tue 15 September
WESTBOURNE STUDIOS



RUSSIAN FILMS


6pm


“Zina. She Leaved. She was. Album 11”
Alexandr Belobokov 26 minutes U
Photo album of a woman will telling without a word
about all her life. Documentary. Russia

The Departure (Otbytie)
Anna Savchenko 26 minutes 12A
A railway station is a place of farewell. This short film
has been shooting for two years. At that calm time
nothing seems to signify nor war at Georgia nor world
economic crisis. However the attentive watching for
farewells of ordinary people has become by historical
perforce the document of farewell with whole epoch.
Documentary. Russia


7–9pm


Open Cinema Selection:
Last year, and for the first time ever, the Portobello
Film Festival had a small selection of our films screen
in Saint Petersburg, Russia, at the Open
Cinema Film Festival which takes place in and around
Saint Petersburg in the month of August. As part of
the exchange we are pleased to present a retrospective
of their film festival this year and hope to
continue this exchange in the coming years.

The Program includes:
Chagall’s Passion By Andrey Melnikov; Vasilisa The
Horseman; Das Exlier, an Irina Evteena retrospective
including some of here films; Clown, Petersburg. Also
screening, Sostoyanie, Matasonik, Ves 4, Incident,
Voskresenie, Air, Happy Ever After, Max Imov,
Kolybelnayia, Persia, 1 Blow, Pustoth, Tequila. More
details will be available on the website.

A Long Way Home
Alexander Gorelik 16 minutes 12A
The paradoxical Russian ways can lead to something
important for everyone. Fictional Documentary. Russia

Round Trip
Alexander Gorelik 11 minutes 12A
A strange underground meeting between dreams and
reality. Fictional Documentaries. Russia

Night Of the Fighter / Noch Boytsa
Dusan Gligorov 88 minutes 15
Night Of the Fighter is a cyber-thriller set at an
abandoned confectionery plant. Lisa, a 16-year old
and big fan of PC gaming, is helping her grandma
rummage through the plant trying to find something
that might be sold on the black market. Yet another
boring night with her grandma suddenly starts turning
into Lisa’s favorite shooter game - two million dollars
appear seemingly out of nowhere, several powerful
players emerge, everyone is after the money, and -
the winner takes all ... The film examines what
happens when the rules of the imaginary world
extend into reality. Drama. Russia


OPEN CINEMA/ Retrospective of films by IRINA EVTEEVA
Irina Evteeva is a talented Russian filmmaker with her personal amazing style and technique, owner of many Prizes. She was born in Petersburg where she lives and works. In 1980 graduated from Leningrad Institute of Culture (page does not exist)" Leningrad Institute of Culture. In 1989 defended the thesis “The processes of genre formation in the Soviet animated cartoon in the 60-80s. From parable to polyphonic structures”. Nowadays she is a professor of chair of cinematographic art in St. Petersburg State University of Culture and Arts and a filmmaker of the Studio LENFILM

Horse, Violin and a bit of Nerve/ 1991/ 26’/ no dialogues
Grand Prix, Saloon Festival in Zarechny, 1991, Moscow, Russia
Grand Prix for best animated film, Moscow Film Festival Debut, 1992, Moscow, Russia
Prize, International Film Festival Arsenal, 1992, Riga, Latvia
Competition participator, International Film Festival in Clermont-Ferrand, 1992, France
Screening, Telluride Film Festival, 1992, Telluride, USA
synopsis:
There was Mayakovsky, a tragic poet. He commited suicide and became a monument sheded marble slime. So it was necessary for someone. His poems were started to be crammed in schools. The slime mixed with boredom. Irina Evteeva made a film about Mayakovsky with strange name Horse, Violin and a bit of Nerve. It is not a laudatory or inveighing biography but a magical visual fantasy. Her dumb work is an attempt to find a visual equivalent to poetical word and style of Mayakovsky. It is not a screen version of his poetry. Rather it is a door in the poet’s world. Love, good attitudes towards horses and other creatures, active enthusiasm, pathos and pain, heart bound by marble… All those are closely entangled in the film.

Elixir/ 1995/ 45’/ with dialogues, no subs
Grand Prix, International Film Festival Cinema forum-2, 1995, Suzdal, Russia
Grand Prix Garnet Bracelet, International Film Festival Literature and cinema, 1996, Gatchina, Russia
First place, International Film Festival Drama, 1995, Greece
Competition participator, International Film Festival in Leipzig, 1995, Germany
Three main Prizes, I All-Russian Animation Film Festival in Tarusa, 1996, Russia
Candidate for the professional Prize Nika in the section Best animated film, 1996, Moscow, Russia
synopsis:
Elixir is a philosophical parable inspired by works of Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann. It narrates about a world where fiery salamanders and black dragons live. This world was created by a certain winged Spirit. Besides he left a Talisman that can support the Life. During the battle with dark forces a Keeper dropped the Talisman into the abyss. Both the Keeper and the Dragon are forced to start on a journey in order to find it. Who will be the first and so decide the fate of the world?

Clown/ 2002/ 10’/no dialogues
Grand Prix for Best animated film, 59th Venice Film Festival, 2002, Italy
Grand Prix, VII International Short Film Festival in Tehran, 2002, Iran
synopsis:
It is a magical work that was inspired by Snow Show of Slava Polunin.
“… I like the every shot in the film of Irina Evteeva. And it doesn’t matter that I took part in it. Simply she could catch the essence of the clown image. He is real thanks to the fact that he was drawn…” (Slava Polunin).

Petersburg/ 2003/ 24’/ with dialogues, no subs
Competition participator, XXV International Film Festival in Moscow, 2003, Russia
Jury Special Prize, International Film Festival Literature and cinema, 2004, Gatchina, Russia
Candidate for the professional Prize Nika in the section Best animated film, 2004, Moscow, Russia
synopsis:
This work narrates about a journey that the main hero makes in the cinematographic space of old films. A flood of images, masquerade, snowstorm, city-watchmen, projections that sometimes reflect tragic events… A PC master Alexey got in not real past of Petersburg, but intered in the space of old films and began to interact with their heroes.

TRILOGY Demon-Theseus-Faust
synopsis:
The trilogy is dedicated to The Silver Age of Russian Culture and inspired by the painting of Mikhail Vrubel (1856 – 1910). In a basement of the films are his painting Lilac, a series of works for the poem Demon of Mikhail Lermontov and for the tragedy Faust of Goethe. It is a fantastic drama, an attempt to let us feel deeply the atmosphere of Russian Romanticism in the beginning of XX century. Three love stories: Demon and Tamara, Margarita and Faust, Ariadna and Theseus.

Demon/ 2004/ 10’/ with dialogues, no subs
Candidate for the professional Prize Nika in the section Best animated film, 2005, Moscow, Russia
Jury Special Prize, International Forum Zolotoy Vityaz, Moscow, Russia

Theseus/ 2006/ 11’/ no dialogues
Jury Special Prize, XIII International Film Festival Literature and cinema, 2007, Gatchina, Russia

Faust/ 2006/ 17’/ with dialogues, no subs

Chagall’s Passions / Russia / 2007 /
13:34 min, color
director: Andrey Melnikov
category: animation
synopsis: an original interpretation of life and creative work of a world-famous artist, Mark Chagall. This is a story of creative search, dedication and becoming a great master.

Little Vasilisa / Russia / 2007 /
15:30 min, color
director: Darina Shmidt
category: animation
synopsis: a collective tale about a girl called Vasilisa. She is too small to face life difficulties alone. Fortunately she has always people on her way who help her to overcome the hardships

The State / Russia / 2007 /
15 min, color
director: Mikhail Morskov
category: fiction
synopsis: “State” is an attempt to illustrate permanent changes in the inner life of a person (meaning his/her thoughts, feelings, emotional experiences, dreams). This is a story about the deepness of the human perception, relativity of life and its numerous paths.

Matasonic / Russia / 2007 /
17 min, color
director: Alexey Chizhov
category: fiction
synopsis: a comedy about a robot and a human.

The Thing / Russia / 2008 /
8 min, b/w
director: Marita Zakharova
category: fiction
synopsis: a love-story of an office-chair.

The Incident / Ukraine / 2006 /
20 min, b/w
director: Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy
category: fiction
synopsis: an elderly forester had planned a peaceful day ahead to enjoy a relaxing warm bath and listen to radio... His daughter had planned a surprise visit to him to introduce her fiancé. However a horrible incident destroys their plans.

Resurrection / Russia / 2007 /
28 min, color
director: Petr Zabelin
category: fiction
synopsis: this is a story about a heroine-addicted girl, who has lost not only any moral principles, but a sense of life as well. She agrees to commit an act of terrorism, but at the very last moment realizes what a terrible thing she’s about to do. Though there is no way back..

Air / Russia / 2007 /
4 min, color
director: Konstantin Biryukov
category: animation
synopsis: a story about big cities’ citizens.

Happily After That / Russia / 2007 /
4:16 min, color
director: Lidiya Sheinina
category: experimental fiction
synopsis: is there ever really a happy end? Romantic tragedy backwards and forwards.

Rain Down from Above / Russia / 2007 /
7:40 min, color
director: Ivan Maximov
category: animation
synopsis: ‘there is undeniably a certain irresistible magic in the animation itself that makes you watch on.’

Lullaby / Russia / 2007 /
14 min, color
director: Andrey Zolotukhin
category: animation
synopsis: why did he leave at night
when she was sleeping
not to break the heart into pieces
to break it by recollection

Flashes of Persia / Norway-Russia / 2007 /
10 min, color
director: Dimitri Lurie
category: experimental
synopsis: it is a poetic documentary based on the fascination of Persian ornaments, architecture, landscape and music.

One blow / Russia / 2008 /
0:40min, b/w
director: Masha Sha
category: video-art, animation
synopsis: when children get older…

Emptiness / Russia / 2007 /
10 min, color
director: Alexander Kargaltsev
category: experimental
synopsis: today advertisement is everywhere, gradually but successfully its aesthetics penetrates into the feature film too. In this film a unique attempt is undertaken which is to reconcile a visual creative value of the advertisement with a quite serious plot. As a result we’ve got an amazing picture and a bright story!

Vetry Lestnits («Tequilajazzz») / Belorussia / 2008 /
3:08 min, color
director: Artyom Lobach, Elena Artyuhova
category: music video
synopsis: animated video on the song «Vetry Lestnits» by a famous rock-band «Tequilajazzz».

Onego Dream / Russia / 2008 /
8 min, color
director: Alexander Strelets
category: video-art
synopsis: a dream of a little girl…

6–11pm


VIDEO CAFE
IN THE BAR

YOU CHOOSE THE FILMS THAT WE SHOW
The bear pit of the Portobello Film Festival.
Come and enjoy 3 nights in the Westbourne
Studios Bar, where you choose the films from
the menu.
If your film is listed, get here early, bring
your friends and we’ll screen it!
Time permitting, directors may also bring a
short film along on the night for inclusion.
Video Café menu




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