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- "The list of the 100 best films to study in schools is ready on behalf of the president"
"The list of the 100 best films to study in schools is ready on behalf of the president"
Mosfilm has already sent the list of films recommended for studying at school to the Ministry of Education. It features films by Tarkovsky, Eisenstein, Chukhrai, Kozintsev and other classics of Soviet cinema. Karen Shakhnazarov is still against the slowdown of YouTube, and he cites the Mosfilm online cinema on this platform as an argument. Karen Georgievich calls millions of views of Soviet cinema the best example of "soft power". Shakhnazarov told Izvestia about his new projects, work on training new specialists and the importance of communicating with the audience at the 33rd Window to Europe Russian Film Festival in Vyborg.
"We offered films made before 1991"
— You have a creative meeting with the audience at the Window to Europe festival. In general, you always take such events very seriously and responsibly. I once invited you to Moscow State University, and I remember how you talked to students for five hours. What do these meetings give you, why are you interested?
— I definitely don't prepare on purpose: I never have lectures. I hold meetings in the form of questions and answers. If it gets interesting, I can really chat for a long time. It gives a lot. Direct contact with people, you will learn a lot from them. I am always happy to hold meetings if I am invited. I was at school recently, and it's interesting with the students: you start to feel what kind of attitude the youth have. In general, I would say that they don't come to meet with me, but I come to meet with people. I'll learn a lot for myself there, which is very important to me as a director and even as the director of Mosfilm.
CEO of the Mosfilm Film Concern, director Karen Shakhnazarovna at the 33rd Window to Europe Russian Film Festival in Vyborg
— Speaking of schoolchildren. Have you discussed with them the list of the 100 best Soviet and Russian feature films to be shown in schools in the country, which you are preparing with Education Minister Sergei Kravtsov by the end of August on behalf of the President?
— This list is ready. We have already collected it and sent it to the Ministry of Education about three weeks ago. They will study it and continue to work with it. When we compiled it, we studied other versions of the existing lists and came to the conclusion that cinema should still be taught in the same way as literature: by major masters.
We offered films made before 1991. Why? Because time must pass. There have certainly been decent paintings since '91, but still, in our opinion, it's too early to include them in the school list. Moreover, truly Russian cinema began, in fact, after the noughties.
Another reason is copyright, which is often confused after 1991, and the rights to Soviet paintings are often easier. That's why we hired 50 major directors who are beyond any doubt. And they took two paintings from almost everyone. It turned out a little more than 100 films.
Of course, we understood that not everything could be included there. Alexander Dovzhenko is a great master, but a schoolboy is unlikely to master both the "Earth" and the "Arsenal". But Sergei Eisenstein's films "Alexander Nevsky" and "Ivan the Terrible" will be quite popular. In my opinion, we have a very diverse program. "Checking on the roads" and "Twenty days without war" by Alexey German, "Moscow does not believe in tears" by Volodya Menshov. "Ordinary fascism" by Mikhail Romm. "Ivanov's Childhood" and "Solaris" by Andrei Tarkovsky. Two of my films are "We are from jazz" and "Courier".
My position has been and remains, and the president has repeatedly supported it, that cinema should be introduced into the course of study. This is not entertainment. Just as they study Gogol and Dostoevsky, they need to study cinema, it should be a school subject. It won't take long. To study 100 paintings after the 4th grade is at most two hours a month, maybe a little more. This is very important, because cinema will foster artistic taste and, by the way, patriotism.
The main thing is that this does not result in tasks to watch a movie at home, on the Internet. Schools now have good equipment and screens. We need the guys to watch movies next to each other, as a whole class, and then be able to discuss and speak out. Of course, teachers also need to be trained, but in schools where I am often invited, there are always enthusiasts. It could be a literature teacher, or maybe a mathematician. If they are paid extra, they will be happy to teach this subject. Methodological manuals and textbooks are needed.
But now we need to start showing films. I personally watched many of the films on the list as a child. "The Ballad of a Soldier" at the age of 8, "Hamlet" — I was about 10 years old. The great painting by Grigory Kozintsev! No one explained anything to me, but I understood everything. We should not think that today's children are more stupid than us.
"Recently, they contacted us about Viya
— You recently opened a cinema at Mosfilm, where they show Soviet classics every day. How is this work going? Do people walk? What are your impressions?
— Yes, we have such a program, we deliberately created it. Our films are constantly being shown in one of the halls, and we try to show restored paintings. In general, we are working on restoration all the time. And there are more viewers at these screenings than in the repertoire hall, where new paintings are shown. They go to the classics better. However, there are cheaper tickets there, we did it on purpose.
Cinema Center Cinema (Cinema Park Mosfilm)
— About 200 rubles, in my opinion, yes?
"That's about it. Well, not 650 anyway. And we see a lot of public interest there.
— What classics are being restored at Mosfilm? What will appear on the screens in the near future?
— We recently released "Slave of Love", we even posted it on our YouTube channel. The Belorussky Railway Station was completed two weeks ago. The Hussar Ballad is currently in production. Our specialists are constantly restoring several paintings in parallel.
A shot from the movie "Belorussky railway Station"
— How are things going with the "tours" of our restored classics in other countries? Where are you taking me?
— Despite all the current situations, we have quite a lot of screenings. Especially, by the way, in "unfriendly" countries. They're always asking for something from there. Recently, they contacted us from America about "Viya".
— Do you give it?
— We give it. Moreover, after 2022, the Americans bought three of my paintings.: "City of Zero", "Regicide" and "Khitrovka".
A shot from the movie "Khitrovka. The Sign of Four"
— Are they included in the sanctions, but are they buying films?
— Yes, they buy movies. Well, the Americans did not include me in the sanctions, I must say, Europe did. Anyway, our YouTube cinema exists, it has a huge audience, millions of views. There are even two cinemas, one in the far abroad and one in the former Soviet Union. And a huge number of views. I think it's much more effective than just a week of film screenings. There are 100 people in the audience, and there are millions of views.
The same people are watching the United States, Europe, Latin America, Africa, and the Arab world. Asia, except China, because it's not so easy to access YouTube there. Philippines, Indonesia, India, Vietnam. And, of course, our viewers, despite the fact that YouTube is slowing down, are also watching, although there are fewer of them. But Ukrainian has increased dramatically, and views from Ukraine are now in the first place.
"There are very interesting comments from Ukraine"
— Have you tried to raise the issue of stopping slowing down YouTube again? After that conversation with the president that you told Izvestia about?
— Yes, I have already raised this question more than once, but, apparently, it did not find support. But I didn't think this slowdown was very appropriate, and I still do. Unfortunately, we don't have an adequate replacement for YouTube. And I also think that online cinemas are generally the main soft power. Home, I can show you the numbers. It really has millions of views all over the world. By the way, the most watched films are military ones, by the way. People not only watch, but also read comments in different languages and write themselves. Most often — with words of support. There are very interesting comments from Ukraine.
— And what do they write from Ukraine?
— They write good things most of the time. Someone writes bad things, sometimes, but most often kind words.
— A few days ago, the Cinema Foundation published a list of films that it will support. There is not a single film about modern Russia. It's either fairy tales or retro. Moreover, there are no relevant applications, as far as I know. What do you associate this with?
— Yes, I agree with you. It's really mostly fairy tales, fantasy, historical movies. In general, there are very few films that talk about modern life. By the way, about YOUR OWN. It's not even that you have to film a war about yourself. I recently watched a report from Gorlovka. There are scavengers, men who carry garbage. They get bombed from time to time. And they keep driving him. You see, you can find topics, but part of our cultural elite is very afraid that they will be included in the sanctions.
It's clear that people can't help but worry about this. To be honest, I don't know why a movie isn't being made about this. But it's up to the youth to shoot, not us, not our generation. So the question is for them.
A shot from the movie "The Road to Berlin"
— You haven't been producing films for the last few years. And I remember you had a wonderful production project "The Road to Berlin", there was a brilliant role of Yura Borisov, whom no one knew at that time.
— By the way, this film is one of the most popular on our channel, which operates abroad. Tens of millions of views. It's a good movie. As for why, I'm producing. But every time I choose a point, because we do not take money from the state for this. Mosfilm is completely self-sufficient. We spend the profit after deducting all taxes, including on production. Therefore, our attitude towards projects is, let's say, thorough, since we earned this money ourselves.
Now we will make the Antarctic film "Survive in the Ice," directed by Alexander Zachinyaev. It's a drama-thriller with a good psychological story. The action takes place in Antarctica. We will produce. We have just completed the Teofilo project about Teofilo Stevenson with the Cubans. Famous boxer, three-time Olympic champion, Cuban star. Part of the film was shot in Russia, and we helped. The project is currently in the installation and toning period.
There is a family comedy. And there's another scenario about SVO, but it's not working out very well yet. Nevertheless, we try to ensure high quality. But a very intelligent screenwriter is working, and if, God forbid, it works out, then we will produce.
"Despite my inner Soviet core, I'm actually a marketeer"
— The results of the first half of the year show that the pace of film production in Russia has dropped, many projects have been frozen, especially serial ones. To what extent did Mosfilm feel this for itself?
— Not yet, on the contrary. I must say, I don't even remember that we had such a download. Maybe it's because some of the competitors have big problems. All the pavilions are loaded, all the resources are for postproduction. Even the outdoor playground is working, although they seem to have built a "Moskino", there is also a good playground there.
— Then there's another related question. When it became known about the decline in production, many major filmmakers started talking about the fact that all this time salaries in Russian cinema were greatly overestimated and that now they need to be grounded. Does this mean that cinematographers' salaries will start to drop now?
— Despite my inner Soviet core, I am actually a marketeer. For 25 years I have been running an enterprise that operates as an absolutely market-oriented one. Roofs, technology, salaries — everything is only due to what we earn ourselves, we carried out all the modernization at our own expense. Therefore, I think that if we want these salaries to be, let's say, more reasonable, we need to use a market mechanism.
We spend money on this and train new specialists at the courses. Now there are artists, sound assistants, costume assistants. We need to saturate the market. We don't have enough qualified personnel. They should be cooked, not taken from the street. We provide them with education, even to the point that we read Russian literature and the history of Russian and foreign cinema to the sound engineer's assistants. We try to provide a decent basic education.
I have suggested to my colleagues many times: come on, we are ready to expand this, we are ready to do more courses! At Mosfilm, we train five to seven people every time, this is our principle, because the fewer people, the better the quality. We train people for free, at our own expense. And I say: get involved, let's hire more teachers, make a course for 30 people, then there will be competition in the market. If you don't have enough specialists, they will still be very expensive. So, create conditions under which there will be competition among professions. But, to be honest, I don't know who else trains such specialists besides Mosfilm.
We've been doing this for 20 years. When I shoot myself, I see that almost 70% of the crew are graduates of our courses. All the middle links.
— I read about your statement that it is necessary to introduce a one hundred percent duty on foreign films at the Russian box office...
— I didn't say that. This is not my statement. They write a lot about me. You turn on the Internet, and there's a lot of stuff on my behalf. No, if there is such an idea, I understand its logic. Personally, I think there should be certain rules for importing paintings. Any item imported into the country is subject to duties. Look at what Trump is doing. He protects his producer.
— But our cinemas are already empty. Less than 10 people per session on average.
— There are less than 10 people on American films, and they just keep going. They don't go to them much anymore. First of all, we need to raise our cinema in order to fill the cinema. You need to make a movie so that people go to it. That's all. Why is Trump imposing tariffs? Because the American industry is uncompetitive. It cannot compete with foreign companies, especially the Chinese, at the price level. In order for it to become competitive, he imposes duties on those countries that, strictly speaking, work better.
Look, if you take a movie: you can't just enter the Chinese and Indian markets. I used to sell paintings there. In China, each of them must pass censorship, it is checked for compliance with the laws so that the distributor can work with it. In India, you still have to duplicate a painting for your money in three languages. In English, Hindi and Tamil. This is the hidden fee. You can only duplicate in India, in an Indian film company, you won't find one in Moscow. On these terms, I sold "Anna Karenina" there, and we spent money making this dubbing.
— A delegation from China recently visited you at Mosfilm. There was talk that there would be some kind of interaction, cooperation. Have we agreed on anything, is anything going on?
— Agreed, but I can't say that something is going on yet. There is no result yet.
— You are in Vyborg for a few days, and in the program you only have a meeting with the audience. What are the plans? Where will you go, what will you watch, what will you do?
— I do not know. I'll go for a walk, I'll go to a restaurant. What do they do at festivals?
A delegation of cinematographers from China during a visit to the Mosfilm film concern
"Watching a movie?"
— Maybe I'll watch something, but what I'm interested in, I'll watch in Moscow. They send me a lot of paintings, and I watch them a lot.
— Did you really like anything you've watched lately?
— I would avoid this issue.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
