Former truck driver and farmer Vasiliy Ilyn makes an affecting departure from his home village of Ryshkovo in the Kursk Obast region of Russia to see America for the first time, in today’s poetic documentary from Alexander Khudokon. Conceived for Russian Esquire’s September issue, it serves as the first installment of the new season of our director-showcasing series, Shorts on Sundays, which this time invites submissions for the best in new factual filmmaking. Ilyn visits Times Square and Brighton Beach in New York, and a dairy farm in New Jersey, before being shot for the cover of the magazine by Martin Schoeller, the award-winning photographer who has immortalized the likes of Barack Obama, Bill Murray and George Clooney. “For 90 issues we had celebrities on our covers,” says Editor-in-Chief Dmitry Golubovsky. “This time we got a bit tired of it and dedicated the September issue to people who have never given an interview in their life.” It turned out to be a transformative experience for Ilyn. “I think what impressed him the most was that many different people live all together in one big bowl,” says Khudokon of his protagonist’s journey. “The farm had the biggest impression on him—the way everything is organized, the order. He said that it looked like a paradise.”

To submit a documentary to Shorts on Sundays, visit our Vimeo page for terms and conditions of entry.