Filmed as a hybrid between a road-movie and a music video, Kvadrat depicts the festive atmosphere of techno night clubs, and reveals aspects of this profession less commonly portrayed.

[3] Shot in Switzerland, France, Hungary, Romania and Russia, the film omits the typical documentary elements: there are no interviews, no explanatory voice-over, facts or data is provided.

[4] DJ Andrey Pushkarev wakes up in his Moscow apartment, packs his vinyl records into a rolling bag and leaves for Domodedovo airport, to fly to Zurich.

This disorientation, indicative of severe sleep deprivation, is visually emphasized as he stares blankly into the camera, capturing the exhaustion and mental fatigue inherent in the DJing profession.

The next day, he sleeps in the car during a huge snowstorm of 2012, one of the deadliest in Romania’s history, to arrive in Cluj-Napoca’s club Midi, where he plays a high-energy DJ set.

[5] Anatoly Ivanov formed an idea for Kvadrat after completing an impromptu 30-minute short in Cantonese in February 2011 about a private Hong Kong martial arts event.

It took 1 year in Geneva and was delayed by technical problems, such as frame-by-frame manual removal of hot pixels on the footage from the cameras and inadequate computer hardware (a 2011 MacBook Pro and a pair of Sony MDR7506 headphones).

[5] Unlike in mainstream films such as Berlin Calling or Basquiat, these topics are presented from a viewpoint of a normal, slightly overweight and out-of-shape individual, who does not compensate nor suffer from substance abuse and does his job devoid of female attention.

Complex VFX, sound design ( ADR, foley…) are used alongside exhibition, metaphors, and symbolism to convey ideas, evoke emotions, and pose questions implicitly.

[28] Unifrance, an organization dedicated to promoting French films abroad,[29] managed by the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée, partnered with the L'Institut Français to help relaunch a Russian distribution campaign in cinemas.

[31][9] During the session, the director noted that Russia was the most challenging and delay-prone country to obtain a specific film distribution certificate, which had to be signed personally by the Deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation.

[10] The Moscow Center of Documentary Film was subsequently closed at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, its team disbanded, and further screenings were cancelled due to force majeure.

[35] Reviewers noted the film's aesthetic,[36] atmospheric, musical[37] and meditative qualities, as well as its realistic approach,[38] the decision to forego traditional interviews[39] and adopt innovative editing.

This polarized response aligns with critic Vsevolod Korshunov's analysis, who described Kvadrat as a play on ugly feelings, a concept by Sianne Ngai[40] that has resonated negatively with certain audiences.

Evgeny Maisel noted the peculiar dilemma of "monotony and isolation" in the DJ's profession, where the protagonist remains "detached from the joy he provides", trapped in a repetitive cycle of travel and work, all captured through Ivanov's equally self-restrained minimalism.

[41] In 2022, during the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, the magazine's editor-in-chief, Anton Dolin, was declared a foreign agent due to his political dissent and fled the country.