Yuri Shiller’s Icarus follows Beckett’s saying: “Ever failed. Fail better”. Filmmaker of landscapes and peasants, his gaze, full of wise slowness, rests on one of these anonymous heroes unaware of his feat, even when he is filmed in his village. Fedoseich is an ambulance driver in a remote village in Russia, horses are still used for ploughing and crops are harvested by hand. He hides his treasure in his garden: an ultra light plane that he himself built with which he dreams of leaving the earth. He has the blessing of the church and the gaze of the village, which flies with him, although in his first attempt, he only lifts one metre off the ground for 20 seconds… no matter, it is not high enough for the sun to melt his wings and he is able to continue experiencing what he loves most: the attempt.
