RUSSIAN RESURRECTION FILM FESTIVAL

BY AMELIA GROOM

Today’s lesson in Russian culture: the widely used term for Russian Dolls, ‘babooshka’, is incorrect. It means ‘grandma’ and nothing else, and the correct term for the hollow dolls of varying sizes that nest inside one another is ‘matryoshka.’

Not unlike a matryoshka itself, this year’s Russian Resurrection Film Festival comprises multiple layers of beautifully crafted films of varying forms, all put together in a lovely neat package.

Headlining the Russian Fantasia Retrospective is the cult classic Amphibian Man (1962) directed by Vladimir Chebotaryov and Gennadi Kazansky; a virtually unclassifiable nautical fantasy that combines seafaring adventure, romance, monstrous fantasy, water choreography and tragedy into a strange, beguiling dream of a film.

There will also be a retrospective of Director Karen Shakhnazarov’s work, whose career has spanned 25 years and continues to date. His classic Zero City (1988) will be shown, as will the award-winning musical/comedy We Are Jazz Men (1983). His latest film, Vanished Empire (2008), which takes a warm and very real look at young love set against the background of student life in the 1970’s, will also be featured.

A certain highlight of the program will be the special one-time-only screening of a masterpiece of Soviet expressionist silent cinema, New Babylon, directed by the award-winning duo of Gregoriy Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg. An experimental and ground-breaking film of violence, revolution and class-conflict between the Paris workers and the bourgeoisie during the Commune of 1871, it serves as a powerful reminder of the incredible explosion of artistic energy in 1920s Russia.

It will be screened at the City Recital Hall with the SBS Youth Orchestra performing the original Dmitri Shostakovich score live, under the direction of Russian-born Chief Conductor Matthew Krel. Since its premiere performance in Moscow in 1929, New Babylon has only been accompanied by a live orchestra 5 times and this inaugural live performance screening in Australia will be a unique opportunity to see and hear the film as it was originally envisioned.

Highlights from the many new Russian flicks in the program include Andrei Zvyagintev’s highly acclaimed mysterious and moving film, The Banishment; Vice directed by Valery Todorovsky, which tells the story of fashion-conscious Russian youths seduced by the fast money of the drug world; and Simple Things by Aleksei Popogrebsky, a drama about family and relationships.

This year’s festival is shaping up to be one of the largest celebrations of Russian cinema and culture to date, offering a fantastically diverse cinematic line-up of old and new gems. Opening night will be a vodka-fuelled celebration of Russian culture – be prepared to party like only the Russian know how.

Russian Resurrection Film Festival
The Chauvel Cinema, Cnr Oxford St & Oatley Rd, Paddington
31 October ‘ 10 November
Ticket: $13.50 – $16, opening night $40 (includes reception), New Babylon screening $35, 5 Film Pass $65 (excludes opening night), available at The Chauvel or at www.mca-tix.com