Sergei URUSEVSKIY. Working Notes. (Publication by I.S. Urusevskaya)

Rozov—Kalatozov—Urusevskiy. «For Your Life». Four Fragments of Storyboard. (Publication by I.S. Urusevskaya, commentary by Nina Dymshits, prepared by Irina Boricheva, Nina Dymshits, Anna Zakrevskaya, Evgeniya Mukharyamova, Mikhail Ryazantsev and Ruslana Sidorchuk)

To celebrate the director of photography’s centenary we publish some materials from his archive. In these short notes he analyzes the work of his colleagues in films of the late 1940–50s. We also present a sort of a DP`s «guide-book» — what, where, when and how to film, from shooting on location under certain conditions to the secrets of special effects of the time. The second part of the publication is the storyboard that Urusevskiy drew, based on the director’s script of «The Cranes Are Flying». The original story of the playwright was changed drastically not only by the director, but also by the director of photography… (the publication includes drawings made by Urusevskiy).

 

Mikhail YAMPOLSKIY. From Proletkult to Plato (Eisenstein and the Project of Semantic Self-organization of Life)

The author argues that in order to read Eisenstein’s texts of 1930–40s correctly we have to take several major issues into consideration. First of all, it is the affinity of early Eisenstein’s aesthetic to Alexander Bogdanov’s system, as well as the similarity of his thoughts to those of his contemporaries, namely Martin Heidegger and Walter Benjamin. We also have to take into account the influence of Vyacheslav Ivanov’s ideas on Eisenstein.

 

— Revolutionary Proletarian Filmmakers

— «Dinadia» Film Group

— The Group Named after Medvedkin

— A Dialogue with the Leaders of the «Elephant» Group

— The «Dziga Vertov» Artistic Group. Marcel Martin interviews Jean-Luc Godard

— «Newsreel» Group (Marcel Martin)

 

«Demand the impossible, be realists» — Che Guevara once challenged. The geography of the political events of the late 1960s — from Europe to Latin America — has been reflected on the cultural map of the world as well. Chris Marker, Paul Sab, Jean-Luc Godard, Glauber Rocha, Evald Schorm, Jaromil Jires are the witnesses and participants of the cinematographic «revolution without the revolution». In this section we publish a selection of texts about French and American film groups brought to life by the events of 1968.

 

Sergei EISENSTEIN. Five Eras. (Concerning the Making of «The General Line»). (Publication, introduction and commentary by N.I. Kleiman)

Eisenstein’s article «Five Eras» was written at the very beginning of his work on «The General Line». It was printed in «Pravda» on July 6, 1926, but after that it was never reprinted or translated and all but vanished from the view of historians.

When Eisenstein filled in the questionnaire «What did V.I. Lenin give me?» in 1932, he had every reason to thank the revolutionary leader for the term that he had found in his works on cooperation and the meaning of which far transcended the problems of Soviet agriculture. It is not by chance that he named the article about his new film «Five Eras». It was based on the same notion by Lenin — heterogeneity («mnogoukladnost»). In this regard it is important to mention not only Eisenstein’s «opposition» to Stalin (in has been described repeatedly but insufficiently) but also his quite serious «divergence» of views with Lenin. It can be traced specifically in his interpretation of the heterogeneity phenomenon. Naum Kleiman in his introduction provides several keys, critical for the understanding of the scientific, social and ethical message of the republished article.

 

Nadezhda MANKOVSKAYA. Visualization of Text: Adventures and Misadventures

The renowned aesthetics scholar and culture expert analyzes some tendencies of visualization of literary text that at the present time seem to be the most representative.

 

Jean-Luc GODARD. «Le Gai Savoir» («Joy of Learning») (Publication, translation and commentary by N.A. Stavrovskaya)

 

Diana GRIGORIEVA. The European Youth in Jean-Luc Godard’s «Masculin, féminin»

 

In the second part of the section devoted to the events of 1968 in film we publish a fragment of the transcript of Jean-Luc Godard’s film, made for ORTF, but banned afterwards. We also include an article in which Godard’s «Masculin, féminin» is examined as a reflection of the atmosphere as well as the social and cultural context of the second half of the 1960s.

 

Jaques RIVETTE. The Genius of Howard Hawks. — Mizoguchi Viewed From Here

«Kinovedcheskie Zapiski» presents a new section. It will include texts that have influenced the history of film criticism; texts that have changed the way we view and review films; texts by authors that have changed the film art itself. Here we publish two texts by Jacques Rivette from «Cahiers du cinéma».

 

Yakov BUTOVSKIY. Rachel

— Autobiography of R.M. Milman-Krimmer

— Filmography of R.M. Milman-Krimmer

 

A biographical essay about Rachel Milman, the head of «Lenfilm»’s film library. She was a student in FEKS’s workshop, then worked as an assistant of directors as different as Semen Timoshenko, Alberto Cavalcanti and Boris Shpis. Yakov Butovsky, a long-time friend and colleague of Rachel, tells about the films she worked on and the people she knew.

 

The Statement of FITES, October 21, 1967

 

Evald SCHORM. Everyone is Alone in this

 

A Refl ection? Evald Schorm interviewed

 

Hans-Joachim SCHLEGEL. The Film Spring Stopped by Force

 

Jaromil JIRES. A Wave of Truth in Cinema

 

Glauber ROCHA. «An Intellectual Has to Be Radical, He Can’t Play Double». An interview for «Film a doba» magazine

 

The selection of texts from «Film a doba» magazine from the period of 1965–68 represents the new cinema of Czech Republic and Brazil. The selection starts with the manifesto of the Czech Film and Television Union (FITES). The union openly declared its solidarity with the Writer’s union during its conflict with the Communist party in the summer of 1967 and then published a manifesto that clearly represented the relationships between culture and authoritiy. Soon after the August events FITES was liquidated.

In the eyes of colleagues and contemporaries film director Evald Schorm represented the conscience of the Czech new wave. We present here his essay-manifesto and his interview as well as Jaromil Jires’s article. The German film historian Hans-Joachim Schlegel writes about films of the directors that criticized the society system and examines the changes that those films brought.

The last text in the section is the interview of Glauber Rocha, the leader of the Brazilian new cinema.

 

Larisa BEREZOVCHUK. The Phenomenon of Film Narrative (Towards the Preliminary Definition of the Notion’s Semantic Field)

The phrase «film narrative» («kinopovestvovanie») has been widely used in film studies but it is not yet regarded as a term. The notion of «film narrative» is used most often in the texts of film historians and film critics as a synonym of a variety of things. The author of the article sets to define what exactly «film narrative» is synonymous to and how it is connected to the characteristics of perception of screen forms of the expression of meaning.

 

Vorkapich’s Legacy. (Bozidar Zecevic)

Slavko VORKAPICH. The Psychological Basis of Effective Cinematography

Bozidar ZECEVIC. A Glossary of Vorkapich

Vlada PETRIC. In Vorkapich’s Footsteps. A Concept and Structure of the Digital Video Essay «Symphony of Hands»

 

Slavko Vorkapich didn’t take the place he deserved in the history of films — at least in Russia. At the same time in the second half of the 1930s he was considered by the majority of Hollywood to be the best editor and special effects artist. We publish the translation of one of Vorkapich’s most important theoretical works, «The Psychological Basis of Effective Cinematography» (1934). In this article he discusses the immediate influence of specific film devices on a viewer’s physiology and psychology. We also publish an exhaustive commentary to this text by a Serbian film historian Bozidar Zecevic that includes explanation of all the terms needed to understand Vorkapich’s theory. The section also includes the article of film historian Vlada Petric who based his own film, or, more exactly, «digital video essay», on Vorkapich’s ideas.

 

Naum KLEIMAN. Obolenskiy’s Challenge. Two Letters by Leonid Obolenskiy

Viktor Kurilskiy. «My Grandfather Acted in “Battleship «Potemkin»”…». (Publication and afterword by N.I.Kleiman)

 

In the early 1970s Leonid Obolenskiy responded to Naum Kleiman’s article «A Frame is a Montage Cell» in which the author argued against Andre Bazin’s montage theory, namely against his understanding of «Kuleshov’s experiment». In his letters Obolenskiy outlined a different perspective that could lead the discussion to the sphere of a general system theory.

The section is supplemented by the letter from a person whose relative acted in «Potemkin». Naum Kleiman adds his commentary about Eisenstein’s methods of work with actors and about other actors and non-professionals that acted in the film.

 

Debuts by Classics. VGIK Students on Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Bresson, Billy Wilder, Henri-Georges Clouzot, Alexandre Astruc, Charles Laughton

Even professional film historians often know little or next to nothing about the first works of very famous directors, such as Robert Bresson’s debut. This selection of texts from young film historians presents a fresh look on known and little-known works.

 

Oleg IVANOV. The Overcoming of Kon Ran

The recent graduate of VGIK examines Hiroshi Teshigahara’s «Woman in the Dunes» as an intertwinement of traditions (the classical Japanese (Kon ran) and the avant-guarde surrealistic) with the individual world-view and style of the author.

 

Natalia RYABCHIKOVA. John Cassavetes: An Independent Classic

 

John CASSAVETES. What’s Wrong with Hollywood?

 

Evgeniy MARGOLIT. «Service to the Distant Ones». Taken down by Denis Viren

 

Naum KLEIMAN. About the Similarity of Dissimilar. Interviewed by Diana Grigorieva

 

IM Kwon-taek: «There Was Always a Question of Survival, a Problem of Staying a Director…» Interviewed by Chon Son Il

 

Retrospective programs of MIFF—30 represented an independent and most interesting section. The director of Film Museum Naum Kleiman talks about the approach to retrospective programming at international film festivals and most specifically about the retrospectives of Istvan Szabo and Im Kwon-taek. The latter’s interview is also published here. Evgeniy Margolit, the curator of one of MIFF’s special programs, «Socialist Avant-garde», provides some outlines of the film panorama of Soviet republics as well as some conceptual notes on the Soviet cinema in general. Natalia Ryabchikova’s article is a consideration of the works of an independent American film director John Cassavetes, whose legacy was presented to the Moscow film-goers practically in its entirety.

 

Contents №№ 81–90