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The Russian Republic of the former Soviet Union boasts one of the
richest cinematic traditions in the world, and the work of its women filmmakers
provides a motherlode of extraordinary talent and vision. Eight of the very
best films directed by Russian women over a period of 30 years have been
selected for this program.
A number of the selections are U.S. premieres or
classics shown only rarely in film festivals and major media art centers. The
program spans several generations, and offers a unique opportunity to view
black-and-white Soviet masterpieces from the '60s as well as more recent works
by mature artists and talented newcomers.
program notes and times
This program (and its touring
exhibition) has been organized and is being distributed by Wendy Lidell,
Director, International Film Circuit, Inc. As we post this, we expect a
number of the Russian directors to be in attendance during the screenings.
program notes and times
THE HOUSE BUILT ON SAND
Niyole Adomenaite, 1991; 75 minutes
Reminiscent of Nikita Mikhalkov's Oscar-winning Burnt by the
Sun, this slice of life among the Russian intelligent-sia on the eve of
WWII focuses on Ada and Sonya--both 30 years old in 1937. Ada has everything:
beauty, friends, husband, daughter, lover, career, a beautiful and elegant
home. In contrast, Sonya lives in lonely solitude in a dreary apartment.
Irritated by Sonya's tactless jealousy, Ada and her bored clique of friends
play a rather malicious joke on the odd-woman-out, sending Sonya a letter from
an admirer who insists that he's madly in love with her. The effect of this
cruel joke on the linked lives of the two women evolves into Chekhovian
drama--elliptical, languorous and poignant.
Friday, October 25: 2 and 6:15 pm
REFLECTION IN A MIRROR
Svetlana Proskurina, 1992; 80 minutes
The most recent film by the director of Incidental Waltz
(1989), Grand Prize winner at the 1990 Locarno Film Festival, this is the story
of a man's sudden loss of identity--even his mirror reflection is absent--and
his desperate search for his soul. The central character is a famous actor
(played brilliantly by Victor Proskurin, the director's husband) whose image is
reflected in his stage portrayals, the eyes of women, and the silences around
him. His effort to find his true reflection, his authentic self, is thwarted by
habit and illusion, but he perseveres in his dream of creating a play without
writer, director, or audience. A penetrating investigation of the human
condition, and especially the post-Soviet "lost generation."
Friday, October 25: 4 and 8:15 pm
Tuesday, October 29: 2 pm
ELIXIR
Irina Evteeva, 1995; 50 minutes
A feature-length animated film that unreels epic tales loosely
adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann. A visionary experience, Elixir is
full of some truly innovative techniques: Evteeva apparently shot live-action
footage, hand-colored the footage, and then step-printed portions of it. She
uses a wide range of textures, from paintings on glass to the human face on
film, variously live-action, hand-painted, or superimposed. The captivating
result is a wonderland inhabited by fiery salamanders and winger spirits. In
this mystery play and fairy tale, good goes up against evil in a quest for a
life-giving talisman whose finder will rule the world. (Shown with
LARISA, a loving tribute to director Larisa Shepitko made after her
death by her husband, filmmaker Elem Klimov; and ONE DOLL'S STORY, a
short animated cri de coeur against Nazism, written by Alexandra
Sviridova.)
Saturday, October 26: 6:15 pm
BRIEF ENCOUNTERS
Kira Muratova, 1967/86; 90 minutes
Muratova's first feature on her own after co-directing two
films with her husband, BRIEF ENCOUNTERS is a lyrical
re-imagining of the classic love triangle. Two women, one of them a bureaucrat
played by Muratova herself, come together through their love of a geologist
(played by the adored Russian folksinger Vladimir Visotksy). Complex, ambiguous
relationships and strong yet vulnerable women make this poetic film especially
memorable. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS--along with the later LONG FAREWELLS (1971)--was suppressed by the government until 1986
Saturday, October 26: 8:15 pm
Wednesday, October 30: 6:15 pm
THE ASCENT / Voskhozhdenie
Larisa Shepitko, 1976; 105 minutes
Winner, Golden Bear, 1978 Berlin Film Festival
The tense, agonizing story of two Russians--an army officer and a
partisan--on the run in German-occupied territory. The two suffer terrible
privations in the harsh Byelorussian winter before being captured. Starkly
beautiful and painfully intense,The Ascent deconstructs Soviet
stereotypes of heroism, as tough, earthy Rybak, daring and adept in blizzard
and battle, collapses under threat of torture, while the scholarly Sotnikov,
nervous and introspective, faces death with unsuspected reserves of courage.
The latter finds strength in a spirituality--expressed through Christian
symbolism--that supports him as communism never did. This was Shepitko's last
completed film before her tragic death, in a car crash, at age 40.
Sunday, October 27:
6 pm; Tuesday, October 29: 4 pm
WINGS
Larisa Shepitko, 1966; 90 minutes
The fascinating portrait of Nadezhda Petrovna, an ex-bomber
pilot who is out of her element in the earthbound boredom of postwar life.
Probably Shepitko's most controversial film, WINGS explores
generational conflicts and the deep divisions within Soviet society--subject
matter that made the film the focus for bitter debate. Nadezhda, now a
provincial school-mistress in her 40s, armors herself in a rigidly
authoritarian attitude in the face of her students' indifference to and
ignorance of the heroic political passions of her youth. Maya Bul-gakova's
performance demonstrates great depth and subtle humor.
Sunday, October 27: 4 and 8:15 pm
Wednesday, October 30: 2 pm
TOUGH KIDS, aka TEENAGERS / Patsani
Dinara Asanova, 1983; 96 minutes
Winner of the State Prize of the USSR in 1985
Based on a true story, TOUGH KIDS is set in a
correctional institution for delinquent teenage boys. Pasha, head of the home,
rejects abstract pedagogical principles in favor of the power of love and
understanding. His Big Brother experiment will clearly continue, though we
witness a tragic accident that could have disillusioned even the idealist.
Controversial at the time of its release, TOUGH KIDS focused
Soviet attention on its growing generation gap and forced people to consider
how to reach out to the neglected young. The boys in the film are remarkably
frank and relaxed before the camera, so natural that this very physical film
often takes on the look and feel of a documentary.
Wednesday, October 30: 4 and 8 pm
THE ASTHENIC SYNDROME
Kira Muratova, 1989; 153 minutes
A very controversial film, SYNDROME looks into
responses to pain: first, falling asleep seems the best solution to a
middle-aged teacher whose suffering is exacerbated by every aspect of the
Soviet system and by human behavior in general. Second, in a film within the
film, a woman who has buried her husband and is going mad from grief lashes out
at everything and everyone around her. Muratova sketches in a culture in a
state of confusion, a society in the process of decay, painting a painful
picture of human dissociation and pervasive imperfection. Admittedly a bleak
movie, THE ASTHENIC SYNDROME--shown here in last year's hit
retrospective of Russian films--nonetheless grips the viewer's soul and
emotions--so don't miss this mesmerizing cinematic experience.
Thursday, October 31: 2, 6 and 8:50 pm
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