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ELEGIES

3 SHORT FilMS bY AlEKSANdR SOKUROv

ELEGY (ELEGIYA)

RUNNiNG TiME: 30 m USSR 1986

The first in Sokurov’s series of «Elegy» documentaries is this enigmatic, 30-minute black-and-white tribute to Feodor Chaliapin (1873–1938), the Russian bass ranked by critics alongside the likes of Callas and Caruso among the 20th century’s greatest operatic talents. Self-funded by Sokurov at a time when Chaliapin was out of favors with Soviet authorities, elegy traces the singer’s posthumous 1984 «journey» from a Paris cemetery to his ashes’ new restingplace in Moscow, an event of high diplomatic importance for Soviet-French relations. Archive materials blend with wry testimony from Chaliapin’s surviving descendants to create a resonant, penetrating vision of Russian history.

SOVIET ELEGY (SOVETSKAYA ELEGIYA)

RUNNiNG TiME: 37 m USSR 1989

A study of Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin, during the brief transitional period when he found himself in the calm eye of an epoch-changing storm. In 1987, Yeltsin had been sacked from his position as «Mayor» of Moscow – in 1991, he would be elected president of Russia, a position he’d hold until the last day of 1999. Sokurov’s film, made in 1988–9, thus catches this seminal figure in world political history when he was simply a mid-ranking, somewhat «fallen» official, dealing with his own family issues and those of ordinary folks. In the director’s words, «Our hero exists within the tragic pattern of Soviet socialist life. He is a character of a drama, of which he is one of the authors.»

A SIMPLE ELEGY (PROSTAYA ELEGIYA)

RUNNiNG TiME: 20 m USSR 1990

Vilnius, 1990 – you are there. In response to the Lithuania’s audacious declaration of independence, Moscow imposes an economic blockade on the Baltic nation – its defiance personified by a professorial musicologist, the newly-elected headof-state Vytautas Landsbergis. The world watches as the future of the entire USSR hangs in the balance. Compiled from footage shot during the blockade, the brisk time-capsule a simple elegy is, according to Sokurov, about both «the Lithuanian people and Mr Vytautas Landsbergis – an attractive figure, a historian of culture and music. Perhaps every state should seek to have such an educated person at its head. Yet we who made this film did not have any political intentions, only, quite naturally, artistic ones…»

THREE WOMEN

bY ANd AbOUT AlEXANdER SOKUROv

ISLANDS. ALEXANDR SOKUROV (OSTROVA. ALEXANDR SOKUROV)

diREcTOR: Svetlana Proskurina RUNNiNG TiME: 38 m RUSSiA 2003

«I firmly believe that we shall never be ashamed of what we have created. I am now talking not only about myself, but also about the people who are around me, about the people who I feel close to…», says the great Russian auteur Alexandr Sokurov in islands. alexandr sokurov, the documentary devoted to his work. This is director Svetlana Proskurina’s very personal homage to her friend and mentor, Alexander Sokurov, with whom she collaborated on russian ark (2002). Proskurina interweaves Sokurov’s conversations about life and art with footage from the set of Russian Ark, showing the master at work and creating a very personal and yet objective portrait of a man who’s every frame, in the words of Svetlana Proskurina, «contains the whole history of world cinema».

MARIA (PEASANT ELEGY) (MARIYA)

RUNNiNG TiME: 40 m USSR 1988

Filmed in two separate parts over the course of a decade, this stunning diptych portrait of a collective-farm worker was commissioned by Sokurov’s employers at Gorky City Television. But rather than the usual upbeat propaganda expected by government broadcasters, what Sokurov came back with was an impressionistic and delicately empathetic investigation into the exceedingly tough life of one emblematic woman, Maria Semyonovna Voinova. According to Sokurov, he aimed to «plunge spectators into the pastoral atmosphere» in order to experience the «bitter fate» of the protagonist and her kolkhoz colleagues. Having submitted the first half of the film as his graduation project for Moscow’s VGIK film-school, Sokurov returned with the same crew to Maria’s village in the late eighties – discovering, and recording for posterity, details of what had become a very Russian tragedy.

DOLCE...

RUNNiNG TiME: 61 m RUSSiA / JAPAN 1999

As with maria, Sokurov’s chronicle of specific, individual lives in dolce... allows us a greater understanding of their society, history and culture. The focus this time is Japan, specifically the lonely island where we meet Miho Shimao – widow of acclaimed novelist Toshio Shimao (1917–1986) – and her handicapped daughter. Shot on video, the hour-long film offers privileged access to the very private world of Mrs Shimao, who has retreated into semi-solitude in order to conduct a spiritual journey of self-analysis. Exploring her memories and emotions, Mrs Shimao delivers an extended, lyrical monologue that provides the film with its tone and structure. Taking its title from the musical instruction meaning «tenderly», dolce... is a subtle, restrained but deeply moving example of Sokurov’s empathetic curiosity.

RUSSIAN ARK

russKiY KovchEg

RUSSiA / GERMANY 2002

REGiSSØREN:

Aleksandr Sokurov er en russisk dokumentar- og spillefilmregissør. Han ble født i Sibir i 1951 og har sin utdannelse fra den prestisjefulle filmskolen VGIK i Moskva. Sokurov har mottatt en rekke priser for arbeidet sitt, blant annet fra filmfestivalene i Berlin og Cannes.

THE diREcTOR:

Aleksandr Sokurov is a Russian director of feature and documentary films. He was born in Siberia in 1951 and graduated from the prestigious film school VGIK in Moscow. Sokurov has collected a number of prizes at the film festivals in Berlin and Cannes.

FilMOGRAPHY (UTvAlG/SElEcTiON):

1981 ALTOVAYA SONATA. DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH / VIOLA SONATA: DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH 1987 AMPIR / EMPIRE (SHORT) 1989 SPASI I SOKHRANI / MADAME BOVARY 1995 DUKHOVNYE GOLOSA / SPIRITUAL VOICES (DOC) 1997 MAT I SYN / MOTHER AND SON 1998 POVINNOST / CONFESSION 1999 MOLOCH 2003 OTETS I SYN / FATHER AND SON russian ark begynner med en fransk diplomat fra det nittende århundre, Markien, som plutselig befinner seg tidlig i det attende århundre, i en mørk korridor i det luksuriøse Eremitasje-museet i St. Petersburg. Henvendt til en livstrett person, som vi aldri ser fordi han holder seg bak kameraet, uttrykker han i starten en del forbauselse over hva han gjør her, og hvordan han plutselig kan være i stand til å snakke flytende russisk. Imidlertid lar han snart sin stadig voksende nysgjerrighet lede seg fra rom til rom. Med sin enorme kunstsamling er St. Petersburgs Eremitasje den russiske sjels ark, et mikrokosmos av russisk historie. Som ved magi omgås personer både fra fortid og nåtid hverandre, i denne musikalske og visuelle feiring av kunst, politikk og mystisisme. En overdådig filmopplevelse basert på et nyskapende konsept, nemlig å filme – med en Steadicam – en fullstendig ubrutt nitti-minutters lang tagning.

russian ark opens with a waggish 19th century French diplomat, The Marquis, who finds himself in the early 18th century, in a dark corridor of the palatial Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg. After expressing, to a disembodied and world-weary voice from behind the camera, some initial bafflement at what he is doing here and how he suddenly came to speak fluent Russian, like Alice down the rabbit hole he starts following his heightened curiosity from room to room. With its immense art collection, St. Petersburg’s Hermitage is the ark of the Russian soul, a microcosm of Russian history. Characters from both past and present mix magically in this musical and visual feast of art, politics and mysticism. A sumptuous cinematic experience based on the groundbreaking concept of shooting a continuous, entirely uncut 90-minute steadycam shot.

SPIRITUAL VOICES

DuKhovnYE golosA

RUSSiA 1995

REGiSSØREN:

Aleksandr Sokurov er en russisk dokumentar- og spillefilmregissør. Han ble født i Sibir i 1951 og har sin utdannelse fra den prestisjefulle filmskolen VGIK i Moskva. Sokurov har mottatt en rekke priser for arbeidet sitt, blant annet fra filmfestivalene i Berlin og Cannes.

THE diREcTOR:

Aleksandr Sokurov is a Russian director of feature and documentary films. He was born in Siberia in 1951 and graduated from the prestigious film school VGIK in Moscow. Sokurov has collected a number of prizes at the film festivals in Berlin and Cannes.

FilMOGRAPHY (UTvAlG/SElEcTiON):

1981 ALTOVAYA SONATA. DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH / SONATA FOR VIOLA: DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH 1987 AMPIR / EMPIRE (SHORT) 1989 SPASI I SOKHRANI / MADAME BOVARY 1997 MAT I SYN / MOTHER AND SON 1998 POVINNOST / CONFESSION 1999 MOLOCH 2003 OTETS I SYN / FATHER AND SON I denne dokumentarserien følger Aleksandr Sokurov en gruppe russiske soldater som er stasjonert på den øde og farlige grensen mellom Tajikistan og Afghanistan i 1994. Med håndholdt kamera er Sokurov med på alt soldatene gjør i flere måneder. Soldatenes hverdag består av patruljering langs minelagte stier under en stekende sol. Og venting. De står ovenfor en usynlig fiende, som samtidig føles allestedsnærværende. Likevel er det ikke trefninger og selve krigshandlinger denne serien viser oss, men derimot hvordan livet som soldat er når det ikke skjer noe.

spiritual voices er ikke en film for den utålmodige kinopublikummer. Serien er dvelende, og tar seg god tid til å studere hvert ansikt og hvert landskap kameraet fanger. Første episode består av et enkelt landskapsbilde som følges i over en halv time. Kameraet kan nesten virke påtrengende, men det er samtidig nettopp dette som gir opplevelsen av å lære disse unge soldatene å kjenne.

In this documentary Aleksandr Sokurov follows a group of Russian soldiers stationed on the dangerous border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan. With a handheld camera and over a period of several months, Sokurov takes part in the everyday life of the soldiers. Their days consist of patrols along mine-laden mountain paths under the burning sun. And waiting. They are facing an enemy who is both invisible and omnipresent at the same time. This film does not revolve around strikes or battles, but tells the story of life as a soldier is when nothing is happening.

spiritual voices is not for the impatient viewer. The film takes its time and thoroughly studies every face and landscape the camera captures. In the first sequence of the documentary we follow a single landscape for over half an hour. The camera can seem to be almost a little too intimate with the soldiers. Still, this is what makes us feel like we know them.

SONATA FOR VIOLA. DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH

AlTovAYA sonATA. DmiTri shosTAKovich

USSR 1981

REGiSSØREN:

Aleksandr Sokurov er en russisk dokumentar- og spillefilmregissør. Han ble født i Sibir i 1951 og har sin utdannelse fra den prestisjefulle filmskolen VGIK i Moskva. Sokurov har mottatt en rekke priser for arbeidet sitt, blant annet fra filmfestivalene i Berlin og Cannes.

THE diREcTOR:

Aleksandr Sokurov is a Russian director of feature and documentary films. He was born in Siberia in 1951 and graduated from the prestigious film school VGIK in Moscow. Sokurov has collected a number of prizes at the film festivals in Berlin and Cannes.

FilMOGRAPHY (UTvAlG/SElEcTiON):

1987 AMPIR / EMPIRE (SHORT) 1989 SPASI I SOKHRANI / MADAME BOVARY 1995 DUKHOVNYE GOLOSA / SPIRITUAL VOICES (DOC) 1997 MAT I SYN / MOTHER AND SON 1998 POVINNOST / CONFESSION 1999 MOLOCH 2003 OTETS I SYN / FATHER AND SON Sokurov laget sonata for viola i samarbeid med veteranfilmskaperen Semyin Aranovich, og filmen er et sentralt verk i hans tidlige karriere. Det er hans første helaftens dokumentarfilm, og er et ærbødig svart-hvitt portrett av Sovjets mest prominente komponist og pianist, Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975). Dokumentaren ble bannlyst av kgb, og står som et eksempel på erkeprovokatørens instinktive evne til å skape kontroverser. Shostakovich medvirker selv i filmen, og Sokurov tar i bruk private dokumenter og konsertopptak, i tillegg til arkivfoto fra sovjetisk hverdagsliv. Kunstneren havnet ofte i konflikt med de sovjetiske regjeringene, men var også en av de første mottakerne av den prestisjefulle Leninorden-medaljen. I fortellingene om hans turbulente og varierende forhold til landets myndigheter kommer kontrasten mellom maestroens fysiske skjørhet og hans kompromissløse streben etter kreativ frihet tydelig frem. En streben som resulterte i musikalske verk som den dag i dag står som et levende testament over en turbulent fase i vår historie.

Co-directed with veteran film-maker Semyon Aranovich, sonata for viola is a key early work in Sokurov’s corpus – his first feature-length project made with cinema rather than TV in mind. An example of the arch-provocateur’s instinctive ability to cause controversy, this reverent black-and-white documentary on the ussr’s most prominent composer and pianist Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975) was banned by the kgb and restricted to samizdat circulation for several years. Examining the full range of its subject’s remarkable life and work, this delicate and lucid biopic includes personal appearances, private documents and concert performances alongside archival footage of everyday life in the Soviet decades. Chronicling the composer’s spells of favour and disfavour with the authorities (Shostakovich frequently fell out with his nation’s governments, but was also an early recipient of the highly-prestigious Order of Lenin medal) the film contrasts the maestro’s chronic physical frailness with his steely pursuit of creative freedom – a quest which yielded musical works that endure as vibrant testaments to a turbulent phase of global history.

KONGSBERG SPACETEC PRESENTS A MULTIMISSION EARTH OBSERVATION SYSTEM PRODUCT FEATURING AQUA ENVISAT FY 1/2/3 JPSS METEOSAT METOP MTSAT NOAA NPP NPOESS RADARSAT 1/2 SENTINEL TERRA “DOWN TO EARTH TECHNOLOGY” PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY BJØRN A KANCK

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