This is the latest film made by Andrei Nekrasov and Olga Konskaya – an investigative documentary and film about the Russian-Georgian war in 2008 that has already created some great expectations amongst colleagues, artists, film professionals and even politicians. In its European premiere, Andrei Nekrasov and his producers will come to present their film personally during the IFFR 2010 and are eager to answer all the questions that the film will undoubtedly give rise to. A personal journey in politics, with the chaos of war and history – this film might not only be the most important one for the director himself, but also for many others.
Andrei Nekrasov is the enfant terrible of the Russian filmmaking.
Comparable with no one else, and opposed to the rest, he is the one who dares to touch the most sensitive (political) themes and dig into their deepest depths.
Since his documentary Disbelief, both investigative and poetic, about the terrorist bombings in Russia in 1999 that changed the course of recent Russian history, he has touched another untouchable subject in Russia - that of the mysterious death of the Russian government's critic living in London, Alexander Litvinenko. Both films are banned in Russia. His latest film's subject, that was the directorial debut of his partner Olga Konskaya, who was then already incurably ill, is yet another “untouchable” one in Russia: the 2008 Russian-Georgian war. This is a subject that still requires answers to many questions and has never been seriously investigated before.
Andrei and Olga are, however, concentrating on its human stories, and are in great disbelief of what their fellow countrymen can do to another country (they are both are in possession of Russian passports). The film is very personal, very emotional and sometimes contains unbearable images and stories of the wars in this region. The title of the film, Russian Lessons, has a double meaning: it not only refers to the "lessons" given by Russia to Georgia but also refers to one of the pictures in the film: pages of a tiny pad flapping in the wind - the book of the Russian language that, paradoxically, is still has been taught in this country.
The film is a Russian/Norwegian/Georgian co-production. The Georgian executive producer Giorgi Arveladze did not hesitate to work with the Russian directors who had warned that they would tell the truth the way they see it, even if it hurt somebody's feelings. Torstein Grude, the film's Norwegian producer, is known for films with strong humanitarian content and was keen to work with Andrei even before the war in Georgia.
As with his previous films, Andrei has already succeeded in showing Russian Lessons to a small group of artists and friends in St.Petersburg and Moscow. Understandably, these were closed screenings on invitation only and the film director received different reactions. He has changed some people’s opinion with his film, but as Andrei says himself: Russia is a very big country and not everyone is ready to see and understand a confrontation with reality as is shown in his film. We will have to wait until the film’s European premiere at IFFR 2010 for the international audience’s reactions.
Russian Lessons has been shown to Georgian people as well and resulted in Andrei Nekrasov’s announcement as ‘ person of the year 2009’ at the end of the last year.
Because of his critical approach towards various sensitive political matters , Andrei Nekrasov has often been accused of being an enemy of his own country. His own words totally smash this criticism:
"People who call me anti-Russian do not love Russia themselves. I do. You can only help your country if you tell the truth. That's what I am trying to do."
Andrei, what does this film mean to you and Olga Konskaya personally?
That's just it: I felt personally affected and involved, the war in Georgia became a personal issue for me. There are oceans of injustice in the world, and it often makes me feel angry, but when an injustice is committed in the name of one's own people, in my name, I feel I have to do something. Olga felt the same, in fact she felt even stronger about Russia's arrogance and cynicism. We shared that rejection of indifference to the pain of others, but she felt it stronger, I think. I am more theoretical, rational, about it, while she was filled with a literally physical revulsion towards injustice. Sometimes I think that her life was to be short because she just couldn't stand injustice and dishonesty, her whole being was burning inside because of it.
Was your decision to go to Georgia and shoot during the war a spontaneous one to catch the momentum, or did you think about Georgia as a subject much earlier?
Olga loved Georgia, as I, along with many Russians, do - for its friendliness, its joie de vivre, its art, the beauty of its landscapes, its humour and its food. And because all of that was part of our common history; a part of our parents' lives and a part of our youth. That's why we thought the Russian government's politics towards Georgia were not only wrong but treacherous. Those politics started way before the actual war. You only had be in Russia to know that. So, as the beginning of our film shows, the probability of the war was in the air, and it didn't take a prophet to predict it. Just a filmmaker perhaps.
How much material did you shoot and how did you work while editing it? Was it difficult to make choices?
We had masses of material, and it created problems at the editing stage, but perhaps a bigger problem was that the history and geography of Georgia and Russia are still a big enigma for the world. And it is to the world, not just Russia and Georgia that we wanted to tell this story. So we had to shoot even more material and get even more archive material to put the recent events into context, without which there's a great risk of misunderstanding the recent events. And then of course you end up with a 4 hour rough cut. But that's where you have to switch on the artist in you, make intuitive choices, take aesthetic decisions and imaginative shortcuts. Of course it's not easy, because the subject demands an expert's precision and political responsibility.
I have read somewhere that you have already shown your film to some politicians in Brussel. How was their reaction and does it make any difference? After all, you are not only critical towards the interpretations of Vladimir Putin but also towards the Western media's passive approach.
Yes, I am very critical of some of the western media (and I demonstrate why in the film), but I am not saying this lightly. For me it's a tragedy, that the West which we in the East of Europe identified with freedom and truthful information engages in political horse trading with the undemocratic and chauvinistic Russian government. I hope that some Western media misrepresentations of the Russian-Georgian war I demonstrate in the film are innocent mistakes. But I suspect that some of them are a part of an effort to promote a political (and economic) agenda which has little to do with the respect for human rights, let alone compassion for human suffering.
Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions in this extremely busy period Andrei, I really appreciate it. We are looking forward to seeing you in Rotterdam.