1979 | B&W/Color | 155’

Deep within the Zone, a bleak and devastated forbidden landscape, lies a mysterious room with the power to grant the deepest wishes of those strong enough to make the hazardous journey there. Desperate to reach it, a scientist and a writer approach the STalker, one of the few able to navigate the Zone’s menacing terrain, and begin a dangerous trek into the unknown. Tarkovsky’s second foray into science fiction after ‘Solaris’ is a surreal and disturbing vision of the future. Hauntingly exploring man’s dreams and desires, and the consequences of realizing them, ‘STalker’, adapted from Arkady & Boris Sturgatsky’s novel ‘Roadside Picnic’, has been described as one of the greatest science fiction films of all time.

The Russian Director and writer Andrei Tarkovsky was born in the Soviet Union in 1935 and died in Paris in 1986. His seven feature films are internationally acclaimed, and many books and academic researches studied them in depth. Despite his international fame, the USSR only recognized Andrei Tarkovsky few months before he died with a retrospective screening of his films, five of which were made in the USSR. His feature films are: "Ivan's Childhood" (1962), "Andrei Rublev" (1969), "Solaris" (1972), "The Mirror" (1975) and STalker" (1979). The documentaries "Voyage in Time" (1982) and "Nostalghia" (1983) were produced in Italy, while his last film "The Sacrifice" (1986) was produced in Sweden. His works are characterized by spirituality and metaphysical themes, extremely long takes, lack of conventional dramatic structure and plot, and memorable cinematography.