One Man Dies a Million Times | |
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Directed by | Jessica Oreck |
Starring | Alyssa Lozovskaya, Maksim Blinov, Vladimir Koshevoy |
Cinematography | Sean Price Williams |
Release dates | |
Running time | 93 minutes |
Countries | United States, Russia |
One Man Dies a Million Times is a 2019 Russian-language drama film with science-fiction elements directed by American filmmaker Jessica Oreck that premiered at the 2019 South by Southwest Film Festival.
One Man Dies a Million Times transposes to the near future the true story of the world's first seed bank, the N. I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Genetic Resources, during the Siege of Leningrad, during which scientists preserved a massive inventory of edible seeds in the name of biodiversity while facing starvation. [3] [4] [5]
In the film, a young couple, biologists Alyssa and Maksim are struggling to preserve the seed bank of the Vavilov Institute in a starving city of Leningrad of the war-torn Russia.
The film includes narration taken from writings by prominent figures who endured the siege of Leningrad, including Anna Akhmatova, Olga Berggolts, and Lydia Ginzburg. It is shot by cinematographer Sean Price Williams in a primarily black-and-white style reminiscent of Tarkovsky. [3]
Oreck decided that this film would only be released in theaters, with no home-video release or sales to streaming services to honor the risks taken by the real-life on-screen subjects. [6] After a planned May 2020 opening delayed due to COVID, the film began its theatrical release on July 29, 2022, at IFC Center in New York City. [7]
The Moscow theater hostage crisis was the seizure of the crowded Dubrovka Theater in Moscow by Chechen terrorists on 23 October 2002, resulting in the taking of 912 hostages. The attackers, led by Movsar Barayev, claimed allegiance to the Islamist separatist movement in Chechnya. They demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces from Chechnya and an end to the Second Chechen War. The crisis was resolved when Russian security services released sleeping gas into the building, and subsequently stormed it, killing all 40 hostage takers. 132 hostages died, largely due to the effects of the gas.
A seed bank stores seeds to preserve genetic diversity; hence it is a type of gene bank. There are many reasons to store seeds. One is to preserve the genes that plant breeders need to increase yield, disease resistance, drought tolerance, nutritional quality, taste, etc. of crops. Another is to forestall loss of genetic diversity in rare or imperiled plant species in an effort to conserve biodiversity ex situ. Many plants that were used centuries ago by humans are used less frequently now; seed banks offer a way to preserve that historical and cultural value. Collections of seeds stored at constant low temperature and low moisture are guarded against loss of genetic resources that are otherwise maintained in situ or in field collections. These alternative "living" collections can be damaged by natural disasters, outbreaks of disease, or war. Seed banks are considered seed libraries, containing valuable information about evolved strategies to combat plant stress, and can be used to create genetically modified versions of existing seeds. The work of seed banks often span decades and even centuries. Most seed banks are publicly funded and seeds are usually available for research that benefits the public.
Spider-Man is a 2002 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. Directed by Sam Raimi from a screenplay by David Koepp, it is the first installment in Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy, produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Marvel Enterprises and Laura Ziskin Productions, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. The film stars Tobey Maguire as the titular character, alongside Willem Dafoe, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Cliff Robertson, and Rosemary Harris. The film chronicles Spider-Man's origin story and early superhero career. After being bitten by a genetically altered spider, teenager Peter Parker develops spider-like superhuman abilities and adopts a masked superhero identity to fight crime in New York City, facing the sinister Green Goblin in the process.
A teaser trailer is a short trailer and a form of teaser campaign advertising that focuses on film and television programming. It is a videography pre-release film or television show advertisement. Short in length, teaser trailers contain little material from the advertised content to be released.
Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov was a Russian and Soviet agronomist, botanist and geneticist who identified the centers of origin of cultivated plants. He devoted his life to the study and improvement of wheat, maize and other cereal crops that sustain the global population.
The 872-day siege of Leningrad, Russia, resulted from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad in the Eastern Front during World War II. The siege lasted from September 8, 1941, to January 27, 1944, and was one of the longest and most destructive sieges in history, devastating the city of Leningrad.
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The Institute of Plant Industry, Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry or All-Russian Research Institute of Plant Industry, as it is officially called, is a research institute of plant genetics, located in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Pavlovsk Experimental Station is an agricultural experiment station and gene bank that is part of the Institute of Plant Industry and situated in Pavlovsk near St. Petersburg, Russia.
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