SUMMARY

 

Alexander KOZINTSEV. The destruction of content by form: from the comic to the tragic through eccentrism, formalism and totalitarianism

Eugene MARGOLIT. Grigory Kozintsev. Kyiv. Beginning.

Natalia NUSINOVA. «… A thousand people came to us.» As taught in the film studio FEKS

Anastasia KIM. «Homo ludens» and the fate of the eccentric school

Konstantin UCHITEL. Bim, Kharms, «Nose» and others. Three sketches about eccentrism

This section of the issue is dedicated to the anniversary of the manifesto «Eccentrism».

Alexander Kozintsev analyzes the work of his father, Grigory Mikhailovich Kozintsev, during the period of FEKS (Eccentric Actor Factory) and at a later time, immersing the concept of «eccentrism» in the socio-cultural context, which expands and clarifies its essence.

Texts by Yevgeny Margolit about G.M.Kozintsev and Natalia Nusinova about L.Z.Trauberg are chapters from books that the authors are currently working on. Talking about the youth of the future directors, each of the authors is trying to discern the origins of the master’s artistic predilections in the first experiments of their heroes. Both talented young men found themselves in the center of the cultural life of the early 1920s (the first one in Kyiv, the second in Odessa)—they drew, composed, discussed the latest literary trends, staged performances themselves, made plans for the future …

In her article, Anastasia Kim talks about the eccentric school on the Soviet stage of the 1920s, based on the concept of «homo ludens», which was proposed by J.Huizinga.

Konstantin Uchitel characterizes the eccentricity of Kharms and the Oberiuts movement as a style of life and as a kind of way out of hopeless situations, writes about Mandelstam’s strange, at first sight, rapprochement with clowning, marks the proximity of Shostakovich’s opera “The Nose” to Gogol’s interpretations in Meyerhold’s theater and in FEKS.

 

TO ANGEL WAGENSTEIN—100TH ANNIVERSARY

Congratulations sent to Sofia to the Bulgarian outstanding screenwriter and novelist on th day when the centenary of his birth was celebrated.

 

FROM THE HISTORY OF FILM THOUGHT

Jean EPSTEIN. Le Cinématographe vu de l’Etna. Translation by Vera Rumyantseva, notes by Stuart Liebman and Naum Kleiman

Stuart LIEBMAN. Visitings of Awful Promise: Looking with Epstein at the cinema from Etna. Translation by Naum Kleiman

The text of this essay by Jean Epstein has never been translated into Russian before, although many of our film critics referred to it, and the essay was included in works on the history and theory of cinema under the title “Cinematography seen from Etna”. The translator tried to convey the poetic style of the author’s entire text and the special role of the concept o a look, on which Epstein builds both the imagery of the narrative, and his own interpretation o the concept of photogénie, the key to the first stage of the French Avant-garde.

The publication is accompanied by professor Stuart Liebman’s study, which reveals important theoretical and psychological points of the director’s essay, often veiled from the reader by the poetic manner of presentation.

 

EXPERIENCE

Natalia MOKRUSHINA. Breath of Screen. The deforming function of the wind in European cinematography of the 20th century

Natalia BALANDINA. Unknown Kalik

Valery AKIMOV. The Structure of the Magical Form: Pasolini’s Cinematography

The first article of this section is devoted to the methods and forms of capturing the wind on the screen, its image and function in the art of cinema of the silent and sound periods. The author of the second article tells us about documentary and short films, made by Mikhail Kalik in the 1970s-1980s after his repatriation to Israel. They are little known in ou country. The third essay analyzes the philosophical aspects of the cinema of Pier Paolo Pasolini, whose centenary was celebrated all over the world.

 

EISENSTEIN READINGS

Michael WEDEL. Looking for Diego: Velázquez in Eisenstein. Translation by Naum Kleiman

It is known that El Greco occupied a huge place in the works of Eisenstein, while Velasquez was hardly mentioned by him. Michael Wedel reasonably and convincingly proves that Velasquez was no less significant in the screen works of the master. “If we were to look for allusions to Velázquez in Eisenstein’s films, then, it seems reasonable to focus on those instances where individual characters appear out of joint with their environment, carved out of their surroundings with a sculptural corporeality unrelated to the world around them. The most obvious place to look would probably be Ivan the Terrible…”—he notes. In fact, the German researcher traces the presence of images of Velasquez’s painting in Eisenstein’s imagination, starting with the «Strike».

Ilya VINITSKY. Royal Marseillaise. Literary genealogy of Fyodor Basma- nov’s song in Sergei Eisenstein’s “Ivan the Terrible” 

The article reveals, in the context of Russian folklore and revolutionary poetry, the hidden ideological meanings of the song text, which was composed by Vladimir Lugovskoy for the episode «Feast in Alexanderova Sloboda».

 

TOWARDS THE 90TH ANNIVERSARY OF ANDREI TARKOVSKII

Sergey CHERNYSHIOV. «Andrei Rublev»: Metamorphoses of the script and editing versions

Sergey FILIPPOV. Spoilage. What happened to “Stalker”. Part I. What was it?

Oleg ZASLAVSKY. «Sacrifice». On the artistic structure of Andrei Tar- kovsky’s film

Sergei Chernyshov in his article examines in detail the textological aspects of the censorship history of the script and the film «Andrei Rublev».

Sergei Filippov investigates in detail the reasons for the replacement of the cameraman on the set of “Stalker”.

Oleg Zaslavsky seeks to interpret the meaning of Andrei Tarkovsky’s last work, exploring the essential aspects of his poetics.

 

IN MEMORIAM

Robert Bird (1969–2020).

 

PERSONALIA

River named Ritwik: Yuri KUNGUROV. Unheard rebel, misunderstood ro- mantic.—Alexander SIMINDEIKIN. Ghatak essayist. In the search of style

Ritwik GHATAK. Film and I.—Bengali Cinema: Literary Influence.—My Coming into Film.—Experiment in Cinema and I.—Sound in Film.—Music in Indian cinema and the Epic Approach.—Some thoughts on the Ajantrik. Trans- lation and notes by Yuri Kungurov and Alexander Simindeikin

Kumar SHAHANI. Nature, in the End, Is Grandly Indifferent. Mani KAUL. Seen from Nowhere. Translation and notes by Alexander Simindeikin

The name of the classic of Indian cinema, director and teacher Ritwik Ghatak is still little known in Russia. And his essays on the art of cinema, written in a manner close to the master’s original directorial style, are not known at all. Ghatak’s son Ritaban kindly allowed us to acquaint the reader with the texts of his father. Our young colleagues Yuri Kungurov and Alexander Simindeikin translated several articles from Ritwik Ghatak’s book “Film and I”, prefaced with notes on the work of this outstanding director and essayist.

 

THEORY

Luis Felipe LABAKI. «The Man with the Movie Camera» as a film diary. Translated by T.S.Larkina, E.V.Larkina and L.F.Labaki

In his study the young Brazilian author sums up: «References to diaries can be found in various films, articles, projects and speeches of Vertov, which indicates the constant presence of the diary form in his field of vision. And the inclusion of this form in the film «Man with a Movie Camera», coupled with the constant practice of depicting the professional activities of filmmakers, does not look accidental».