The 6th International Mirror film festival dedicated to the prominent Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky will be under way in his native Ivanovo region from May 29 to June 3.
This year’s festival is marking the 80th anniversary of the grand film maker, the 50th anniversary of his legendary Ivan’s Childhood movie and 40th anniversary of his 1972 Cannes-winning Solaris. According to polls, Solaris is still among the world’s top fantasy films.
This anniversary year requires special events so the organizers of the festival attempted to invite all film makers somehow related to Tarkovsky and his legacy, says the head of the festival, a film reviewer Andrey Plahkov. The organizers invited Turkey’s Nuri Ceylan, Mexico’s Carlos Reygadas and Russia’s Alexander Sokurov and Andrey Zvyagintsev. These directors are still loyal to art house cinema amid mass film industry. Andrey Plakhov promised an extensive program this year
"This year’s festival will be culturally and cinematically diverse. This is done to feel the energy of contemporary cinema that was largely based on Tarkovsky’s works. We are having a special “In the Context of Tarkovsky” program featuring films somehow linked to the director -earlier we showed his favorite films, movies of his time and world classics. But we are running out of such films and thus wanted to include works by contemporary masters that were interrelated with Tarkovsky’s legacy."
The abovementioned directors agree that Tarkovsky has played a big role in their creative development and his influence can be seen in their films-they are not imitations but creative interpretations of Tarkovsky’s legacy, a kind of tribute to the director.
The main competition will feature movies from Europe, Asia, South and North America, says Andrei Plakhov.
"We put a special accent on Latin America selecting movies from Brazil, Chile and Argentine, as it’s a very vibrant region. We also focused on South East Asia as Tarkovsky loved the Asian culture and was closely tied with it throughout his life."
Russia is represented by Sergey Loznitsa’s In the Fog that has recently been awarded with the FIPRESCI prize in Cannes.
All participants will also enjoy picturesque Ivanono landscapes as for the first time they will be staying in the city of Plyos –a beautiful Volga town that was frequented by artists and creative people since 19th century.
VoR
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
Vladimir Mirzoev: Boris Godunov -Борис Годунов (2011) , trailer
Director: Vladimir Mirzoev
Screenplay: Vladimir Mirzoev (based on the play by Aleksandr Pushkin)
Cast: Maksim Sukhanov, Mikhail Kozakov, Andrei Merzlikin, Leonid Gromov
Awards: Special Prize, “Annual Award of the Guild of Historians of Cinema and Film Critics,” Russia, 2011
Selected in the following festivals :
- International Film Festival Tarkovski, Ivanovo (Russia), 2012
- Russian film festival in Sweden 'KinoRiurik', Stockholm (Sweden), 2012
- Russian film symposium. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh (USA), 2012
- Annual award of the Guild of Historians of Cinema and Film Critics, Moscow (Russia), 2011
- Cinéforum ''Automne de l'Amour'', Blagoveshchensk (Russia), 2011
- Window to Europe Film Festival, Vyborg, Vyborg (Russia), 2011
Dealing with classics always requires a delicate balancing act by a director, as it is one of the easiest and, at the same time, most challenging ways to draw attention and criticism. This is especially true if the title is “Boris Godunov,” since the film cannot avoid comparisons to previous texts―Pushkin’s drama and Musorgskii’s opera―both staged hundreds of times―and Sergei Bondarchuk’s film (1986), which became a Soviet classic.
Mirzoev’s film, however, draws a clear distinction amongst these texts and traditions. He has brought the tragedy into a contemporary setting while retaining the original script. The film begins with scenes of modern details: political figures in business suits, Shuiskii talking in a Mercedes, Pushkin making an announcement on TV, and committee members meeting against the backdrop of glittering skyscrapers. Sometimes, though, the contemporary setting evokes anachronistic awkwardness, for example, an illiterate soldier reading text messages on an iphone. While such scenes produce discordant effects between the lines of the past and the modern setting, they also offer a new texture to the traditional text.
Indeed, this device in adapting classics began decades ago and the use of a contemporary setting has already become a cliché marker of the postmodern. What more can be done with classics that the audience knows by heart?
Yet Boris Godunov can be viewed from a different perspective. Pushkin’s original play has been staged mostly in traditional costumes and in its historical setting. Mirzoev’s film successfully manages a delicate balancing act, fully negotiating the boundary between past and present, making a significant impact on the history of adaptation―not only of Boris Godunov but of classics as a whole. It diverges completely from the adaptation style of Soviet films and recent television serials in Russia that reproduce the epic past with luxurious historical props or a sequence of plot clichés with elaborate or shocking stylization.
Many critics have interpreted the modern setting of Boris Godunov as a political satire, drawing parallels between the film and the current political situation in Russia. Dealing with plots of dictatorship and political intrigues, the film can be easily pigeon-holed as a parody. The director, however, strongly rejects any interpretation of his work as a satire or allegory. Moreover, Pushkin’s original text had no intention to be a satire.
More here.
Screenplay: Vladimir Mirzoev (based on the play by Aleksandr Pushkin)
Cast: Maksim Sukhanov, Mikhail Kozakov, Andrei Merzlikin, Leonid Gromov
Awards: Special Prize, “Annual Award of the Guild of Historians of Cinema and Film Critics,” Russia, 2011
Selected in the following festivals :
- International Film Festival Tarkovski, Ivanovo (Russia), 2012
- Russian film festival in Sweden 'KinoRiurik', Stockholm (Sweden), 2012
- Russian film symposium. University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh (USA), 2012
- Annual award of the Guild of Historians of Cinema and Film Critics, Moscow (Russia), 2011
- Cinéforum ''Automne de l'Amour'', Blagoveshchensk (Russia), 2011
- Window to Europe Film Festival, Vyborg, Vyborg (Russia), 2011
Dealing with classics always requires a delicate balancing act by a director, as it is one of the easiest and, at the same time, most challenging ways to draw attention and criticism. This is especially true if the title is “Boris Godunov,” since the film cannot avoid comparisons to previous texts―Pushkin’s drama and Musorgskii’s opera―both staged hundreds of times―and Sergei Bondarchuk’s film (1986), which became a Soviet classic.
Mirzoev’s film, however, draws a clear distinction amongst these texts and traditions. He has brought the tragedy into a contemporary setting while retaining the original script. The film begins with scenes of modern details: political figures in business suits, Shuiskii talking in a Mercedes, Pushkin making an announcement on TV, and committee members meeting against the backdrop of glittering skyscrapers. Sometimes, though, the contemporary setting evokes anachronistic awkwardness, for example, an illiterate soldier reading text messages on an iphone. While such scenes produce discordant effects between the lines of the past and the modern setting, they also offer a new texture to the traditional text.
Indeed, this device in adapting classics began decades ago and the use of a contemporary setting has already become a cliché marker of the postmodern. What more can be done with classics that the audience knows by heart?
Yet Boris Godunov can be viewed from a different perspective. Pushkin’s original play has been staged mostly in traditional costumes and in its historical setting. Mirzoev’s film successfully manages a delicate balancing act, fully negotiating the boundary between past and present, making a significant impact on the history of adaptation―not only of Boris Godunov but of classics as a whole. It diverges completely from the adaptation style of Soviet films and recent television serials in Russia that reproduce the epic past with luxurious historical props or a sequence of plot clichés with elaborate or shocking stylization.
Many critics have interpreted the modern setting of Boris Godunov as a political satire, drawing parallels between the film and the current political situation in Russia. Dealing with plots of dictatorship and political intrigues, the film can be easily pigeon-holed as a parody. The director, however, strongly rejects any interpretation of his work as a satire or allegory. Moreover, Pushkin’s original text had no intention to be a satire.
More here.
Monday, 28 May 2012
In the Fog Wins Prize of FIPRESCI in Cannes
Sergei Loznitsa’s film "In the Fog" took a prize of the International Federation of Film Critics in the main competition at the 65th Cannes Film Festival.
It is the second prize for Russia at the festival: Taisia Igumentseva's short length film "Road To" was awarded in the Cinefondation program.
The feature film "In the Fog" is the only Russian-language film of the main competition of the Cannes Film Festival. The film based on Vasil Bykov’s war story and shot in coproduction with Germany, Latvia, and Belarus is set in Belarus occupied by Germans in 1942.
At the awarding ceremony the film director Sergei Loznitsa thanked the jury and his film crew and mentioned that his new film is an experiment with language and form, which is no less important for him than the content. RIC
It is the second prize for Russia at the festival: Taisia Igumentseva's short length film "Road To" was awarded in the Cinefondation program.
The feature film "In the Fog" is the only Russian-language film of the main competition of the Cannes Film Festival. The film based on Vasil Bykov’s war story and shot in coproduction with Germany, Latvia, and Belarus is set in Belarus occupied by Germans in 1942.
At the awarding ceremony the film director Sergei Loznitsa thanked the jury and his film crew and mentioned that his new film is an experiment with language and form, which is no less important for him than the content. RIC
Saturday, 26 May 2012
Russian war drama covers Cannes with Fog
Film buffs on the glamorous French Riviera have finally found themselves in the thick of action set during WWII, orchestrated by Russian director Sergey Loznitsa, whose dark latest feature is a hot candidate for the coveted Golden Palm.
The film, based on a novel by Vasil Bykov, had its world premiere at the world's most prestigious film festival, which will close on May 27.
In The Fog is Loznitsa's uncompromising reflection on human nature, and more specifically, the Russian mentality.
Set in 1942, when much of the Soviet Union struggled under German occupation, the drama revolves around a pair of partisans, Burov and Voitik, eager to get revenge for a group of comrades arrested and executed by the Germans. They don't doubt that the only man who could possibly give the partisans away is Sushenya, a rail worker. He was also arrested, but for some reason the Germans decide to set Sushenya free. Sushenya’s treason looks evident to all, including his own wife.
There's a line in Apocalypse Now that goes, “Horror has a face. You need to make friends with horror.” In Loznitsa's film, however, horror seems to have no face whatsoever. The film's director disagrees.
“The main character has got a face. He has no place in the world, though.” Loznitsa told RT that he had wanted to make In the Fog for ten years. But it proved to be difficult to find funding for a film set during the war. The producers Loznitsa turned to didn't think In the Fog had potential.
“The producers asked me, 'who is going to watch a film set during the war?' But I was deeply touched by the novel. I thought there was something special about the story,” Loznitsa said.
The award-winning filmmaker initially made a name for himself as the creator of numerous documentaries.
Born in the former Soviet Republic of Belarus, Loznitsa grew up in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, where he majored in engineering and mathematics. Having moved to Moscow, he embarked on his second profession, that of filmmaker, which he studied at VGIK. ...
The film, based on a novel by Vasil Bykov, had its world premiere at the world's most prestigious film festival, which will close on May 27.
In The Fog is Loznitsa's uncompromising reflection on human nature, and more specifically, the Russian mentality.
Set in 1942, when much of the Soviet Union struggled under German occupation, the drama revolves around a pair of partisans, Burov and Voitik, eager to get revenge for a group of comrades arrested and executed by the Germans. They don't doubt that the only man who could possibly give the partisans away is Sushenya, a rail worker. He was also arrested, but for some reason the Germans decide to set Sushenya free. Sushenya’s treason looks evident to all, including his own wife.
There's a line in Apocalypse Now that goes, “Horror has a face. You need to make friends with horror.” In Loznitsa's film, however, horror seems to have no face whatsoever. The film's director disagrees.
“The main character has got a face. He has no place in the world, though.” Loznitsa told RT that he had wanted to make In the Fog for ten years. But it proved to be difficult to find funding for a film set during the war. The producers Loznitsa turned to didn't think In the Fog had potential.
“The producers asked me, 'who is going to watch a film set during the war?' But I was deeply touched by the novel. I thought there was something special about the story,” Loznitsa said.
The award-winning filmmaker initially made a name for himself as the creator of numerous documentaries.
Born in the former Soviet Republic of Belarus, Loznitsa grew up in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, where he majored in engineering and mathematics. Having moved to Moscow, he embarked on his second profession, that of filmmaker, which he studied at VGIK. ...
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Yuri Korolev: Slove / The Soldier - Slove. Прямо в сердце (2011)
Directed by: Yuri Korolev
Starring: Alex Chadov, Andrew Chadov, Glory Chichivarin, Karina Hidekel
Slove, the debut film by writer, producer, and director Iurii Korolev, who for this film’s release is billed by the Nordic-Teutonic moniker Jürgen Staal, is an interesting mélange of international B-movie action clichés in service of a specific reconfiguration of Russian masculinity.
A brief opening sequence shows a tranquil domestic setting, in which three young brothers are huddled on pillows in their living room while they are being trained by a stern father in the art of perseverance and concentration required by long-distance snipers. These brothers are Grisha, Sergei and Aleksei Ronin, who grow up to become soldiers in an elite Border Guard unit. In an intense firefight with Central Asian drug smugglers, Grisha is killed. Having been dismissed for disobeying orders during the skirmish, Sergei becomes a police captain in the St. Petersburg police force. “Zorro,” as Sergei now calls himself, has his own particular rogue way of policing, which does not endear him to his superiors.
On a furlough from his Border Guard unit, Aleksei visits his brother Sergei. He assists his brother in a mission to arrest a second-rate Mexican drugs and casino gangster, who is attempting to muscle into the local market after failing to branch out into US territory. Aleksei attracts the attention of two powerful officers in the Ministry of the Interior, Colonel Savelii Kotov and his high-ranking bespectacled adjutant Ludwig Karlovich Wingen. They offer him a position as a sniper for the Ministry, so that he can continue his job of killing people in the “civilian world” for the sake of justice. Aleksei has doubts because his task would be “too obscure”—there are no clear-cut enemies and he does not consider himself “entitled to determine their fates.” How, he asks the Colonel, would they be “different from the bandits” if he shoots them without trial?
Kotov, however, knows how to manipulate Aleksei’s ethical reservations to his advantage and secretly instigates the release of the Mexican gangster. In the face of such an obvious travesty of justice, Sergei questions his chosen profession and Aleksei changes his mind, now convinced that his services as an assassin for the Ministry are necessary. Aleksei is given a call sign “Slove” (rhymes with “love” and pronounced “Slav”), apparently an invented portmanteau contraction of the English phrase “soldier of love.”
Reviewed by Daniel H. Wild © 2011 in KinoKultura
Starring: Alex Chadov, Andrew Chadov, Glory Chichivarin, Karina Hidekel
Slove, the debut film by writer, producer, and director Iurii Korolev, who for this film’s release is billed by the Nordic-Teutonic moniker Jürgen Staal, is an interesting mélange of international B-movie action clichés in service of a specific reconfiguration of Russian masculinity.
A brief opening sequence shows a tranquil domestic setting, in which three young brothers are huddled on pillows in their living room while they are being trained by a stern father in the art of perseverance and concentration required by long-distance snipers. These brothers are Grisha, Sergei and Aleksei Ronin, who grow up to become soldiers in an elite Border Guard unit. In an intense firefight with Central Asian drug smugglers, Grisha is killed. Having been dismissed for disobeying orders during the skirmish, Sergei becomes a police captain in the St. Petersburg police force. “Zorro,” as Sergei now calls himself, has his own particular rogue way of policing, which does not endear him to his superiors.
On a furlough from his Border Guard unit, Aleksei visits his brother Sergei. He assists his brother in a mission to arrest a second-rate Mexican drugs and casino gangster, who is attempting to muscle into the local market after failing to branch out into US territory. Aleksei attracts the attention of two powerful officers in the Ministry of the Interior, Colonel Savelii Kotov and his high-ranking bespectacled adjutant Ludwig Karlovich Wingen. They offer him a position as a sniper for the Ministry, so that he can continue his job of killing people in the “civilian world” for the sake of justice. Aleksei has doubts because his task would be “too obscure”—there are no clear-cut enemies and he does not consider himself “entitled to determine their fates.” How, he asks the Colonel, would they be “different from the bandits” if he shoots them without trial?
Kotov, however, knows how to manipulate Aleksei’s ethical reservations to his advantage and secretly instigates the release of the Mexican gangster. In the face of such an obvious travesty of justice, Sergei questions his chosen profession and Aleksei changes his mind, now convinced that his services as an assassin for the Ministry are necessary. Aleksei is given a call sign “Slove” (rhymes with “love” and pronounced “Slav”), apparently an invented portmanteau contraction of the English phrase “soldier of love.”
Reviewed by Daniel H. Wild © 2011 in KinoKultura
Friday, 18 May 2012
Movie Review: Elena
Movie Review: Elena - Huffington Post (blog):
 Salon |
Movie Review: Elena
Huffington Post (blog) Though billed as a Russian film noir, Elena skimps on the noir, and more's the pity. Instead, it's a disciplined, controlled and ultimately disappointing drama of family tension and murder. The crime does not go unpunished, but the punishment seems ... Pick of the week: A class-war thriller from Putin's RussiaSalon SIFF 2012: 'Elena' and 'Hemel' [Reviews]Film Equals 'Elena': A Femme Fatale, In The Rubble Of PerestroikaNorth Country Public Radio Wall Street Journal -GreenCine -ARTINFO all 11 news articles » |
Thursday, 17 May 2012
Top 20 Soviet Films
20. Needle (drama) - Rashid Nugmanov
19. Ballad of a Soldier (war) - Grigori Chukhrai
18. Arsenal (drama) - Alexander Dovzhenko
17. The Color of Pomegranates (avant garde) - Sergei Parajanov
16. Amphibian Man (science fiction) - Vladimir Chebotaryov
15. The Pokrovsky Gate (comedy) - Mikhail Kozakov
14. The Ascent (drama) - Larisa Shepitko
13. Aelita (science fiction) - Yakov Protazanov
12. The Asthenic Syndrome (comedy) - Kira Muratova
11. By the Bluest of Seas (comedy) - Boris Barnet
10. The End of St. Petersburg (drama) - Vsevolod Pudovkin
09. An Unfinished Piece for a Player Piano (romance) - Nikita Mikhalkov
08. Dersu Uzala (drama) - Akira Kurosawa
07. Siberiade (drama) - Andrei Konchalovsky
06. War and Peace (epic) - Sergei Bondarchuk
05. The Cranes Are Flying (drama) - Mikhail Kalatozov
04. Ivan the Terrible (epic) - Sergei Eisenstein
03. Come and See (war) - Elem Klimov
02. Man with a Movie Camera (avant garde) - Dziga Vertov
01. Solaris (science fiction) - Andrei Tarkovsky
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