Journal of Film Preservation - FIAF

years? Currently, Iskusstvo kino (“Film art”) magazine is publishing this
material in a special issue.
Assuming that modern Russian cinema could greatly benefit from
experiencing film history, which Gosfilmofond can offer in a popular
festival form, we made it a matter of our special attention to introduce
such a subject for “Belye Stolby - 2000”, that could attract as many
modern film makers (of all generations) as possible.
It goes without saying that Gosfilmofond of Russia could not abstain
from the general Russian celebration of Alexander Pushkin’s bicentennial.
Moreover, the great Russian poet was one of the first “script
writers” for early Russian cinema. Anyone at least casually acquainted
with Russian pre-revolution films would immediately notice the limited
number of authors and subjects for early film plots. Russian classics were
the easiest and the richest source for film librettos. Pushkin’s tales,
poems and stories had by that time been so naturally implanted in the
public consciousness, that every new filmmaker could freely treat them
as folk tales.
Nonetheless, even in this respect the “Belye Stolby - 99” organisers
managed to demonstrate some originality. Paying tribute to Russian
screen classics, we, however, concentrated on Pushkin “seen from
abroad”. The festival audience had the unique opportunity to compare
three versions of “Skazka o rybake i rybke” (“Tale of the Fisherman and
the Fish”) : the Russian, Czech and Polish ones. The basic idea was to
refute the widespread notion, that Alexander Pushkin was only a Russian
cultural reality. The festival tribute to the great Russian poet initiated a
large Gosfilmofond project, which would comprise TV series
(negotiations are under way with the Kultura TV channel), film shows
across Russia and publication of a Pushkin film dictionary.
One of the special guests of “Belye Stolby - 99” was Kazuo Yamada from
the Japanese International Film Library, who introduced early films by
Akira Kurosava, which in 1999 were publicly screened in Russia for the
first time. Being in such close proximity to film treasures and quite
depressed by the low cultural level of modern Russian TV films, some of
the Gosfilmofond researchers could not resist the temptation and tried to
produce short compilation films themselves. Gosfilmofond management
gladly welcomed this initiative, since we see the promotion of our vast
collection as an activitiy of primary importance.
“Belye Stolby - 99” introduced three short compilations by Natalia
Yakovleva and Ivan Tverdovskii devoted to Palestine, the “Titanic”
catastrophe and the Paris deluge of 1910. All films were made of unique
archival materials, edited and accompanied by music. The festival also
showed other documentaries, which used Gosfilmofond film materials.
We certainly understand that the “Belye Stolby” festival of archival films
will never be as sparkling and pompous as the Moscow International
Film Festival, or KINOTAVR, which is held in Sochi, on the Black Sea
coast, with its beaches and hot sun and a lot to do outside festival
facilities. But this year’s financial support by such solid companies as
95 Journal of Film Preservation / 58/59 / 1999
Festival de cine en Belye Stolby
Desde 1997, y a pedido de críticos, cineastas
e investigadores, el Gosfilmofond de Rusia
organiza un Festival de películas de archivos
en Belye Stolby.
A 50 kilómetros de Moscú, en pleno invierno
ruso, pero a proximidad de los archivos del
Gosfilmofond, fuente inagotable de obras
maestras del séptimo arte y documentos
históricos, los participantes pasan largas
noches viendo películas y discutiendo.
Belye Stolby 1999 dedicó un ciclo a la
Nouvelle Vague y a su influencia sobre el
cine soviético. Otra sección importante fue,
en particular, la celebración del 200°
aniversario de Pushkin, con especial énfasis
sobre las adaptaciones extranjeras de su
obra.
Convencidos de la importancia que reviste el
conocimiento de la historia del cine para la
creación contemporánea, los responsables
del Gosfilmofond desean suscitar un mayor
interés por este festival y esperan atraer un
mayor número de participantes para Belye
Stolby 2000.