THE PIER OF APOLONOVKA

The people on the pier of Sevastopol Bay are a symbol of the inextricable dilemma in which the city finds itself: too impoverished for splendour and glory, and much too alive for the scrap-heap. People such as handsome 14-year-old Pusch, who finds motorcycles much cooler than girls, or shy 13-year-old Nastja, still mourning her lost first love, spend their summer together on the pier. Even 80-year-old Galina still has a few tears to spare for the bass voice of her erstwhile lover, but not before she completes her morning swim. And then again there’s wiry long-distance swimmer Sergej who, despite his 85 years, would certainly never consider neglecting sex. Finally we meet Vova and Andrej, a tattooed former prisoner and a discharged police officer – now working together illegally as divers next to the ships of the Black See Fleet. A summer on Sevastopol’s pier, a place made fascinating by the encounter between parallel worlds.