Céline Roustan
Dmitry comes home with a crib for his daughter Dasha, when it breaks and the baby falls, his wife Zhenya naturally wants to take her to the ER immediately. But while Dasha was born on US soil, her parents are immigrants and their visas have expired. In ЧУЖАКИ (Outsiders), writer/director Gleb Osatinski crafts a tense and impossible situation, trapping his characters between a rock and a hard place, with the safety of their own daughter at stake
The narrative Osatinski and co-writer Joshua Sonny Harris penned is a reflection of a deeply layered immigrant experience, where the main characters’ legal status can be seen as some sort of antagonist, as it’s the one element that can trap them and jeopardize their lives. Osatinski cites “the concept of perpetual cycles, psychological barriers, an illusion of entrapment, and inevitability” as inspirations, as well as exploring family dynamics and how a single incident can alter them. He asserts that “the film shows confinement”, and did indeed create a moment where “what seems very simple and easy to decide is hard to do when scared and vulnerable”.
New parents Zhenya and Dmitry fret over baby Dasha after the accident
The visual aesthetic of the film immerses us in the impossible situation they are facing, and really sets the tone. From the way the camera follows them – the framing, the light, the color palette – the short invites us into its characters’ lives and as the narrative unravels that feeling of tightness evolves into suffocation as moral dilemma increases. Working with DP Vladimir Goroshnikov, Osatinski creates a tangible representation of being trapped in the immigration system. In the first scene, while we all know that carrying a big piece of furniture up a staircase is an ordeal, the camera movement and framing leaves a lingering feeling you just can’t shake. Even in the house, because of how they all move and the placement of the camera, it immediately feels small. Then, in the aftermath of the accident, the camera works as a reflection of Zhenya and Dmitry’s headspace, heightening how chaotic and scary the moment is as they fear for their daughter. It’s clever and effective filmmaking.
To ensure his story felt believable, Osatinski cast actors who were familiar with immigration and while born in Ukraine, this was actually his first film in Russian. Working with the actors’ personal experience allowed the director and his cast to continuously polish the dialogue, until it felt as authentic as possible. This also allowed them the time to build a rapport, which shows on screen. While their relationship is not the main plot point of the film, the chemistry shared by Yana Mulder and Dmitry Tagovitskiy helps to make it feel genuine and you invest in this situation of new parents, tired and under the constant stress of their expired visa.
Made during his time at Columbia, Outsiders has been on the festival circuit since 2020, and is now having its online premiere on Short of the Week. Osatinski is currently working on a new project titled Resentment, based on his childhood memories of his antisemitic experiences growing up in Ukraine, and how it impacted his relationship with his father.