At the closing of the 12th Street Cinema Festival, the autobiographical drama 'Sidney Lumet's Birthday' by Raul Geydarov was shown, which had previously won the main prize at the 'Window to Europe' film festival in Vyborg. We tell you how the film tu...

The end of the 2000s. Seventeen-year-old Dato (Artyom Koshman) lives with his grandmother (Julietta Stepanyan) in the village of Akhtyrsky in Krasnodar Krai and dreams of a career as a director. Some time ago, his uncle Anzor (Yan Gakharmanov) died from complications related to AIDS, which was a great shock to the family. One day, the young man's mother (Marietta Tsigal-Polishchuk) shows up at their doorstep with her new suitor (Artyom Fedotov). The woman gives Dato a video camera so that he can get closer to making his dream come true.

As a rule, directors begin to reflect on adolescence (and even more so on the beginning of their creative path) at a venerable age, when their achievements in the field of cinema are beyond doubt, and the audience is interested in the figure of the filmmaker themselves. Debutants very rarely take on the creation of films that tell about their first steps in the profession. And it is not surprising: one way or another, such (semi)autobiographies are almost always an act of self-admiration (albeit sometimes not devoid of self-criticism), and for newcomers such bravado is an unaffordable luxury. Sometimes novice directors still make films woven from personal memories, but this is only possible if they have a substantial life experience. The 35-year-old Raul Geydarov certainly has that.

Three years before the triumph of 'Sidney Lumet's Birthday' in Vyborg, his short film 'Bebia, Babua, Anzorik, Me and Mom', also based on scenes from the author's childhood, was recognized at several international festivals, including 'Budem Zhit', 'Kinoproba', 'East&West', and 'Amur Autumn'. This touching cinematic sketch about the daily life of a Georgian family in southern Russia was, in a sense, a prologue to Raul's new work, which tells about a later period of his life. The events of the film take place in 2009, but if not for the date that occasionally appears on frames stylized as archival footage, one might mistakenly think it's the 1990s. Here you have the popular hit 'Don't Cry, Alice' by the band 'Stalker', and the sharp 'brothers' in leather jackets engaged in drug trafficking and racketeering, and an admissions committee behind a shabby desk in the open air.

To be fair, it cannot be said that all this 'dashing' setting looks anachronistic for the Kuban backwater of the '2000s'. And the director does not overuse chthonic attributes on screen. Nevertheless, Geydarov systematically shocks the viewer, shamelessly adding new variables to an equation that seemed understandable: the characters' images are revealed through unexpected actions, and shocking facts from their biographies are thrown out with astonishing ease. When Dato finally gets a camera and begins to capture happy moments, a timid hope arises that the story will develop in the spirit of a bittersweet coming-of-age novel, but the dish turns out to be completely different — a heartbreaking thriller-drama, not 'The Fabelmans' in Adjarian style.

Only in the last minutes does Raul Geydarov's feature debut give the impression of a slightly saccharine and manipulative film, but even if you manage to recognize the emotional pressure, the heart will still prevail over the mind. As they say, empaths, hold on: the finale will definitely not leave your eyes dry! 'Sidney Lumet's Birthday' is not so much a motivating confession of a film fan who realized his youthful dream (although classics by Daneliya and, of course, Lumet are remembered and quoted in passing), but rather a tender declaration of love for family and especially for his grandmother.

Armenian actress Julietta Stepanyan, who played the temperamental elderly Georgian woman, can be called the soul of the film without a doubt. Her character is strict, conservative, and overly caring (like any grandmother, probably), but at the same time, she exudes warmth and coziness. Moreover, she is the only character in the film who really cares about poor Dato, which is vividly illustrated by the devastatingly tender denouement. The protagonist played by Artyom Koshman, star of the series 'I'm Not Joking' and 'Black Spring', also evokes sincere sympathy, even if not all of his words and actions will be met with understanding by the audience.

As in the previously mentioned short film, Geydarov prudently gave a different name to his on-screen prototype (in 'Bebia, Babua...' the boy was named Giya), thereby preserving room for artistic license and fiction. However, it is impossible to extract from one's mind the fact that this work is largely based on the author's personal experience, and therefore every phrase that, under other circumstances, would be perceived as a psychological trick, in 'Sidney Lumet's Birthday' touches a nerve. It is hard to say for sure what Raul's next works will be and whether he will continue to unload the contents of his baggage of memories (the selection committee of the St. Petersburg Kit mistakenly considered it not massive enough), but it can be safely stated that his feature debut is one of the best Russian films of 2025.