00:47:17|Netherlands| Directed by Ine Lamers

The film follows L., a 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 since 1992. After the fall of the Soviet Union, its residents voted to maintain their “”splendid isolation.”” Tucked away in the landscape, Ж is described online as “”the last socialist paradise on earth.””

The Radiant Screen presents contrasting perspectives on Ж. While L.’s speculative voice-over drifts through her dreamy train of thought, her Russian driver and guide—determined to take her as close to the city as possible—interrupts with facts and philosophical thoughts. Documentary footage of the city’s periphery alternates with staged scenes and reconstructions. In what resembles a casting studio, five actors deliver “”true”” accounts while simultaneously speculating about the film L. is making . Gradually, however, the images of the closed town begin to fracture. L.’s poetic comments linger in the inaccessible zone, but 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 is not a conventional documentary; it weaves together footage from research trips to Krasnoyarsk Krai (2010–2019), webcam recordings from the city’s official website, archival materials, drawings, and staged scenes filmed in the Netherlands (2020–2023) to create a multilayered image about a search.

The film employs documentary strategies: the statements by the actors, as well as those of the driver, are based on interviews with (former) residents of Железного́рск. The theatrical reenactment is inspired by an archival photograph from a promotional book about the city. Together, these elements contribute to the construction of an unreachable place—one that also turns its back on the searcher.

The making of the film is part of L.’s search for the utopia, thus resonating with what German philosopher Ernst Bloch calls the utopian impulse.