This photo project is dedicated to my former neighbor Yura, with whom we lived in the same three-room apartment in Minsk for two years. The apartment used to belong to a crazy person, so we rented it very cheaply. I could watch Yura hanging out with his friends, making movies on his smartphone, and going to “war” with hipsters on Oktyabrskaya. In September 2019, Yura moved out of the shared apartment, our paths diverged.

Marginalia was the first name of the studio-union of Yura and his friends, in which they drew cartoons and made short films. My former neighbor's main hobby is movies. When we first moved into the apartment, Yura was a rocket designer. He didn't like his boring job, so he spent all his free time writing scripts, gathering friends, organizing auditions, and filming. Yura's main goal was the velcom Smartfilm festival. On the second year his peculiar movies were noticed. The movie “BoDy” made it to the short-list of the festival. By that time Yura had already quit his hated job as a designer and gave himself completely to filmmaking.

Yura rarely smiles and is not very emotional. He loves garlic croutons and makes them almost every day. Yura prefers not to trust anyone. In his free time he either sits in his room or goes to parties with his friends, for which he makes strange costumes. And then he keeps quiet again. Yura doesn't like to talk. Words are empty. Yura likes to make sets for new movies and write scripts. Yura has a best friend, Ulyana, who plays the lead roles in all his movies and is often seen in this project.

Ulyana is an artist. Ulyana once studied art in St. Petersburg, but gave it up. Now she studies at the Belarusian Academy of Arts. She and Yura have known each other for 5 years. Everyone who sees them together says that they look like brother and sister. Ulyana has obsessive-compulsive disorder and she is on antidepressants. Ulyana even wanted to go to Novinki. But Yura talked her out of it. “Here we finish the movie, then and lie down” - he convinced, when he shot “Больно не будет”. Time passed, Ulyana became easier, she never lay down in Novinki, she never stopped being friends with Yura.

September 14, 2019 Yura packed his things and moved out of the old apartment. For inspiration, a better share and new movies.

P.S. In two years, Yura had a trilogy of movies that are directly or indirectly related to the apartment we lived in.

“Больно не будет.” The first movie. Dedicated to the stinking couch. The script for the movie was written when Yura had to sleep on it for a few days. After that, the couch was wrapped in food wrap so that it would emit less odor. In total, before this one was not thrown out the window by the new tenants, about 12 people slept on the couch at different periods.

“BoDy.” Movie Two. Dedicated to fighting his dark sides. The final battle took place in a vacant lot not far from the house.

“Невольник жести.” Movie three. It's not out yet.