was it that Dovlatov said? «I liked a lot of it!»
— Anton Dolin, film critic, journalist, film reviewer, writer
«Arseniy, you feel the spirit of the times, and your schizophrenia and pathology are quite in keeping with it. »
— Anzhelika Artyukh, Doctor of Art History and a member of the Union of Cinematographers of Russia and FIPRESCI, a jury member at the Berlinale and the Rotterdam Festival.
«We were deeply impressed with your film. You have done something truly special and we wish you the best of luck in showing it around the world.»
— Vanessa Wright, selector of the Renegade Film Festival (Atlanta, Georgia, the USA).
» «Inside a spider» was highly acclaimed and stood out at our festival for its surrealism and intense storytelling. The claustrophobic atmosphere in the film is striking.»
— Experimental Brasil Film Festival
About the director:
Arseniy Gonchukov is a director of independent auteur films, scriptwriter, producer, and writer. Graduated from the Philological Department of the Nizhny Novgorod State University, the Film School at the Higher School of Economics, and the Moscow School of New Cinema.
Writer and director of six feature films, as well as the horror web series «The dark area».
Winner of more than twenty awards from Russian and international film festivals, including the Grand Prix for Best Film and Best Director.
Participant of the 77th Montreal Film Festival, Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival and many others. Premieres took place in different countries around the world, from the USA, Great Britain, Berlin and France to India and Iraq.
His books are translated into Arabic and Chinese.
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FESTIVAL:
1. Hollywood Blood Horror Festival (Лос-Анджелес, США)
2. Experimental Brasil Film festival.
Experimental Cinema Taken Seriously (Campos Dos Goytacazes, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil)
https://www.experimentalbrasil.com/
https://filmfreeway.com/ExperimentalBrasil
Best Director in an Experimental Feature
Winner
-Inside a Spider (Dir. Arseniy Gonchukov)
Best Art Direction in an Experimental Feature Film
Winner
-Inside a Spider (Dir. Arseniy Gonchukov)
Best Actor in an Experimental Feature Film
Winner
-Vladimir Lyubovsky (Inside a Spider)
Best Sound Design in an Experimental Feature
Finalist
-Inside a Spider (Dir. Arseniy Gonchukov)
Best Soundtrack in an Experimental Feature Film
Finalist
-Inside a Spider (Dir. Arseniy Gonchukov)
Best Actress in an Experimental Feature Film
Finalist
-Inessa Krylova (Inside a Spider)
Best Experimental Feature
Semi-Finalist
-Inside a Spider (Dir. Arseniy Gonchukov)
Best Editing in an Experimental Feature
Semi-Finalist
-Inside a Spider (Dir. Arseniy Gonchukov)
3. International LA Punk Film Festival
Nov 29-Dec 1st@ Lawless Brewing Co at the Arts District in North Hollywood
@Lawless Brewery, 5275 Craner Ave, North Hollywood, CA 91601
https://beachdancerfilms.com/la-punk-film-festival/
https://filmfreeway.com/LAPunkFilmFestival
Интервью зрителя после показа нашего фильма «Внутри каракурта» в Лос-Анджелесе
4. Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF)
5. Renegade Film Festival, 2024.