cast: Alexei Merkushev
Alexei Merkushev started his professional career in 1986, having graduated from the Leningrad Academy. His first job was with Avia, the renowned music theatre. In 1987 he co-founded, together with Anton Adasiñski and a group of other artists, the first underground theatre company in Russia Derevo. Merkushev worked with the company for over ten years and he still collaborates with them on some projects. The experience acquired over the long period of being associated with Derevo helped him develop his own style of pantomime and individual body language, the clarity of which contributes to the extraordinary atmosphere of respective images.

Uncle Volodia starts with a scene in which we encounter a town plunged in the world of dreams. It is followed by a scene showing a room of a poor wretch, who is at the same time a little funny man Uncle Volodia. His days are filled with apparently banal matters which turn into magical incidents or hilarious adventures. His existence transcends the accepted norms and each day seems to be Friday thirteenth. Uncle Volodia lives a solitary life, dwelling in a basement, surrounded by strange animals only. He fills his life with useless things, imagining his own world which constitutes his escape from reality. In his dreams Uncle Volodia appears to be a dignified, proud, audacious and romantic person.