MOMENT OF IMPACT

On April 1st, 1989, in a suburb of Loveland, Colorado, Len Loktev was hit by a car and left in a near-comatose state. In that instant, the formerly jovial and independent Russian emigré was turned into an impenetrable being, imprisoned within his own body and completely dependent on others for everything. Eight years later, Julia Loktev, Len's daughter and the filmmaker, has found the courage to make this moving documentary. Loktev takes us into her family's daily life and exposes her deeply felt love, frustration and pain and that of her mother Larisa -Leonard's primary caretaker- as they interact with a father and husband who is not the man they once knew and loved. Larisa fights against the image of herself as a heroine, wanting to be seen as a woman who is coping as best she can, drawing on both her sense of humour and determination, with the fate of her family and the reality of her responsibility. With its glowing black-and-white photography and deeply poignant family portraits, Moment of Impact is a courageous meditation on the unpredictability of our existence.