New film explores Russian society through dashcams

Moscow

DRIVERS keep their cool as they plunge into a river, race through a forest fire or see a falling meteorite in a new documentary made from Russian dashcam footage that the filmmaker says represents a national characteristic.

Dmitry Kalashnikov, 29, from Saint Petersburg, spent a year piecing together footage he found online, including on YouTube, to make a 67-minute film called The Road Movie that features short sequences of unalloyed life in Russia.

Russian dashcam footage has become a global phenomenon thanks to the video devices that drivers here often fix inside windscreens in case…