In "The Soviet Elegy" the long train of photos of the Soviet leaders, dead or alive, stops at the portrait of Yeltsin. At the time of shooting Yeltsin had fallen down from the assembly of the Communist Party deities, and participated in the earthly life through connections of different kinds.
The film “Maria” is a requiem in memory of the Russian peasant Maria Semenovna Voynova. Maria Semyonovna grew flax all her life. It is possible that with more
The film “Maria” is a requiem in memory of the Russian peasant Maria Semenovna Voynova. Maria Semyonovna grew flax all her life. It is possible that with her life, important peasant secrets of working in the field have gone. Transferred to her at one time by inheritance techniques of agricultural engineering in her family to pick up no one. The son tragically died, the daughter will not work in the field, most likely she will completely leave the village.
The film consists of two chapters. The first is a color summer impression of Maria Semyonovna. Haymaking, bathing in the river, work on linen fields, vacation to the Crimea, which happens in the life of a peasant (especially in summer) is extremely rare - the very first impressions of a city man, who was the author of the film. The task is to create an impression, to immerse the viewer in pastoral emotion. The second part is a sad “gift” of fate. It's been nine years. These years have brought change. There were not some, there were others. The second chapter is a black and white image with a story about how the fate of Maria Semyonovna ended. It's a sad, elegiac narrative. The director intended to give a panorama of the fate of a particular person in specific circumstances.”
Alexander Sokurov (from the author's abstract) close
This film was Sokurov's first feature at Lenfilm, roughly based on a short story by the contemporary Soviet writer Grigory Baklanov about the transitional period from power to subordinance.
This film was Sokurov's first feature at Lenfilm, roughly based on a short story by the contemporary Soviet writer Grigory Baklanov about the transitional period from power to subordinance. close
Aleksander Sokurov brings the treasures of the Hermitage back into the light by making films about artists and their paintings. He has chosen the painter more
Aleksander Sokurov brings the treasures of the Hermitage back into the light by making films about artists and their paintings. He has chosen the painter Hubert Robert, who spent a long time in Italy, and whose preference was for creating ancient ruined landscapes and naturalistic portrayals of times past. He was successful with the wealthy, who bought his works from him. The camera pans across the paintings while Sokurov speaks of a happy era, when the artist was at one with the spirit of the times, and agreed with the taste of his clients. Just how far removed from us this is, is shown by pictures of a "Nô" performance which are inter-cut on the screen. No words are necessary to describe what everybody knows today. close
A surreal journey of a displaced spirit as he wanders in the interminable darkness through the temporal landscape of a quaint and isolated feudal-era more
A surreal journey of a displaced spirit as he wanders in the interminable darkness through the temporal landscape of a quaint and isolated feudal-era fishing village. Guided by a series of faintly illuminated rooms, the wandering spirit comes upon ancient souls who take on physical forms as they recount their personal stories of daily existence, loss, and tragedy in the peasant community. Intrigued by his initial visit to a curiously distracted elderly woman, the spirit returns to her home in order to ask a fundamental question - "What is happiness?" - an existential query that is innocently answered with innate humility and accepted unknowingness. close
The manifestation and fireworks on the 1st of May, one of the ritual celebrations of Soviet times, as a gathering of tired participants of a mass scene more
The manifestation and fireworks on the 1st of May, one of the ritual celebrations of Soviet times, as a gathering of tired participants of a mass scene falling into pieces without the director's orders and without any aims. close