The Crystal of the Transcendent

Directed by Alexandr Shapiro

A frame-by-frame analysis of the film "Stalker" (dir. Andrei Tarkovsky), where each scene of the film is interpreted separately through the prism of the philosophy of negative ontology, the concept of "death space," and transcendence. This alternative approach differs radically from the entire array of traditional interpretations of the film "Stalker," which usually focus on themes of faith, the search for truth, and existential choice. In The Crystal of the Transcendent, the main characters of Tarkovsky's film — Dikobraz, Stalker, Writer, Professor, Monkey, Wife — are seen as the embodiment of impersonal forces, expressed allegorically and striving to destroy normative forms of reality and meaning. Embracing these ideas, the film itself is designed as an eight-hour standalone audio-visual product.