– The exhibition is outstanding – I’m not afraid of pompous words. It is generally accepted that in St. Petersburg mystical sensations arise during the white nights. You walk through a deserted city at night, remembering the lines of Pushkin, Andrei Bely and Gogol with all its devilry… But even in weather like today, when darkness permeates everything around, raindrops and snowflakes fall from the sky, there is also enough mysticism…
As soon as we open the door to the film studio, we immediately find ourselves at the opening day. City advertising stands, the installation “House of Cards”, where the main characters of films are depicted on playing cards.
This is an exhibition guide to the mystical and spy secrets of the city. The basis is taken from five films created at Lenfilm from 1982 to 1991: “The Queen of Spades” directed by Igor Maslennikov, “First Meeting, Last Meeting” by Vitaly Melnikov, “Mister Decorator” by Oleg Teptsov, “Sacrifice for the Emperor” by Roza Orynbasarova and “Blood Drinkers” by Evgeny Tatarsky. The films are united primarily by the location of action – St. Petersburg. A mystery city, a mirage city, one of the most mystical cities in Russia.
What kind of films are these? “The Queen of Spades” is a film adaptation of Pushkin’s story. Human passions, mysterious forces… “First Meeting, Last Meeting” is a detective story about strange, dramatic events in St. Petersburg on the eve of the First World War. “Mr. Decorator” is one of the first Soviet films with a mystical theme. As they call him now – “the mystical star of Soviet cinema,” a cult film, Soviet horror. It is based on the story “The Gray Car”, one of the most mysterious works of Alexander Green. “A Sacrifice for the Emperor” is a detective, “spy” film. “Blood Drinkers” is a mystical thriller about vampires, a film adaptation of Alexei Tolstoy’s story “The Ghoul.”
Spies and vampires, modern and gothic, cards and money… There is so much to see at the exhibition. You can watch an unknown still from the film “Mister Decorator”. See a fax message from American actress Tina Turner agreeing to star in the role of the Countess in the film adaptation of The Queen of Spades. Director’s preface to the film by Vitaly Melnikov, handwritten list of characters and leading actors. Notebook by artist Isaac Kaplan with working notes and a list of locations. Descriptions of filming locations. Information about military espionage and spy mania, “bloodsuckers”, card games. The card duel is a key moment in the two films – the heroes of the exhibition.
The curator of the exhibition, Anna Mowgli, was found near the display case, which displays magnificent costumes from films. Just a paradise for journalists – we listen and record her fascinating cinematic stories:
– Two luxurious dresses that Marina Vladi starred in in the film “Blood Drinkers” – scarlet and blue. Costumes with history. In the early 1990s, it was impossible to get good fabrics in the country; they were brought to Lenfilm from abroad, with some tricks, naturally – “partisan paths”…
The wonderful image of a servant from the film “Mr. Decorator” is as chaotic as possible and at the same time accurately reflects the difficult financial situation: a peasant’s linen shirt, worn untucked, and on top – a vest and business card, most likely from the owner’s wardrobe that has fallen into disrepair. A frill and white gloves complete the look as a symbol of the wealth that suddenly fell on the owner. Funny costume, witty. The servant not only takes charge of the entire house, but also acts as the secretary of his master, Platon Andreevich. This role was brilliantly played by actor Ivan Krasko, imbuing his character with irony and incomparable humor.
In the next window there is a white suit of Platon Andreevich, a graphic designer (played by Viktor Avilov). In this costume, the main character appears at the very beginning of the film, in the beginning, which takes place in 1908: a favorite of the public, a proud man, a sought-after artist, a friend of Alexander Blok (the film shows a joint photo with the poet in order to indicate the character’s social circle) – he arrogantly ignores reporters after the premiere of Blok’s “Balaganchik”.
In the costume room you can also see drawings and sketches by two wonderful artists: Tatyana Tarakanova, who created the images for “A Sacrifice for the Emperor,” and Larisa Konnikova, who worked on “Mister Designer.”
“Sacrifice for the Emperor” by Rosa Orynbasarova (1991). Alexey German Sr. invited Rosa to the First and Experimental Film Studio, as he decided that she would best cope with the film adaptation of Kuprin’s story “Staff Captain Rybnikov.” She came to Leningrad and realized this plan in the shortest possible time. The work is phenomenal both in scale and in the number of difficulties overcome by the film crew. There was so much film that it was necessary to shoot everything in one take: the actors entered the frame, having previously rehearsed their lines, as collected as possible, since there was no longer an opportunity to reshoot.
Still from the film “First Meeting, Last Meeting.” Photo: press service of the Lenfilm film studio
Together with the From Outer Space community, we digitized a film with a rental copy of the film, which Roza Orynbasarova kept for many years. Now we have the opportunity to again show this unfairly forgotten wonderful film in a cinema on the big screen.
“I’m happy not only because my film is presented at the exhibition,” shared director Roza Orynbasarova. – It is, of course, a miracle, magic that “A Sacrifice for the Emperor” is returning to St. Petersburg, to Lenfilm. This painting really has a great mystical history… The artists Anna Mowgli and Dmitry Mishenin, who became the curators of the exhibition, are making a feat in art. Cinema expands the boundaries of time, space and returns a note that has been absent for a long time in this space.
That same evening, visitors were shown Oleg Teptsov’s film “Mister Decorator” (1988). Script by Yuri Arabov, music by Sergei Kuryokhin. By the way, the main pearl of the exhibition is a short version from 1986, which almost no one has seen, and it will be shown in the mini-hall continuously for six months.
The exhibition program in November and December includes special events and screenings of films that became the basis of the project. On November 13, Lenfilm will host a screening of the film “Sacrifice for the Emperor” by Roza Orynbasarova and a meeting with the director.
The exhibition will be open until March 2025, from 12:00 to 20:00. It was created with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, one of the partners was the Central State Archive of Literature and Art of St. Petersburg. Visiting is free.
Direct speech
Petr Tishchenko, Chairman of the Archival Committee of St. Petersburg:
– At turning points in history, people felt the need for vivid symbolic images, the need to understand what was happening and turned to mystical forces. In response to this, creators created new realities that made it possible to forget about complexities and find simple answers to complex questions. Today, interest in the mystical is also obvious. I think this exhibition – the quintessence of experience, tools, talents, images embodied in the paintings of the famous Leningrad school – will be in demand. I am very glad that the city archives, or rather one special archive, which preserves the memory of the creativity and people of Lenfilm, made their contribution to the creation of this integral history.
Egor Krivda, chief custodian of the Central State Archives of Literature and Art of St. Petersburg:
– Our archive has been working with the Lenfilm film studio almost from the first days of its existence. We store more than 350 thousand documents, of which 20 thousand are from the Lenfilm collection. We, archivists, are always glad to see even small grains of our archives at exhibitions, to see that this is not some kind of “dust of past centuries,” but living, sought-after history.
Dmitry Mishenin, exhibition curator:
– This exhibition is dedicated to the memory of our amazing, amazing Lenfilm directors: Vitaly Melnikov, Igor Maslennikov, Evgeny Tatarsky, who are no longer with us. I grew up watching their films, and this is the little that I, an artist, can give back to the masters who raised me with their creativity. Low bow to all of them!
By the way
The curators of the exhibition project are the art group Doping Pong, Anna Mowgli and Dmitry Mishenin, pioneers of digital art in Russia. Their most famous curatorial projects: “New Romantics” at Sevkabel Port, the biopic exhibition “Viktor Tsoi. The Hero’s Journey” at the Moscow Manege, “Viktor Tsoi. The Legend” at Sevkabel Port, as well as the projects “Dinara Asanova. Stranger” ” and “On the waves of film music by Isaac Schwartz” on Lenfilm.
Source: rg.ru
