St. Petersburg Paradox

The St. Petersburg paradox is a casino game invented in Russia where prospective players pay an unusually high fee for the right to flip a coin for a modest pot. If the coin lands on heads the player collects the money in the pot. If the coin lands on tails, the pot doubles and the player continues. 'The St. Petersburg Paradox' film works with archival images from the Wolfson Archive of both St. Petersburg, Florida and St. Petersburg, Russia along with images shot in both locations by the filmmaker Mark Boswell. The spectator is navigated, like a situationist video game (based on coin flips), to travel through the past and present of both cities towards a duelling, apocalyptic finish resulting from the historically and ill-fated decisions made by both Russian and U.S. political systems. St. Petersburg, Florida was given its' name in 1882 after Saint Petersburg, Russia, the birthplace of Peter Demens. A local legend says that John C. Williams (founding mayor) and Peter Demens flipped a coin to see who would have the honour of naming the city.

St. Petersburg Paradox, us, 2006, 5:30