It has been four years since Andrey Zvyagintsev was honoured with the Golden Lion at the Venice Festival for his first film, The Return. His second film, The Banishment, screening in Competition brings the Russian director to Cannes for the first time. This drama was more or less adapted from the novel by William Saroyan, The Laughing Matter, which tells of how a birth can upset an entire family. The director chose to work with the same “father” as seen in The Return, Konstantin Lavronenko.

Questioned about the critical success of his first film, which received awards from around the world, and the pressure on him to produce as much in his second offering, The Banishment, the director related, “The syndrome of the second film is a myth that needs to be dispelled. Vindication can only come from your work, from the film, because the film itself is the goal and not a means of proving something.”