Russia through the big screen, the First Russian Film Festival in Hong Kong

Dear friends,
make sure you are not missing this event!

More information on the official web-site The 1st Russian Film Festival

The Official information 

UC RUSAL, a leading global aluminium producer, and Academia Rossica are delighted to present "Russia through the big screen", the First Russian Film Festival in Hong Kong.

The Festival will feature Hong Kong premieres of the most illustrious Russian films from the past few years -- with works by established film directors as well as the new generation of Russian filmmakers. 

From poetic parables and drama, to comedy, thriller and fantasy -- the Festival programme offers a diverse set of genres, ensuring that there is something for everyone. This window into today's Russia will surprise and entertain Hong Kong audiences with its originality, diversity and the dynamism of modern and contemporary Russian cinema. 

The specially selected programme of films represents the very best in contemporary Russian cinema, featuring films and directors who have won some of the most prestigious awards in Russia and at international film festivals. 

Tickets are now on sale at www.thegrandcinema.com.hk; Please find details of the event at www.russianfilms.org

全球領導鋁生產商 UC RUSAL 與Academia Rossica攜手呈獻香港首屆俄羅斯電影節 「俄羅斯大影院」。

多齣由俄羅斯知名導演或新一代電影製作人於過去數年創作的精彩之作首次呈現銀幕。

選映作品種類多元化，由史詩式寓言、劇情片以至喜劇、驚慄及奇幻電影，滿足各式各樣的­香港觀眾。讓觀眾有機會一窺俄羅斯現況，娛樂之餘，還感受現代俄羅斯電影的原創性、多­元化和活力。 

電影節特別搜羅俄羅斯現代電影中的優秀作品，所有作品或導演皆曾獲得俄羅斯以至國際電­影節最具代表性的獎項。 

門票現於 www.thegrandcinema.com.hk 有售; 時間表及詳情請參閱 www.russianfilms.org

_________________________________________________________________________

Schedule 

June 14 19:15 Legend No. 17
June 15 17:20 Love with an Accent
June 15 19:30 Kokoko
June 16 14:30 The Best Russian Kids Animation 
June 16 17:20 "Chapiteau-Show Part 1: Love and Friendship"
June 16 19:30 "Chapiteau-Show Part 2:Respect and Cooperation"
June 17 19:30 Elena
June 18 19:30 I’ll be around
June 19 19:00 How I Ended This Summer
June 20 19:30 Rita’s Last Fairy Tale

_________________________________________________________________________

June 15 19:30 Kokoko

KOKOKO

Russia, 2012, 90 min Drama/Comedy 

Director Avdotia Smirnova

Town and country collide in this quirky and amusing tale of contrasts: Lisa and Vika seem to live in different worlds until a chance meeting brings them together and shows them how much they have in common and how much they can learn from each other.

June 16 17:20 "Chapiteau-Show Part 1: Love and Friendship"

CHAPITEAU-SHOW: PART 1. LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP

Russia, 2011, 107min Comedy 

Director Sergey Loban

Four groups of eccentric outsiders converge on a Crimean resort in this intricate multi-story narrative from Sergey Loban. A prize winner at 2011's Moscow International Film Festival, Chapiteau-Show exudes a unique and magical style that will simply leave you spellbound.

Cinema: premieres of January 2013

1. Toy Seller \ "Продавец игрушек"

Россия (2011)
Жанр: комедия, мелодрама
Актеры: Шамиль Хаматов, Агния Дитковските, Татьяна Лютаева, Пьер Ришар, Вениамин Смехов, Андрей Барило, Ольга Волкова, Тифани Давио, Евгений Шиманович, Александр Соловьев

Синопсис: 
Николя Берсен — француз с русскими корнями. Живет в Париже и работает продавцом игрушек. Ни мама, ни французская невеста — дочь Парижского кондитерского «короля» — не одобряют чудачества Николя, ведь сорбонское образование позволяет ему сделать прекрасную карьеру в бизнесе. Перед Рождеством Николя отправляется в Россию, чтобы больше узнать о своем происхождении. Кто мог предположить, что эта поездка изменит его жизнь? В России его ждут приключения, фамильные сокровища, и… настоящая любовь.

Nicolas Bercent - is French but his ancestors were Russian. He lives in Paris and works as the seller of toys. Neither the mother nor his French girl - the daughter of Parisian pastry "king" -  disapprove his eccentricities as Sorbonne education allows him to make a great career in business. Before Christmas Nicolas goes to Russia to learn more about his background. Who could have imagined that this trip would change his life? In Russia he meets adventures, family treasures, and ... true love.

2. Understudy / "Дублер"

Россия (2013)
Жанр: комедия
Актеры: Александр Ревва, Кристина Асмус, Ксения Буравская, Варвара Малкова, Людмила Артемьева, Дмитрий Хрусталев, Татьяна Орлова, Александра Кимаева
Режиссер: Евгений Абызов

Синопсис:

Главный герой нашей истории — успешный актер, звезда шоу-бизнеса Игорь Успенский. Его жизнь — сплошные съемки, концерты, презентации, корпоративы, интервью и светские тусовки. Он вынужден «крутиться» день и ночь, у него нет выходных и праздников. А его очаровательная жена и прекрасная дочка видят его в лучшем случае поздно ночью, когда он приезжает домой, чтобы поспать хотя бы пару часов. Но все труды не проходят даром. Игорь очень популярен и однажды его кандидатуру выдвигают на премию «Человек года» — теперь ему нужно еще больше времени, чтобы победить главного конкурента — певца Михаил Стасов, главные хиты которого свели с ума всех женщин России…

В подмосковном горде живет Сева, человек, чрезвычайно похожий на Игоря Успенского. Он работает массажистом в салоне красоты, живет вдвоем с собакой по имени Сергей Валерьевич, абсолютно доволен своей жизнью и не признает сходства со звездой. Однажды директор салона убеждает Севу сняться в рекламном ролике, где САМ Игорь Успенский (конечно, изображаемый Севой) делает массаж клиентам салона. Ролик оказывается в интернете — так о своем двойнике узнает Успенский. Понимая, что времени ни на что не хватает, Успенский решает не подавать в суд на салон, а предложить Севе стать своим Дублером. Тому лишь нужно посетить несколько корпоративов и светских тусовок в образе Игоря Успенского. Сева принимает предложение и… попадает в незнакомый мир шоу-бизнеса, где его ждут невероятные приключения…

Synopsis:
The protagonist of the history - a successful actor, star of show business Igor Uspensky. His life - continuous shooting, concerts, presentations, corporate events, interviews, and secular parties. He has to "cool" day and night, it does not have weekends and holidays. And his lovely wife and beautiful daughter see him, at best, late at night when he comes home to sleep at least a couple of hours. But all efforts were not in vain. Igor is very popular and one day hi is nominated for the award "Man of the Year" - now he needs more time to defeat its main rival - the singer Michael Stasov

In suburban lives a guy Seva, very similar to Igor Uspensky. He works as a massage therapist in a beauty salon, lives alone with a dog named Sergei V., is absolutely content with his life and does not recognize the similarities with the star. One salon director convinces Seva star in commercials, where  Igor Uspensky himself (of course, represented by Seva) does massage to the salon customers. Movie is on the internet. Realizing that he is lack of time for him Yspensky decides to offer the therapist to be his understudy. He had just to visit a few corporate events and social gatherings in the image of Igor Uspensky. Seva accepts the offer and ... gets into the unknown world of show business, where he faces an incredible adventure

3. Icon of the  season / "Икона сезона"

Россия (2013)
Жанр: комедия, драма
Актеры: Екатерина Климова, Евгений Цыганов, Павел Баршак, Александр Ратников, Евгения Осипова, Алексей Барабаш, Юлия Маврина, Кристина Романец, Родион Юрин, Дарья Сазонова

Синопсис:

В основе фильма — пьеса Ольги Мухиной. Действие происходит в вымышленном городе, который очень напоминает Москву. Герои фильма, среди которых продюсеры, телеведущие, диджеи, много говорят о любви, но не способны почувствовать ее. Они рассуждают о том, чего не понимают. Они обаятельны, успешны и живут в удобном и мягком мире, который качественно соответствует счету на их кредитной карте.

Они ведут активный, но пустой и праздный образ жизни. И в какой-то момент героя начинает одолевать страх, что его скоро не станет. Его уютный мир начинает рушится, обнажая окружающую реальность, которая несет расплату за ошибки прошлого и вместе с тем — новое будущее. И каким оно будет, зависит только от того, сможет ли герой разобраться в себе.

Synopsis:
The film is based on the play by Olga Mukhina. The action takes place in a fictional town that is very similar to Moscow. Characters of the film, including producers, presenters, DJs, talk a lot about love, but can not feel it. They talk about what they do not understand. They are charming, successful and live in a comfortable and gentle world that qualitatively fits the bill on their credit card.They are active, but their lives are empty and idle. Once the hero got the fear that soon he would pass away. His comfortable world begins to collapse, exposing the environmental reality that brings atonement for the mistakes of the past and at the same time - a new future. And what it will be , it depends  only on the ability of the hero to understand himself.


via www.bigpicture.ru

Famous films about the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945

THe Victory Day 9 of May is coming. THis day we always watch a lot films about the War, remember the deed of our grandmothers and grandfathers, cry and respect them. 

Here is just a small collection of Soviet films about the War 1941-1945


"Великий перелом"
"Небесный тихоход"

watch it here

"Встреча на Эльбе"
"Баллада о солдате" - Ballad of a soldier, 1959

watch it here 

"На семи ветрах" - 'On seven winds', 1962

Аты-баты, шли солдаты, 1977 

Летят журавли. - The cranes are flying, 1957 

watch it here

А зори здесь тихие - The Dawns gere are quite, 1972 

Они сражались за Родину. - 'They fought for Motherland' 1976

watch it here

"В бой идут одни "старики"" - 'Only 'old men' go to battle', 1973

"Дважды рожденный" - Born twice, 1983

"Офицеры" - 'Officers', 1971

"Женя, Женечка, Катюша"  - "Eugene, Jane and 'Katyusha'", 1967

watch it here

to be continued 

Amazing May in the Russian cinema club

I've got an idea: what if we could..." -- "We couldn't." -- "I see... Then, maybe we should..." -- "No, we shouldn't." -- "Okay... In that case, maybe I'd rather..." -- "Why not, you could try that one." (The Diamond Arm (Бриллиантовая рука))

_________________________________________________________

Dear friends!

We invite you to the ‘Amazing May’ in the Russian cinema club!

Every Tuesday in May come and watch the funniest comedies and the sincerest films, let’s make this May amazing  

All films run with English subtitles

All films start at 7pm

May, 8 – To the Victory Day: Only Old Men Are Going to Battle (В бой идут одни «старики»)

May, 15 - The Diamond Arm (Бриллиантовая рука)

May, 22 – Kidnapping, Caucasian style or A she-prisoner of the Caucasus (Кавказская пленница)

May, 29 - Ivan Vasilievich Changes Profession (Иван Васильевич  меняет профессию)

Read more about the films in the attached file or in our blog http://govorim-po-russki.blogspot.com

Admission is free, however please contact us in advance to reserve a seat (            2598 8389                  2598 8389       or 2teacher@rlc.hk).

The screening will take place at the following address: Room 701, 7/F, Arion Commercial Centre, No. 2-12 Queen's Road West, Sheung Wan.

Happy Birthday, Andrei Arsenyevich!

The 4th of April is a birthday of the Soviet film director and screenwriter Andrei Tarkovsky.
The son of a famous Russian poet Arseny Tarkovsky, he was born in the village of Ivanovo region. In 1951-1952 he studied Arabic at the Department of Middle East Department of the Moscow Institute of Oriental Studies, then, in 1952-1953, he worked at the Research Institute of Nonferrous Metals and Gold, he worked in geological parties.
International fame came to him after the film - "Ivan's Childhood". This film got many prestigious film awards, including the "Golden Lion of St. Mark" Venice Film Festival.
In the future, all the pictures Tarkovsky became notable events of cultural life in the country, affecting the spiritual development of society. The film "Andrei Rublev" (1971) with Anatoly Solonitsyn in the title role was included into the list  'the 100 best films in the history of the cinema'. 

Tarkovsky's films are characterised by metaphysical themes, extremely long takes, and memorable images of exceptional beauty. Recurring motifs are dreams, memory, childhood, running water accompanied by fire, rain indoors, reflections, levitation, and characters re-appearing in the foreground of long panning movements of the camera. He once said, “Juxtaposing a person with an environment that is boundless, collating him with a countless number of people passing by close to him and far away, relating a person to the whole world, that is the meaning of cinema.”

Tarkovsky included levitation scenes into several of his films, most notably Solaris. To him these scenes possess great power and are used for their photogenic value and magical inexplicability.^[22]

Water, clouds, and reflections were used by him for its surreal beauty and photogenic value, as well as its symbolism, such as waves or the form of brooks or running water.^[23]

Bells and candles are also frequent symbols. These are symbols of film, sight and sound, and Tarkovsky's film frequently has themes of self reflection.

Tarkovsky developed a theory of cinema that he called "sculpting in time". By this he meant that the unique characteristic of cinema as a medium was to take our experience of time and alter it. Unedited movie footage transcribes time in real time. By using long takes and few cuts in his films, he aimed to give the viewers a sense of time passing, time lost, and the relationship of one moment in time to another.

Films directed by Tarkovsky (...)

1956	The Killers	Убийцы	Soviet Union	19 min.	Student film
1959	There Will be No Leave Today	Сегодня увольнения не будет	Soviet Union	46 min.	Student film
1961	The Steamroller and the Violin	Каток и скрипка	Soviet Union	46 min.	Student film
1962	Ivan's Childhood	Иваново детство	Soviet Union	95 min.
1966	Andrei Rublev	Андрей Рублёв	Soviet Union	205 min.
1972	Solaris	Солярис	Soviet Union	165 min.
1975	Mirror	Зеркало	Soviet Union	107 min.
1979	Stalker	Сталкер	Soviet Union	164 min.
1983	Nostalghia	Nostalghia	Italy/Soviet Union	125 min.
1983	Voyage in Time	Tempo di Viaggio	Italy	63 min.	Documentary film
1986	The Sacrifice	Offret	Sweden	149 min.

List of awards won by Andrei Tarkovsky 

more information here

1969	FIPRESCI prize	Won	for Andrei Rublev [1]
1972	Grand Prix Spécial du Jury	Won	for Solaris [1]
1972	Palme d'Or	Nominated	for Solaris [1]
1980	Prize of the Ecumenical Jury	Won	for Stalker [2]
1983	Grand Prix du cinéma de creation	Won	for Nostalghia [1]
1983	FIPRESCI prize	Won	for Nostalghia [1]
1983	Prize of the Ecumenical Jury	Won	for Nostalghia [2]
1983	Palme d'Or	Nominated	for Nostalghia [1]
1986	FIPRESCI prize	Won	for The Sacrifice [1]
1986	Prize of the Ecumenical Jury	Won	for The Sacrifice [2]
1986	Grand Prix Spécial du Jury	Won	for The Sacrifice [1]
1986	Palme d'Or	Nominated	for The Sacrifice [1]

To read the works by Andrey Tarkovsky or about him - here

Trailer to the film 'Stalker' prepared to the screening at the TV channel 'Kultura'