JESSICA ORECK’S ONE MAN DIES A MILLION TIMES SCREEN AT SAN ANTONIO FILM FESTIVAL July 30th
One Man Dies a Million Times, the award-winning narrative debut of award-winning filmmaker Jessica Oreck (Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo, Aatsinki: The Story of Arctic Cowboys and The Vanquishing of the Witch Baba Yaga) screens at the 25th Annual San Antonio Film Festival.
A true story, set in the future, One Man Dies a Million Times, is about seeds and genetic diversity, about growth and decay, about love and war, about hunger of all kinds, and about what it means to be human, even when all your humanity is stripped away.
Part horror documentary, part legend and part oral history, One Man Dies a Million Times is the true story of one of the world’s most important seed banks and the heroism of the botanists who worked there throughout the Siege of Leningrad (1941 – 1944), and how their sacrifice continues to shape our future.
While filmed on location in St. Petersburg at the actual N. I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (which, miraculously, still exists) and narrated in the words of actual survivors from the Siege, One Man Dies A Million Times is not a reenactment. The narrative has been transplanted from 1940’s Leningrad to a speculative, disturbingly near-future St. Petersburg. The crucial role seed banks play in the modern world is potentially even more critical than it was 85 years ago.
One Man Dies a Million Times is gorgeously framed in black-and-white by Oreck’s frequent collaborator, Sean Price Williams. Performances by the all-Russian cast are engrossing yet understated, frank and infused with grit, determination and humility. The film defies easy categorization. One Man Dies a Million Times is an intricate hybrid of speculation and history, allegory and truth, past and possible future.
