Emir and Friendship: Kusturica got the crowd going at Moscow Film Week
Emir Kusturica turned his performance at Moscow Film Week into a rock concert, gathered a record number of viewers, shared stories about his career path and favorite Russian directors. At other venues, industry speakers discussed the introduction of AI into the educational process and the challenges of the future of national cinema. There were also representatives of REN TV. And Woody Allen was talking via video link. The details are in the Izvestia report.
Emir Kusturica received a standing ovation from Muscovites
Throughout the week, directors, producers, screenwriters, and top managers of online cinemas speak to the audience in a common film language at the Moskino Film Park. Despite the busy schedule — various discussions took place every 45 minutes at three venues in parallel — the highlight of the program was Serbian director Emir Kusturica.
None of the stated topics gathered as many people as Kusturica's speech. 30 minutes before the start, the main space was already bursting with fans, journalists and just those who wanted to see the author of their favorite films. The director's appearance was accompanied by loud ovations, shouts and wild rejoicing, as if a rock star had appeared on stage.
The Emir, in turn, kept up with the audience cheering him and quickly began to sing to the crowd in the manner of Queen singer Freddie Mercury during his famous performance at Wembley Stadium.
— I'm going to say the phrase "Do you agree", and you will continue: "F*** you MTV". Are you ready? Let's go! — the master began his performances, rocking the audience as if he were at a concert of his band No Smoking Orchestra.
As you know, Kusturica enjoys a special love among the Russian-speaking public, but after such a performance, even the last skeptics fell under the spell of the Serbian director.
The Emir told a personal story of how he had to choose between a girl from his native Sarajevo and a craving for cinema. As a student at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, he chose the path of a freelance artist, but life proved something else — first love, then cinema.
According to Kusturica, a large number of Russian directors and writers had a serious influence on him. The Emir cited Nikita Mikhalkov's film "Slave of Love" as an ideal embodiment of irony in cinema, as well as Andrei Tarkovsky's film "Andrei Rublev" as an example of a clash between the fundamental foundations of society and one person.
"I first saw Mikhalkov's films when I was a student in Prague," he later told Izvestia. — And I can say that the first steps I took in cinema were determined by his films: Oblomov, Slave of Love. I watched everything he shot, all his films. His aesthetics became mine. He had a serious conversation about the East, about the North, with the intonations of Italian realism. It's a wonderful synthesis of commercial and auteur cinema. He's 80 years old, and he's going to be working for a long time. He was a reference point for us.
The master noted that cinematographers do not have to chase Western trends and try to make superhero films. The director believes that Russians should make films about Russia. And the future of world cinema belongs to the national cinematography, not to the "Hollywood machine."
Despite the allotted 45 minutes, the audience did not want to leave. They shouted from the audience: "Thank you for the Arizona Dream! Thanks for the "Underground"! Thank you for "Black Cat, white cat"!" — and then lined up in a multi-meter queue for the autograph of the director.
Now the director is preparing to shoot a film based on the novel by Valentin Rasputin "The Last Term". According to Kusturica, the story struck him with its drama and humor. And the film adaptation of "Crime and Punishment" has been put on hold for now. The Emir joked that he would rather write a novel "How I didn't shoot Crime and Punishment" than finish the picture.
Why lock up students for seven hours without gadgets
Meanwhile, no less interesting topics were discussed in other Moskino spaces. Oleg Sirotkin, screenwriter and editor-in-chief of the REN TV Film and Series Production Directorate, held a conversation about film schools in Moscow and around the world. If there are enough "creators" in the industry, then there are not enough people in working and administrative professions.
Speaking about the modern audience, Sirotkin drew attention to the decrease in students' ability to perceive information compared to the situation seven years ago. He explained that students quickly get tired of traditional lectures and are easily distracted by gadgets. According to him, it is now difficult for a teacher to keep his attention without using presentations and visual accompaniment. He figuratively called this feature "social autism" — the loss of interest in something that is not directly related to the student.
Oleg Sirotkin also touched upon the problem of using neural networks in the educational process. He admitted that the teacher finds himself in a difficult situation when he cannot prove the fact of plagiarism, and the student unexpectedly demonstrates high-level texts.
Oleg Sirotkin, screenwriter, teacher, editor of the REN TV channel, during the lecture "Study, study, study: Film Schools of Moscow and the world" within the framework of the Moscow International Film Week
— As a teacher, I see such a solution to the problem: reduce part of the training to the "here and now" mode. Launch it into the audience and release it in five to seven hours. During this time, the student will write the text without a single gadget," Sirotkin said.
He stressed that the REN TV channel could take on the role of a mediator between the film industry and the educational sphere in the direction of action cinema. According to Sirotkin, this area is now particularly popular with viewers and requires professional training from actors and directors.
Woody Allen never gets tired of watching "War and Peace"
On August 24, during the Moscow International Film Week, an online meeting was held with American director Woody Allen. The session "Legends of World Cinema", along with a live meeting with Emir Kusturica, became one of the main events of the festival. The conversation was conducted by director and producer Fyodor Bondarchuk.
Woody Allen got in touch from New York and shared his memories and creative principles for 45 minutes. He stated that he had always loved Russian cinema, and mentioned the films of Sergei Eisenstein and Sergei Bondarchuk, whom he had met personally. According to him, he once watched the seven-hour "War and Peace" in one day and was amazed at the scale of the work. "I never got tired of such films," the director noted.
By the way, participation in the Moscow Film Week did not pass for the American classic without rather unexpected consequences: Woody Allen was added to the database of the infamous Mirotvorets website, where the Kiev regime places everyone who is at least somewhat dissatisfied with the current Ukrainian authorities. The filmmaker commented on the situation in a statement to the Guardian.
"No matter what politicians do, I don't think that stopping creative discussions is a good way to help," he noted the importance of separating politics and art.
When asked about possible projects in Russia, Woody Allen stressed that he had not received any proposals yet, but hypothetically he could think about a scenario about "how to feel good in Moscow or St. Petersburg." At the same time, he called himself an apolitical author and stressed that he makes films for the sake of stories and entertainment, and not to make statements. A separate discussion block dealt with the role of artificial intelligence in cinema. The master is skeptical about technology and suggests that artificial intelligence can help in production aspects, but will not replace imagination and a sense of humor.
Woody Allen said that he prefers to work without regard for trends, does not use social media and still writes scripts manually. The audience in the hall greeted the director's words with applause, and Bondarchuk noted that the dialogue turned out to be "warm and inspiring."
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