Program for the Year of Russian Cinema

September 19th

Caucasus Views.

Russia, 1910

Camera N.L.Minervin

This is a collection of scenes from the Caucasus. Caucasus mineral waters. A train approaches the platform of the railway station in one of the resort cities. Passengers are on the platform. Carriers go downstairs. Carriages move along one of the city’s streets. A view of the city of Zheleznovodsk. Signs on the buildings. Newspaper boys in the crowd. Café visitors enjoy the view from the open terrace. Waiters walk between their tables. A view of the fountain on the square in front of the gallery of one the balneological sanatorium’s buildings. An orchestra plays on the open terrace in the park. Children pose for a photograph. Tourists ride horses, in carriages and on foot along the mountain road. A view of Lermontov’s grotto at the bottom of Mashuk Mountain in Pyatigorsk. A tourist group is shown near the monument at the location of Lermontov’s duel.

Coronation of Nicolay the Second in Moscow

Russia, 1896

Camera K.Serf

This is a film about the coronation of Emperor Nicolay the Second, in Moscow on May 9, 1896. Parade carriages move along the streets. Empress Alexandra Fedorovna is in one of the carriages.  Emperor Nicolay II and Empress Alexandra Fedorovna walk through the Kremlin territory followed by their cortege.  Next is the “Entrance of Their Highnesses in Kremlin on the occasion of Palm Sunday”, on April 2, 1900: Emperor Nicolay the Second, Empress Alexandra Fedorovna with daughter Olga, great princes and court nobility are shown stepping down from the Red porch. Emperor Nicolay the Second, Empress Alexandra Fedorovna with daughter Olga, members of the Royal family, and court nobility are shown in Chudov monastery.

Production: Lumier Brothers

Pate-magazine. Science and Nature.

Russia, 1910

There is a slow movement in the fish tank: an axolotl is moving. It is an amphibious reptile from Mexico, similar to a salamander. The development of an axolotl’s eggs is shown. The embryos inside the egg grow and the axolotl’s embryos hatch from the eggs. Adult axolotls are also shown.

Production: Pate
 

Christmas in the Trench Lines

Russia, 1914

Director Ya.Protazanov

This is a feature film about Russian soldiers celebrating Christmas on the battlefield.

Production: Russian Golden Series
 

Russian War Chronicles (Military Loan Ad)

Russia, 1916

Caucasus. A military post in the mountains. Carts with injured people are moving. The titles and content are agitation and propaganda for war bonds.

September 20th

Сinéma in Russia

USSR, 1979, b/w, 70 min

Director B.Karpov, P. Rusanov

Camera A. Kolobrodov, L.Kopysov

This is the history of cinema in Russia from shots of pre-Revolution feature films to silent and black-and-white films.

September 21st

Our Cinema

USSR, 1940, b/w, 50 min

Director F.Kiselev

Camera M.Troyanovsky, M.Oshurkov, E.Mukhin

Film vans in villages, towns, houses of culture. The production of celluloid is shown. Students are taught in VGIK. Cinematographers film under water, from a torpedo boat, on ice, in desert, etc. Film is edited at the studio. Work moments of shooting feature films and cartoons are shown. A physical culture parade at Red Square is shown.

Production: Moscow Studio of Film Chronicles

Program for Children

September 22nd

Tchukovsky’s Birthday

USSR, 1963, colour, 18 min

Director  M.Tavrog

This is a fairy-tale for children. Tchukovsky with fairy-tale characters: Dr.Aibolit, Barmaley, and Moydodyr (multiplication). The 80th birthday of Tchukovsky is celebrated in Peredelkino with poets Agnia Barto, Lev Kassil, Sergey Mikhalkov and others.

Adventures of a Baby Frog

Russia, 1997, colour, 20 min

Director I.Raev

This is a fairy-tale for children. The actors in this film are not made up characters but real animals: frogs, beavers, newts, snakes, birds, and insects. Real voices of birds and animals are combined with the music.  

Newsreel "Filming in Progress"№1

Russia, 1994, colour, 8 min

Director A.Ulyanov, A.Tsineman, A.Burimskiy, S.Raytburg

Newsreel consists of four stories. Two of them are dedicated to filming “Armadillo is Back” and “Kurochka Ryaba”. The next two are about filming “Elly and Her Friends” and “Dreamers from Ugory Village”.