Nikolai Sheptulin's 2004 film 'The Comforter' explores movement and light through Moscow's conceptual lens

In 2004, filmmaker Nikolai Sheptulin released 'The Comforter,' a 33-minute experimental work structured around four parts: Dawn, Noon, Dusk, and Night. The film examines binary oppositions like light and darkness, vertical and horizontal, motion and stillness through abstract sequences filmed in Moscow's Sokolniki park and suburbs. Sheptulin intentionally avoids human presence for the first three meditative sections, focusing instead on cosmic movement and cyclic recurrence represented by a hedgehog. A woman appears only in the final 'Night' segment, creating what Sheptulin describes as 'artificial light' and 'fictional actions' that contrast with earlier natural cycles. The director aimed to separate faktura (texture and movement) from semiotic interpretation, appealing to viewers' unconscious rather than intellect. Production credits include Vera Alexeeva in the cast, with Pavel Labasov and Alexander Korneev contributing as producers and editors. Sheptulin founded the Obscuri Viri publishing house in 1991, which first published texts by Moscow Conceptual school writers including Vladimir Sorokin. The film was shown in Prague through arrangements by Tomas Glanc, where audiences debated the role of the female character. Interviewer Andrei Monastyrskiy compares the work to films by Wim Wenders and Dziga Vertov, though Sheptulin notes his approach differs from Vertov's kino-eye concept. The DVD remains available from Videodom production company.