MOMENT OF IMPACT

How a single, absurd moment can change someone's life forever. Leonid Loktev was 50 when he was run over by a car on April Fool’s Day, 1989. In a flash, the formerly charming and dynamic computer specialist turned into someone "stuck somewhere between life and death". Suffering from irreparable brain damage, Leonid is conscious but requires the constant care of his wife Larissa who has left her career to become the full-time carer for a man who has become a stranger, with nothing in common with the man she once knew and loved. Her incredible sense of humour has helped her survive the solitary daily routine.

In the summer of 1996, the couple’s daughter, Julia Loktev, went home for two long visits, during which she recorded her parents’ daily struggle to survive ten years after the accident. Alone with her Hi-8 camcorder she tried to penetrate into their hermetic world, capturing the rare moments when her father shows reaction to the constant stimulation he receives (Larissa even gets him to dance with her) and recording Larissa's emotional outbursts and the surprisingly frank conversations with her mother. Utterly devoid of sentimentality, Moment of Impact is a very intimate, unflinching portrait of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.

Awards: Directing Award, Sundance 1998; Grand Prix, Cinéma du Réel 1998; Best Documentary, Karlovy Vary 1998; Documentary film award from Bayerischer Rundfunk, DOK.Fest 1998

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