Thursday, September 19, 2013

Za stshastjem / For Happiness


For Happiness. Tasja Borman, Lev Kuleshov
За счастьем / Onnen tähden / Za schastem / For Luck / Za schast’em. RU 1917. PC: Akts. o-vo Hanzhonkov i K. D: Jevgeni Bauer. SC: N. Dennitsyna. DP: Boris Zaveljev. AD: Lev Kuleshov. C: Nikolai Radin (Dmitri Gzhatski, a lawyer), Lidia Koreneva (Zoja Verenskaja, a rich widow), Tasja Borman (Lee, her daughter), Lev Kuleshov (Enrico, an artist), N. Nennitsyna (Lee's governant), Emmotshka Bauer (little girl), Aleksandr Heruvimov (doctor). A Gosfilmofond print without intertitles /18 fps/ 36 min. E-subtitles in Finnish by [Onni Nääppä?] covered the original intertitles missing from this print.

3. film in the Russian film concert - Mauri Saarikoski (violin) and Marko Puro (piano). Cinema Orion, Helsinki (History of Russian cinema), 19 Sep 2013.

Shot at Crimea, a triangle story of a widowed mother and her fragile daughter falling in love with the same man. The young artist is played by none other than Lev Kuleshov who brought Yevgeni Bauer's last film to a finish after the great director's death and was the only one to continue aspects of Bauer's legacy after the revolution.

A beautiful print of a beautifully shot film. The images are soulful. The lighting is glorious. The beauty is perfect, but happiness is evasive. "I am exhausted by this endless pursuit of happiness".

There is a danger of the daughter going blind if she experiences a shock.

The daughter learns that her beloved artist is in love with her mother.

"Where are you, mother? I cannot see anything."

Another soulful and deeply felt musical contribution by Mauri Saarikoski and Marko Puro, with themes from Tchaikovsky, Rimski-Korsakov et al.

Umirajushtshi lebed / The Dying Swan


Умирающий лебедь / Kuoleva joutsen / Den döende svanen. A Tragic Tale. RU 1917. PC: Akts. o-vo Hanzhonkov i K. D: Jevgeni Bauer. SC: Zoja Barantsevitsh. DP: Boris Zaveljev. C: Vera Karalli (Gizella, a mute ballerina), Aleksandr Heruvimov (father), Vitold Polonski (Viktor Krasovski), Andrei Gromov (Valeri Glinski, artist), Ivan Perestiani (Glinski's friend). A Gosfilmofond print /18 fps/ 49 min with e-subtitles by [Onni Nääppä?].

2. film in the Russian film concert - Mauri Saarikoski (violin) and Marko Puro (piano). Cinema Orion, Helsinki (History of Russian cinema), 19 Sep 2013.

The title and the inspiration of the film stem from Mikhail Fokin's choreography for Anna Pavlova to the Camille Saint-Saëns piece, one of the most famous dance numbers of Russian ballet. 

Vera Karalli plays the mute ballerina who is the perfect inspiration for the artist in search of an image of true death.

"There is something more powerful in your eyes". "When the soul sings words are not needed".

"All my life I have been seeking death. I found it in your dance."

"Life is worse than death".

When the storm was raging she entered like a ghost in the night. Like a nun, like in Vertigo. Extended hands like in Cocteau. It was all a dream.

But the woman's happiness disturbs the artist... he strangles her to immortalize her eternal beauty.

A haunting example of absolute decadence.

The musicians were fully in tune with the macabre subject. They amazed us by stopping to play at the culminating dance number - instead of Camille Saint-Saëns we had silence. Among the themes there was "Valse triste" by Jean Sibelius.

An ok print, slightly duped.

Strekoza i muravei / The Grasshopper and the Ant (1913)

Wladyslaw Starewicz
Стрекоза и муравей / Heinäsirkka ja muurahainen / Gräshoppan och myran. RU 1913. PC: Akts. o-vo Hanzhonkov i K. D+SC+AN+AD: Władysław Starewicz - based on a poem by Ivan Krylov - based on an old traditional fairytale already known by Aesop. A 2006 KAVA colour print. Restored from a vintage colour print with original Finnish / Swedish intertitles. /16 fps/ 7 min.

1. film in the Russian film concert - Mauri Saarikoski (violin) and Marko Puro (piano). Cinema Orion, Helsinki (History of Russian cinema), 19 Sep 2013.

See my Strekoza i muravei remarks 2 Oct 2009.

Revisited: a still wonderful masterpiece of stop motion animation with a tragic ending. Viewing copy based on the fine vintage Finnish nitrate print. Inspired music by Mauri Saarikoski and Marko Puro.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Mies varjossa. Otto Wille Kuusinen, 1-3 / [The Man in the Shadow. Otto Wille Kuusinen, 1-3]

Series credits: Mies varjossa. Otto Wille Kuusinen / Ykkösdokumentti: Mies varjossa. Otto Wille Kuusinen / Mannen i skuggan / Mies varjossa 1‒6 / Mies varjossa 1‒3 / [The Man in the Shadow. Otto Wille Kuusinen]. FI 1994. PC: Epidem Oy. Yle TV1 Yhteistuotannot. D: Peter von Bagh, Elina Katainen, Iikka Vehkalahti. DP: Pekka Aine, Arto Kaivanto. S: Janne Nurmimaa. ED: Eero Nieminen. VET I-06482 ‒ S ‒ b&w and colour, 1,37:1 ‒ total duration of the six or three parts: 150 min
    Vhs release: 1994 BTJ Kirjastopalvelu Oy.
    The long journey from Jyväskylä to Moscow, from the National Romanticism of the turn of the century to Communism, from idealism to Realpolitik.
    A three-part documentary series on the life and career of Otto Wille Kuusinen (1881‒1964). Kuusinen is the only Finn who has been buried into the Kremlin Wall. After the Civil War he was a co-founder of the Finnish Communist Party in Russian exile, and he was appointed Prime Minister of the Terijoki puppet government during the 1939 Winter War. Kuusinen advanced to a member and a secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and was also elected to the Presidium of the Central Committee.

Mies varjossa. Otto Wille Kuusinen 1: Kommunistin kuolema / [The Man in the Shadow. Otto Wille Kuusinen 1: The Death of a Communist]. Featuring: Riikka Kuusinen, Ludvig Musakka, Thomas Henriksson, Heikki Kuusinen, Friedrich Firsov, Ahti Liedes, Rudolf Sykiäinen, Klavdia Jegorova, Kaisa Wilen, Marina Amirakov. In archival footage: Otto Wille Kuusinen, Wilhelm Pieck. First telecast: 6.3.1994 Yle TV1 ‒ 57 min
    Covering the years 1900‒1939.

Mies varjossa. Otto Wille Kuusinen 2: Suomen kansantasavallan presidentti / [The Man in the Shadow. Otto Wille Kuusinen 2: The President of the People's Republic of Finland]. Featuring: Juho Käiväräinen, Veikko Airola, Marina Amiragova, Jaakko Rugojev, Ortjo Stepanov, Vladimir Fjodorov, Jukka Petrov, Pekka Nikitin, Erkki Fredrikson, Salli Laakso / Salli Bergman, Urho Ruhanen, Anna Kipzize, Alli Airola, Martti Malmberg, Violet Kuusinen, Thomas Henriksson. In archival footage: Otto Wille Kuusinen, J. V. Stalin. First telecast: 13.3.1994 Yle TV1 ‒ 52 min
    Covering the years 1939‒1957.

Mies varjossa: Otto Wille Kuusinen 3: Mikä on ei pysy / [The Man in the Shadow: Otto Wille Kuusinen 3: What Is Doesn't Remain]. Featuring: Erkki Fredrikson, Frederick Kagan, Klavdia Jegorova, Lyyli Ronkonen, Kaarina Ravio, Onerva Tainio, Grigori Arbatov, Kagan, Mirjam Suvanto, Helmi Karvinen, Anja Kuusinen, Kai Kuusinen, Violet Kuusinen, Fjodor Burlatski, Reijo Kalmakurki. In archival footage, fiction: Ivan Groznyi, Gelovani as Stalin in Klyatva; documentary: Otto Wille Kuusinen, Ville Pessi. First telecast: 20.3.1994 Yle TV2 ‒ 55 min
    Covering the years 1881‒1964.

A digibeta from Yle Export viewed at Cinema Orion, Helsinki (Peter von Bagh), 18 Sep 2013.

A documentary portrait essential to the history of Finland, the Soviet Union, Marxism, and the international socialist movement.

A true story more dramatic and terrible than fiction.

Peter von Bagh, Elina Katainen, and Iikka Vehkalahti manage to convey a portrait of utter contradictions.

From the national romanticism of the Belle Époque to the violent horrors of the Civil War. From a true blue social democrat of the early workers' movement to a founder of a Communist Party. From peaceful reconstruction to the Great Terror of Stalin. Most of his comrades executed, most of the Finns in the USSR purged, made into a puppet prime minister of a planned Soviet Finland. Surviving under Stalin, rescuing Andropov in the early 1940s, cultivating a contact with Khrushchev. Rising to the top under the Thaw. Discarding the concept of "the dictatorship of the proletariat" in the textbook The Fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism. Consulting Khrushchev during the Cuban missile crisis. Kuusinen died in 1964, as did the Thaw, but after the reign of Brezhnev Andropov discovered Gorbachev.

Surviving the Terror, sacrificing those close to him.

The interviews of the contemporaries are invaluable. The mystery remains. OWK became the most despised man in Finland, but here we learn that OWK, too, knew it was the most shameful thing to become the would-be-Quisling of Soviet Finland.

A study in complexity, never watered down. A magnificent historical portrait would deserve to be much more widely known, in Finland and internationally.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Citizen Peter (seminar)


Citizen Peter seminar at Cinema Orion, 14-15 Sep 2013.
Arranged by Risto Jarva -Seura.

SATURDAY, 14.9.2013
KULTTUURIN KENTTÄ / THE FIELD OF CULTURE
Morning chairwoman Satu Kyösola
09.00  Film: Lastuja / [Splinters] (FI 2011) 74 min
10.20  Markku Koski: Petteri kulttuurikriitikkona / [Peter as a Cultural Critic]
10.50  Päivi Istala: Petteri ja radio / [Peter and the Radio]
11.40  M. A. Numminen, video interview
11.55  Like Publishing: launching of the books Citizen Peter and Chaplin - Nora Varjama - Harri Haanpää - Olaf Möller
12.00 break
Afternoon chairman Olli Vesala
13.00  [Tavoiteltu kaunotar] / [The Coveted Beauty] (Erkki Kurenniemi, FI 1967) home movie footage, 3 min
A greeting from Elina Salo
13.15  Pekka Aarnio: Musiikin ja konserttien visionääri / [A Visionary of Music and Concerts]
13.45  Eeva Kurki: Elokuvakulttuurin innoitus / [The Inspiration of Film Culture]
14.15  Film: Pockpicket (FI 1968) 19 min
14.50  Timo Malmi: Ohjelmistonsuunnittelu taiteen lajina / [Film Programming as an Art Form]
15.20  Antti Alanen: Elokuvan historia / [History of the Cinema]
Digifilmed interview breaks

SUNDAY, 15.9.2013
NÄKÖKULMIA ELOKUVAURAAN / VIEWPOINTS INTO THE FILM CAREER
Morning chairwoman Liselott Forsman
09.00  Elokuva: Sinitaivas / [Blue Sky] (FI 1978) 73 min
10.30  Jouko Aaltonen: Petterin myllystä – havaintoja elokuvien synnystä / [From Peter's Mill – Observations on the Genesis of the Films]
11.00  Markku Varjola: Petterin nuoruuden ohjaukset / [Underground, or, The Films Directed by Peter in His Youth]
11.30  Lauri Timonen: Onnen maata kohti / [Towards a Land of Bliss. Peter's Compilation Films]
12.00  break
Afternoon chairman Antti Alanen
A greeting from the Midnight Sun Film Festival: Ari Lehtola, Timo Malmi, et al.
A greeting from Il Cinema Ritrovato: Guy Borlée
13.00  Olaf Möller: The Finland Inside
14.00  Film: Asema / [The Railway Station] (FI 1989) 29 min
14.30  Peter takes the floor
14.50  Panel discussion "Pitääkö ote liaanista?" / ["Does the Grip on the Liana Hold?"], chairman Eero Tammi
Digifilmed interview breaks

Sunday, September 01, 2013

Programmes at Filmoteca Española (Madrid)

Filmoteca Española (Madrid). Cine Doré, Calle Santa Isabel, 3.http://www.mcu.es/cine/MC/FE/index.html

SEPTIEMBRE 2013
O Dikhipen VI- 50 años de Carmen Amaya
Semana de Cine Chino
Recuerdo de José Luis Borau
Recuerdo de Leonardo Favio
Henry Hathaway
Kiju Yoshida & Mariko Okada
Cine para todos

JULIO 2013
Si aun no la ha visto...
Rafael Gil: 100 años
Año Dual España-Japón: 36 directores japoneses
Luis Buñuel, 30 años
Jonás Trueba
Cine para todos

JUNIO 2013
Tim Burton (y II)
Olivier Assayas (y II)
La subversión de la moral del deseo en la Transición
Recuerdo de Erland Josephson, Theo Angelopoulos, Tonino Guerra, Patricia Medina, Paulo Rocha
Año Dual España-Japón: 36 directores japoneses
Gil Parrondo
Cine Theatre Ensemble: Willy Reilly and His Colleen Bawm (1920)
10a Muestra de cine de Lavapiés
Cine para todos

MAYO 2013
Tim Burton (I)
Olivier Assayas (I)
Recuerdo de Jorge Semprún
Cine para todos
Documenta Madrid 13: El documental durante la Transición en España
XII ImagineIndia: Sección competitiva
XII ImagineIndia: Heynowski & Scheumann. en Vietnam

ABRIL 2013
Roman Porno-Nikkatsu
Recuerdo de Tony Leblanc
Lo mejor de FCAT (y II)
André S. Labarthe
Peter von Bagh, un finlandés universal (y II)
Buzón de sugerencias
Cine para todos

MARZO 2013
Nikkatsu (1939-1989)
En femenino:
- Juana de Arco: 3 retratos
- Lo mejor de FCAT (I): 4 realizadoras africanas
- Ann Hui: sus 2 últimas películas
Recuerdo de Juan Luis Galiardo
3XDOC: Victor Kossakovsky y Andrés Duque
Peter von Bagh, un finlandés universal
V Semana de cine de Hong Kong (y II)
Cincuenta años de James Bond (II)
La mirada japonesa: paisajes humanos I
Reza Mir-Karimi
Cine para todos

FEBRERO 2013
ARCO 2013-Nuevo cine turco
V Semana de cine de Hong Kong
Recuerdo de Tsilla Chelton, Sancho Gracia, Ray Bradbury, Chris Marker
Buzón de Sugerencias: 50 años de James Bond
Restauraciones de Filmoteca Española (II)
La mirada japonesa: paisajes humanos
Nathaniel Dorsky
Cine para todos

ENERO 2013
Luigi Zampa, maestro olvidado del cine italiano (y II)
Michael Cimino (y II)
III Muestra de cine rumano (y II)
Recuerdo de... María Schneider, Aurora Bautista, Bernardo Bonezzi, Quique Camoiras, Lina Canalejas, Gonzalo Cañas, Jordi Feliu, César Fernández Ardavín, Carlos Larrañaga, Joaquín Parejo-Diaz, Lina Romay, Joaquín Romero Marchent, Marcel Hanoun, Celeste Holm, Herbert Lom, Fernando Lopes, Moebius
Juan Marsé habla de Juan Marsé
Los sonidos del silencio. Cine Mudo Sonorizado (1933-1955)
La mirada japonesa: pensar la guerra (y III)
Cine para todos

DICIEMBRE 2012
Luigi Zampa
Recuerdo de Ken Russell
Recuerdo de María Mercader
Evita / otra mirada
X Mostra Portuguesa (y II)
III Muestra de Cine Rumano
Michael Cimino
Ida Lupino (y II)
Premios Goya (y III)
Raúl Ruiz (XI)
Cine para todos

JULIO 2012
Claves para una historia del cine (IV):
- Selección de 17 películas de Howard Hawks
- Almodóvar, Antonioni, Buñuel, Dieterle, Dreyer, Erice, Fellini, Kurosawa, Losey, Mizoguchi, Ozu, Polanski, Rossellini, Tati, Visconti...
Centenario de Jirí Trnka
XI ImagineIndia (y III)
Canal+ presenta
Cine para todos

JUNIO 2012
PHotoEspaña 2012: Andy Warhol. Pruebas de proyección y películas de la Factory
Nuevo Cine Sueco
Claves para una historia del cine (III)
Raúl Ruiz (VII)
Centro Sefarad-Israel: Muestra del Festival de Cinema Jueu de Barcelona
Recuerdo de Carlos Pérez Merinero
XI ImagineIndia (y II)
La mirada japonesa: el camino del artista (y III)
9a Muestra de cine de Lavapiés
Cine para todos

Programmes at la Cinémathèque française

La Cinémathèque française - Musée du cinéma. 51, rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris. http://www.cinematheque.fr/

PROGRAMMATIONS RÉGULIÈRES
Histoire du cinéma: Histoire permanente du cinéma - Séances spéciales - Voir Revoir le cinéma d'aujourd'hui
Ateliers et stages: Pour enfants
Séances: Jeune public
L'Autre Ciné-Club
Le Cinéma dans tous ses états: - Cinéma d'avant-garde, contre-culture générale - Cinéma Bis - La Cinémathèque de la danse - Cinéma de poche (c.m.) - Ciné-club Jean Douchet - Le Conservatoire des techniques cinématographiques

SEPTEMBRE-NOVEMBRE, 2013
Exposition: Pasolini Roma (Alain Bergala)
Exposition: Jean Cocteau & Le Cinématographe
Michel Piccoli (Serge Toubiana)
Bernardo Bertolucci, Œdipe à Parme (Jean-François Rauger)
Jean Cocteau, l'anachronique (Philippe Azoury)
Joel & Ethan Coen, les fabulistes de l'absurde (Serge Kaganski)
Pier Paolo Pasolini
Les histoires de René Allio. René Allio, un itinéraire singulier (Myriam Tsikounas)
Le cinéma parlant de Raymond Depardon (Jean-Sébastien Chauvin)
Journées Européennes du Patrimoine: "1913-2013, cent ans de protection"
Jeune public: Métamorphoses

JUIN-JUILLET, 2013
Exposition: Le monde enchanté de Jacques Demy (Serge Toubiana)
Exposition: Pialat peintre & cinéaste (see below)
Le Mystère René Clément (Noël Herpe)
Reprise de la semaine de la critique
Jean-Claude Biette, la farandole équivoque (Mathieu Macheret)
Bette Davis (Jean-François Rauger)
Le long voyage de Raffaello Matarazzo (Jacques Lourcelles)
Avant-première exceptionelle de Cléopatre de Joseph L. Mankiewicz en version restaurée - copie numérique, 249 min

DÉCEMBRE 2012 - FÉVRIER 2013
Festival: Toute la mémoire du monde (Pauline de Raymond)
Exposition: Les Enfants du paradis
Rétrospective - Exposition: Maurice Pialat, ou le remords à l'œuvre (Serge Toubiana)
Universal 100 ans - 100 films (Jean-François Rauger)
Shinji Somai, carnavalesque (Mathieu Capel)
Cinéma croate (Fabien Gaffez)
Luigi Comencini, artisan et artiste (Jean A. Gili)
Robert Guédiguian, cinéaste de quartier (Christophe Kantcheff)
Cinéma Bis: Carlos Enrique Taboada, le chaînon manquant de l'epouvante mexicaine (Jean-François Rauger)

SEPTEMBRE-NOVEMBRE 2012
Exposition: Les Enfants du paradis (Laurent Mannoni, Marianne de Fleury)
Marcel Carné ou le paradis sans enfants (Noël Herpe)
Le Cinéma de Jacques et Pierre Prévert (Danièle Gasiglia, Arnaud Laster)
Otto Preminger, en collaboration avec le Festival du Film de Locarno et la Cinémathèque Suisse (Olivier Père)
Manoel de Oliveira: un siècle de cinéma (Mathias Lavin)
Jean-Louis Trintignant (Jean-François Rauger)
Uri Zohar, l'inventeur d'une modernité cinématographique Israélienne (Ariel Schweitzer)
Naomi Kawase, laissée inachevée au Japon (Philippe Azoury)
Marcel Ophuls, le documentaire comme désir de fiction (Stéphane Bou)
Pierre Perrault, le cinéma du vécu (Myoung-Jin Cho)
Histoire permanente du cinéma: Bohèmes
Séances: Jeune public: Bon anniversaire Monsieur Trnka!
Cinéma d'avant-garde, contre-culture générale: Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, reconfiguration du cinéma (Nicole Brenez)

JUIN-JUILLET 2012
Exposition: Tim Burton
Gabriel Yared
Films noirs à l'italienne (Sergio Toffetti)
Reprise de la Semaine de la critique
Ciné-Égyptomania (Magda Wassef)
Serge Daney, 20 ans après (Serge Toubiana)
Les 40 ans du Parrain
Edgar G. Ulmer (Bernard Eisenschitz)
Moïse Kisling: Portrait d'Arletty. Huile sur toile, 98 x 195 cm, 1933.