Moscow is certainly an exhausting city when it comes to transport, no matter if it's a public or a private one. Reaching the 'Dom Kino' (the House of Cinema), the place where we held our first press conference, felt like an odyssey this morning... No doubt the Trans-Siberian will be more comfortable. The location of the press conference appears very official, a large room where black & white framed pictures of famous Russian film-makers are hanged all over the wall. One can only notice that among the 50 or so portraits, only three are women.
Several TV channels and newspapers being present, the conference seems quite successful. Later on in the evening, the international radio channel “The Voice of Russia” also asks for interviews.
The meeting with press is immediately followed by a masterclass on Medvedkin given by Nikolay Izvolov, the best specialist on the director, who used to know Medvedkin – before the latter died in 1989, and Nikolay is also a good friend of Chris Marker, the French director who contributed in making Medvedkin known outside of Russia. In a way, the patronage of Nikoay Izvolov represents a kind of moral support to the project. The masterclass is symbolically hold in the very screening room where Medvedkin himself used to watch the rush materials of his films. The talk on Medvedkin appears to be pretty useful since many participants, despite the documents which were provided to them, seem to know very little about him.
The passion with which Nikolay speaks about Medvedkin is quite communicative. An energetic and romantic enthusiast, constantly inventing new ideas and considering cinema as a ground for discussion with the people, Medvedkin would have surely been an active member of NISI MASA, had the association existed at his time! For the record, it's useful to remember that 72 films were made in 1932 in the first year of the Cinetrain, when Medvedkin was running the moving studio. Most of the films were then shot in Ukraine... not exactly the road to Vladivostok!
When Nikolay is asked by one of the participants what would be his wishes and advise to us for our workshop, he ironically replies that he's not any kind of 'guru'. But immediately adds that most of the documentaries are nowadays completely uninteresting and boring. And that Medvedkin film were so great because he was behaving like a 'hooligan', I think he means what is known as gorilla style filmmaking. Whether or not the Russian equivalent of 'hooligan' encapsulates the same connotations as in English, 'hooligan film-makers' appears to be an interesting expression for Cinetrain 2008. Let's us be hooligans or gorillas!
Several TV channels and newspapers being present, the conference seems quite successful. Later on in the evening, the international radio channel “The Voice of Russia” also asks for interviews.
The meeting with press is immediately followed by a masterclass on Medvedkin given by Nikolay Izvolov, the best specialist on the director, who used to know Medvedkin – before the latter died in 1989, and Nikolay is also a good friend of Chris Marker, the French director who contributed in making Medvedkin known outside of Russia. In a way, the patronage of Nikoay Izvolov represents a kind of moral support to the project. The masterclass is symbolically hold in the very screening room where Medvedkin himself used to watch the rush materials of his films. The talk on Medvedkin appears to be pretty useful since many participants, despite the documents which were provided to them, seem to know very little about him.
The passion with which Nikolay speaks about Medvedkin is quite communicative. An energetic and romantic enthusiast, constantly inventing new ideas and considering cinema as a ground for discussion with the people, Medvedkin would have surely been an active member of NISI MASA, had the association existed at his time! For the record, it's useful to remember that 72 films were made in 1932 in the first year of the Cinetrain, when Medvedkin was running the moving studio. Most of the films were then shot in Ukraine... not exactly the road to Vladivostok!
When Nikolay is asked by one of the participants what would be his wishes and advise to us for our workshop, he ironically replies that he's not any kind of 'guru'. But immediately adds that most of the documentaries are nowadays completely uninteresting and boring. And that Medvedkin film were so great because he was behaving like a 'hooligan', I think he means what is known as gorilla style filmmaking. Whether or not the Russian equivalent of 'hooligan' encapsulates the same connotations as in English, 'hooligan film-makers' appears to be an interesting expression for Cinetrain 2008. Let's us be hooligans or gorillas!
Posts
1 comment:
Gorillaz on a train!
Wehey!
It seems like the passengers will have a wild ride indeed...
Good to read the blood is pumping and the train voyage is looked forward to!
Looking forward to reading the next posts!
Post a Comment