Three villages are combined in one timeless space - somewhere beyond the Arctic Circle. On the Kola peninsula in the Russian North, a few dozen people still live in their traditional timber houses surrounded by water, forests, and sand. Nature provides for them, mainly the White Sea, but fish populations have dwindled over the years. Fewer and fewer people want to stay; many move to the city, leaving their homes behind. Over time, these houses have turned into spectres from the past, ownerless and lonely ruins. Only young children, visiting their grandparents in summer, breathe new life into this place.

The hamlets Tetrino, Chavanga, and Kuzomen in the Tersky Coast of the White Sea seem to head toward the fate of so many other villages all over Russia: a slow but inevitable extinction. Almost forgotten by regional governance, these people have to keep together to cope with their everyday struggle.

- Dir. Evgeny Kalachikhin - 90min - 2021 - Germany -

"There is a painterly beauty in the way the camera keeps its distance from its subject; economical with words, the soundscape is largely made up of silences, natural sounds, and a gorgeous classical score." - The Guardian

"avoids a traditional narrative relying instead on the stunning landscapes themselves and an often epic soundscape to paint a vivid panoramic picture" - Filmuforia

"Each scene in the film questions the meaning of life and shows a person's life in a place where nature writes the laws." - ArtDocFest

"Evgeny Kalachikhin's debut film is characterised by melancholic beauty and social change. BEYOND THE WHITE uses poetic images and atmospheric music to capture the fate of forgotten Russian villages." - Zurich Film Fest