Steps

In a television studio, everything is ready for the filming of a new version of the famous Odessa Steps sequence, from Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin. A computer has selected a sampling of Americans to participate in the experiment, organized by a delegate of the Soviet government. The group of people (in color) finds itself interacting with the characters in the film (in black and white), who are trampled by the boots of the Cossacks and knocked down by the crowd fleeing down the steps. ”Live” witnesses to the event, the American tourists calmly continue taking pictures or munching on hamburgers in front of the soldiers slaughtering innocent civilians. The only one to escape the massacre is the newborn in the baby carriage, over whose smiling (and color) face roll the end credits. (Excerpt from: Zbig Rybczyński - The Retrospective: Film & Video by Bruno Di Marino, September 2003)