2nd Russian Film Festival 18th Sept - 29th Sept (London)

[celestialteapot]

If anyone is going to be in or near London from the 18th - 29th Sept, it's worth checking out the Russian Film Festival on at the Apollo West End. Last year they showed some fantastic films, including a film which might be my all time favourite called 'Mermaid' - this year they're showing some excellent sounding films including '21', 'Simple Things' and 'Terra Nova'. I highly recommend paying a visit if you can.

[Meds]

Wont be able to get to london until December or even January. Bugger.

[celestialteapot]

Wont be able to get to london until December or even January. Bugger.

Aw :( well, there's bound to be a third festival (providing the political situation doesn't change all that) so you can always visit next year! With a bit of luck I imagine that some of the films will go on to have limited releases at some nationwide cinemas.

[Chief]

Russian cinema is simply awesome.

I went to a movie festival here in the city and it was so crowded I had to sit in the stairs to watch a couple of movies.

I like Russian movies because of the way they see the world. Pretty different from us. Time seems to be slower too.

Great artsy stuff.

[celestialteapot]

Russian cinema is simply awesome.

I went to a movie festival here in the city and it was so crowded I had to sit in the stairs to watch a couple of movies.

I like Russian movies because of the way they see the world. Pretty different from us. Time seems to be slower too.

Great artsy stuff.

I think some of the most innovative cinema is coming out of Eastern Europe and Spain at the moment. There's a certain sense of 'realism' in the Russian films that I've seen in the past year or so, including their fantasy films. The opening to 'Mermaid' featured a large woman swimming naked in the sea before meeting a sailor and having sex with him (hence the name of the film) - it was all so real, and to be honest I can't imagine a Hollywood film having a large woman swimming naked in the beginning if it wasn't going to be played for laughs or going to be a film about body size image (sweeping generalisation, I'm sure there are English language films that have done this).

[Chief]

Russian sense of aesthetics is so different.

They find beauty in large people and I love that.

And about realism, that's part of their culture. Soviet art was all about realism and objectivity and even if the USSR is long gone, art still carries touches of that heritage.

In school I studied art from all over the world, but I admit Russian art has something I simply feel attracted to.

[celestialteapot]

Russian sense of aesthetics is so different.

They find beauty in large people and I love that.

And about realism, that's part of their culture. Soviet art was all about realism and objectivity and even if the USSR is long gone, art still carries touches of that heritage.

In school I studied art from all over the world, but I admit Russian art has something I simply feel attracted to.

I know what you mean, I'm very much in love with their style of animation (particularly the very good Sherlock Holmes one they did). I don't know a huge amount about art, but I did an essay at school about propaganda - the Russian propaganda posters were very innovative and works of art in themselves.

There's a Russian film on limited release at the moment which is about a grandmother visiting her grandson on a Russian army base in Chechnya, seeing life in the army from her POV. Sounds like a very unique and interesting way to look at conflict, unfortunately I can't for the life of me remember what it's called, but I know it's on a limited release at the moment.

[davekill]

Russian sense of aesthetics is so different.

They find beauty in large people and I love that.

And about realism, that's part of their culture. Soviet art was all about realism and objectivity and even if the USSR is long gone, art still carries touches of that heritage.

In school I studied art from all over the world, but I admit Russian art has something I simply feel attracted to.

I know what you mean, I'm very much in love with their style of animation (particularly the very good Sherlock Holmes one they did). I don't know a huge amount about art, but I did an essay at school about propaganda - the Russian propaganda posters were very innovative and works of art in themselves.

There's a Russian film on limited release at the moment which is about a grandmother visiting her grandson on a Russian army base in Chechnya, seeing life in the army from her POV. Sounds like a very unique and interesting way to look at conflict, unfortunately I can't for the life of me remember what it's called, but I know it's on a limited release at the moment.

I've always found Russian art to be very bold and a little too severe when dealing with NATO and politics. In contrast the theatre and concert posters are light hearted - almost playful. Wonderful to see the brighter side of Russian culture :)

[celestialteapot]

There's a very interesting blog called 'A Soviet Poster A Day', the artwork is always very catching and intriguing to look at. I do like those concert/film posters though, very stunning.

We seem to have drifted very far from the topic of Russian films though, so to bring it back...

'Night Watch' and 'Day Watch' I felt were both visually stunning films and very interesting to watch, if a little confusing at times - a great example of modern Russian film that can appeal to a wider audience. I'm disappointed that they seem to be filming the third on in English though :(

[Meds]

Ah Teapot, you'll find most topics drift off into many tangents here ha ha. There is a great cinema in Birmingham that does Russian (and othere euro films) every now and again so i'm going to find out when they next have one on.

[celestialteapot]

Ah Teapot, you'll find most topics drift off into many tangents here ha ha. There is a great cinema in Birmingham that does Russian (and othere euro films) every now and again so i'm going to find out when they next have one on.

Fair enough :D

If it's on I really, really recommend 'Mermaid'