WEDNESDAY, October 15, 2003
8:30 p.m., Auditorium A, Angell Hall
435 S. State St.

The End of St. Petersburg

Vsevolod Pudovkin, director; Soviet Union, 1927, B&W, silent with musical score, 87 min. (Russian with English subtitles)

A black-and-white, silent masterpiece reminiscent of Eisenstein's montage style, detailing the incidents of the October Revolution. The story explores the life of a young man and his move from Russian peasant life to union work in the city during this dynamic period. Commissioned for the tenth anniversary of the revolution, the film represents socialism's struggle against capitalist influences in the context of political upheaval and the transformation from tsarist St. Petersburg to communist Leningrad.

WEDNESDAY, October 22, 2003
8:30 p.m., Auditorium A, Angell Hall
435 S. State St.

October

Sergei Eisenstein, director, Soviet Union, 1928, B&W, silent with musical score, 103 min. (Russian with English subtitles)

A reenactment of the events leading up to the dissolution of the provisional government in St. Petersburg. The Bolshevik and Menshevik grasp for power in 1917 and the concurrent life of V.I. Lenin play out dramatically in this work that was given the additional title Ten Days That Shook the World in its American release. This is the second film in the series created to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the revolution, and showcases the talents of one of cinema's most lauded and significant directors.

Peter the First, Part I

Vladimir Petrov, director; Soviet Union, 1937, B&W, 102 minutes (Russian with English subtitles)

From the novel by Alexei Tolstoi, who also collaborated on the screenplay, this was the first of the monumental historical films produced during the Stalin era. With epic sweep and exceptional acting, Part I covers Peter's traumatic childhood, his education in Western Europe, his administrative and cultural reforms, his early military victories, and his building of Saint Petersburg, Russia's "Window to the West". The film won first prize at the Paris International Exhibition in 1937.

WEDNESDAY, November 5
8:30 p.m., Auditorium A, Angell Hall
435 S. State St.

The Burglar

Valeri Ogorodnikov, director; Soviet Union, 1987, 83 min. (Russian with English subtitles)

The story of a young punk musician played by Russian music star Konstantin Kinchev and his idolizing younger brother in the growing rock music scene of 1980's Leningrad. Two brothers use the burgeoning punk culture as a means to deal with the troubles of a deceased mother, drunken father, and oppressive society. Sonny, the younger brother, steals an expensive synthesizer to help out his older brother and is arrested. A dark commentary shot in documentary style to discuss juvenile delinquency and the changing lives of youth in Leningrad.

Yuri Mamin, director; Russia and France, 1995, 87 min. (Russian and French with English subtitles)

An ex-music teacher goes to live in a communal apartment after being fired from his job. To his surprise, he stumbles across a magical window that transports him and his neighbors to Paris. Romance, adventure, and even prospects for international trade tempt the heroes into using the portal for their own purposes, only to find out it will soon close. Made just after the fall of the Soviet Union, this film provides the audience with a comical but timely look at the changing lives of Russians in the early 1990s.

WEDNESDAY, December 3
8:30 p.m., Auditorium A, Angell Hall
435 S. State St.

Brother

Aleksei Balabanov, director; Russia, 1997, 96 min. (Russian with English subtitles)

After returning home to St. Petersburg after his national service duties in Chechnya, a young man turns to gangster life. Assisted by his brother, he becomes a hit man and wages war against the mafia underworld. Rife with action and violence, the film explores the street life and shifting of power in post-Soviet St. Petersburg.

Credit: Scene from The End of St. Petersburg
Source: Film as a Subversive Art

Credit: Scene from October
Source: International Historic Films

Credit: Peter the First poster, N. Sigalov
Source: New Russian Media, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Pittsburgh developed by Professor Vladimir Padunov

Credit: Sonny, from The Burglar
Source: Schorchsi's Theatre of Dreams: Childhood on the Screen

Credit: Window to Paris montage
Source: Bright Lights Film Journal, 29 (July 2000)
Paris in Recent French Cinema

Credit: Danila (Bodrov), from Brother
Source: Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall