Director and photographer, Anna Radchenko, had grown up with Russia’s infatuation with space and fascination with the unknown. She wanted to trigger people to wonder, “What if?” So she created Kokosmos, a purely visual, experimental piece that lies somewhere between a fashion film, a music video and an experimental video. The surreal exploration is Radchenko’s first film combining CGI with real footage, a direction that she is looking to explore with her future productions.
“Growing up in post-Soviet Russia, I’d be constantly dreaming about space, the unknown and what was out there, almost like an unknown entity we were trying to reach out to. With Kokosmos, I wanted to express exactly that – my vision of what space and this god-like presence would look and feel like,” Radchenko explained.
Radchenko now lives in the UK and is represented by Kode Media there.
After graduating from the London College of Fashion, with a distinction in MA Fashion Photography, Anna’s fashion films have been selected for the world’s major fashion and short film festivals including London, Berlin and Los Angeles. Her work has been published by Nowness, Schön!, Design Collector and Trend Land.
For Kokosmos, Radchenko collaborated with model, Yana Dobroliubova, who is recognised for her striking and ethereal looks which break away from traditional beauty standards. Inspired by Dobroliubova’s unearthly aesthetic, as well as Japanese manga artist, Shintaro Kago, Radchenko aims to expresses people’s need to explore and search by focusing on the concept of the all-seeing eye.
The music and sound was custom-made by creative music and sound design duo, Playhead, who worked with London-based singer songwriter, Alyusha Chagrin, to create an otherworldly-sounding language to fit the scenario.
Similarly, the choice of clothing and make-up is also meant to fit with post-soviet space theme. Radchenko has brought in elements of folklore by specifically selecting Russian fashion designers and sticking to a neon colour palette featuring bright shades of green and purple.
Credits
Director & Executive Producer: Anna Radchenko @ Kode Media
Co-director: Mikhail Svjatogor
DoP: Roman Yudin
Producer: Anastasia Limarenko
Model: Yana Dobroliubova
CG Artist and Supervisor: Murat Kılıç
CG artist: Yanis Georges
CG compositing: Murat Kılıç
Music and Sound Design: Lister Rossel & Utkucan Eken @ We Are Playhead
Singer: Alyusha Chagrin
Editors: Suga Supiah & Ikki Dhesi
Colour: Tobias Tomkins – CHEAT
Post-production producer: Jack Goodwin @ Kode media
Make-up: Darya Kholodnykh
Stylist: Anna Bakhareva
Fashion designers: o5o.moscow, AVA11, Go Authentic, Anya Komyagina
