Once Upon a Night

Once Upon a Night (released in the US as Dark Is the Night) is a World War II resistance drama filmed by Boris Barnet at the Yerevan Studio in Armenia. Set in an unnamed Soviet city occupied by the Nazis, it centers on a brittle young woman, Varya, who, having lost her family, makes a living scrubbing the floors of the Nazi headquarters. One night, a Soviet plane crashes in the neighborhood, and Varya hides the surviving fliers in the attic of a bombed-out building, risking execution every time she ventures to see them.

This minimalist chamber thriller operates with a handful of characters, few locations, sparse dialogue, and but a hint of romance. Barnet’s directorial gaze focuses on Varya, played by a slightly eccentric newcomer, Irina Radchenko. Her breathless, titillating presence is a striking counterpoint to the film’s very real stakes.

Soviet film’s early champion, Jay Leyda, called Once Upon a Night “an almost expressionist film.” Indeed, the film’s night interiors allow for plenty of decorative play, and Barnet uses highly expressive lighting to spotlight his drama. In making this small, stylized, and character-centered film, Barnet took advantage of the relative relaxation of censorship in the last few years of the war. Though Once Upon a Night did not make a splash upon release, Barnet’s filmmaker colleagues adored it, due in large part to Radchenko, who reminded them of Lillian Gish, and scholars consider it one of the best Soviet war films. (Boris Barnet, USSR, 1944, 78 minutes, 35mm)

This screening is part of an international symposium on Boris Barnet (By The Very Blue Sea: Boris Barnet and His Films) organized by the Department of Cinema and Media Studies with support from the Film Studies Center, Slavic Languages & Literatures, the Center for East European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, and The Adelyn Russell Bogert Fund of the Franke Institute for the Humanities. The symposium takes place on March 6–7, 2026, and closes Doc Films’ retrospective of Barnet’s work (every Wednesday at 7 PM during the Winter Quarter). Programmed by Hannah Yang. Print courtesy the Austrian Film Museum.

This event is free and open to the public. Doors open thirty minutes prior to showtime.