Ine Lamers

The Radiant Screen is a poetic essay about the pursuit of a utopian fantasy.

The film follows L., a searching filmmaker, as she journeys through the vast red Siberian landscape, circling the enigmatic closed city of Ж (Zjeh) Железного́рск / Zheleznogorsk. Founded in the 1950s as a secret military scientific research center, this town was designed as a model socialist city. It remained hidden and inaccessible, appearing on maps only in 1992. After the fall of the Soviet Union, its residents voted to maintain their "splendid isolation." Tucked away in the landscape, Ж is often described online as "the last socialist paradise on earth." The Radiant Screen presents contrasting perspectives on Ж. L.'s speculative voice-over drifts through her dreamy train of thought, while her Russian driver and guide—determined to take her as close to the city as possible—interrupts with facts. Documentary footage of the city's periphery alternates with staged scenes. .In what resembles a casting studio, five actors deliver "true" accounts while simultaneously speculating about the film L. is making and imagining their roles in it. Gradually, however, the images begin to fracture. While L.'s voice-over clings to the search and the suspended belief in something greater, the film evokes a growing sense of doubt and unease: What is real, and what is mere projection? How far can one pursue a utopia before becoming a hostage to the search? The Radiant Screen weaves together footage from research trips to Krasnoyarsk Krai (2010–2019), webcam recordings from the city's website, archival materials, drawings, and staged scenes filmed in the Netherlands (2020–2023). The actors' statements, along with the driver's, are based on interviews with (former) residents of Ж. The theatrical reenactment is inspired by an archival photo from a promotional book about the city. L. is Ine Lamers' fictional alter ego. The making of the film is part of L.'s quest for utopia, reflecting what German philosopher Ernst Bloch calls "the utopian impulse."