This might be an unusual beginning to my weblog but as the place where I have been at the end of February and beginning March this year was very unusual, I thought I'd better give it an introduction first. It does not happen to me often that when I get an invitation for a film festival I really don't have the slightest idea where on earth I'll be going to.
I knew Khanty-Mansyisk – where the
Spirit Of Fire Film Festival has been organized for the 8th year this year - was somewhere in Russia but I had to do quite a lot of homework to find out where it actually was. The trouble began with rewriting the Cyrillic name of the place into the right English spelling (there are more versions available) So no worries if you have no idea either; just
have a look at what I found out before my trip. Only then will you probably realize – as much as I did – how enormously large Russia is!
Khanty-Mansyisk is an autonomous area located in the central part of Russia, in the centre of the West Siberian Plain. The area is Russia's main oil and gas region and is one of the world's largest oil-producing regions. Economically rich, the government of the region puts a lot of money into cultural life and cultural education of the youth, including sport.
Khanty-Mansyisk is a three hour flight from Moscow but I am lucky to sit next to
Larisa Sadilova, the former IFFR’s Tiger Award Winner in 2003 (
With Love, Lilya) and also a real IFFR’s fan and friend. She has unexpectedly been asked to replace someone in the international jury and is going to Khanty-Mansyisk for the first time as well. It is -27 C when we arrive there and except for the cold I am totally impressed by the white beauty of snow that lies everywhere. It’s as if I'm seeing landscapes from
Alexander Rou’s classical Russian fairy tale
Morozko from 1964 that we used to watch every year at Christmas during my youth in Czechoslovakia. I know from my family and friends that this film is still a cult fairytale in both Czech and Slovak Republics.
I don't know how and why a film festival came into existence here but it seems that during its eight years of existence it has achieved quite an important status nationally, as well as something of an international reputation. The latter might be down to the internationally renowned and respected Russian film critic
Andrei Plakhov who chairs the film selection of Spirit Of Fire. He's also the one I can thank for the festival’s generous invitation. Andrei is an old friend and collaborator of the IFFR and one can feel a little bit of the Rotterdam spirit in his philosophy of international competition selection. Attention should be paid to the young filmmakers of the world as it is so difficult nowadays for them to find their way in the complicated film industry scene and find money for their projects as novice directors. The international competition seems to be the heart of the programme, judged by the international jury, this year headed by a Russian legend: film director, script writer and musician
Pyotr Todorovsky. The second most important competition was the Russian debuts competition from 2009 and a leading theme of the overall programme is the 65th anniversary of the Great Patriotic War (the victory of the Russians in the WW II). There, one could not only see some classics of the USSR, like the 1957’s The Cranes Are Flying by Mikhail Kalatozov’s, Grigory Chukhrai’s Ballad of A Soldier (1959), or Larisa Shepitko’s The Ascent (1976) but also a few of the many modern, 21st century looks at the WW II by younger authors such as Alexander’s Rogozhkin The Cuckoo (2002), The Last Train of Alexei German jr, (2003) Our Own by Dmitry Meschiev (2004) and more. The festival also pays a lot of attention to younger audiences.
Pyotr Todorovsky at the opening of Spirit of Fire Film Festival
Visiting Spirit Of Fire film festival is not only a great chance to catch up with old and new Russian films, but also a chance to meet many great masters and novice film directors, film industry people and cultural decision makers. It’s a real honour to meet living veterans of the Russian (and Soviet) cinema in person, like Pyotr Todorovsky, the president of the festival and People’s Artist of Russia
Sergey Solovyev, and the very much respected film director and a great personality (nowadays a politician as well) -
Stanislav Govoruchin (Legend says that when his TV detective series The Place Of Meeting with the famous Vladimir Vysotsky was shown on TV in the seventies, the streets were empty as the whole nation was sitting in front of the television).
Sergei Lazaruk is here as well. We have not seen each other since
Belyje Stolby, so this is an unexpected and nice surprise. Together with the filmmakers present we start reminiscing about his time in the Goskino where he was leading the department of film and had a decisive role in film financing until 2008. Many films of the new generation of filmmakers who have later achieved an international success were supported by him. Just to mention one of the last of these:
Kak ja provel etim letom by
Alexei Popogrebsky, which has won several prestigious prizes during the latest Berlinale. The discussion is very relevant as these days a new system of film financing has been introduced in Russia that paradoxically supports commercial filmmaking and marginalizes small projects, or arthouse cinema and makes it even more difficult for upcoming film directors. Let’s just say that it's a very strange decision now that a new generation of young Russian film makers has been discovered by the rest of the world.
Ladies Breakfast
During the festival, the changing of the governor’s function took place and we witnessed its opening with
Alexander Filipenko – one of the festival’s founders and its passionate supporter. During the closing ceremony the newly appointed governor, the charming and energetic
Natalya Komarova, promised the guests present to support and be a part of the festival in the future. We had a chance to meet the new governor personally even earlier, during the
Ladies Breakfast that is traditionally organised by the vice-president of the festival, the charismatic and always friendly
Maria Zvereva. The richly laid table with a small and elegant bouquet for each participant and a fantastic menu full of Russian delicacies – was a great occasion for an informal chat amongst the ladies. Over these two hours I realized again how privileged I am to be a part of occasions like this. Sitting opposite me, I recognize a familiar face: the actress
Anna Mikhalkova, and remember her acting in two films from past years where she really impressed me:
Kirill Srebrennikov’s Playing the Victim and
Boris Khlebnikov’s Help Gone Mad (Sumashedhaya pomoch). I tell Anna and the others about the IFFR’s CineMart when it’s my turn in the tell-us-about-yourself round but also about my daughter
Juliana Johanidesova, who now lives in Slovakia and is an actress as well. We are supposed to be quite informal and reveal a bit of our private lives, dreams and plans for the future, which is why I can be a proud mother for the moment. It’s nice sometimes to show your more private side. I tell Anna that in the future we hope we can welcome her with a new project of upcoming Russian talent at our
CineMart, as she not only is an excellent actress but a successful producer as well. We will see.
Selfportrait with Canadian producer Kevin Tierney
Many prizes are awarded during the closing ceremony, and the Russian Film Critics Award went to the Canadian film
The Trotsky by
Jacob Tierney. The producer
Kevin Tierney proudly accepted a small porcelain statue of a father-and-son elephant. This film really made an impression in former Eastern Europe; but also at IFFR it took a well deserved 12th place in the Audience Award. Last but not least we are offered a surprise film: in the presence of and after a short introduction from film director
Alexei Popogrebsky, actor
Sergei Puskepalis and producer
Roman Borisevich we watch the latest international success, the above mentioned film
Kak ja provel etim letom (How I Ended This Summer).