Film Series: Journey through the Russian Fantastik
- The Amphibian Man
- Ruslan and Ludmila
- Stalker
- Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka
- To the Stars by Hard Ways
- The Cameraman's Revenge
- Planet of Storms
- Interplanetary Revolution
- Zero City
***All film programs are held in the East Building Auditorium except where noted***
The Amphibian Man
September 8 at 2:30 p.m.
A gilled and handsome half-human creature inhabits a gorgeous underwater world—until the day he saves a local fisherman's daughter from a shark attack and falls hopelessly in love. This Soviet box-office success from the early 1960s is filled with surreal song-and-dance creations and spectacular settings shot mainly in lush locations off the coast of Cuba. (Gennadi Kazansky and Vladimir Chebotarev, 1962, 35mm, Russian with subtitles, 95 mins.)
Calendar of Events | Journey through the Russian Fantastik
Ruslan and Ludmila
September 9 at 4:30 p.m.
Inspired by an Alexander Pushkin poem, director Aleksandr Ptushko traces the epic adventures of young Ruslan as he struggles to recover his feisty young bride, kidnapped on their wedding night by a mischievous sorcerer. Brimming with grotesque characters and enchanting set pieces, it evokes both The Wizard of Oz and The Song of the Nibelungs. (Alexandr Ptushko, 1972, 35mm, Russian with subtitles, 159 mins.)
Calendar of Events | Journey through the Russian Fantastik
Stalker
September 15 at 2:30 p.m.
Andrei Tarkovsky's allegorical excursion through a ravaged post-apocalyptic landscape ("the Zone") is led by a Stalker (Aleksandr Kaidanovsky) who guides two others—the Writer (Anatoli Solonitsyn) and the Professor (Nikolai Grinko)—in their nearly hallucinatory quest to find an elusive wish-fulfilling place called "the Room." (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979, 35mm, Russian with subtitles, 163 mins.)
Calendar of Events | Journey through the Russian Fantastik
Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka
September 16 at 5:00 p.m.
From Nikolai Gogol's nineteenth-century collection of tales, Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka stays true to the spirit of its source and is one of the most beautiful works in the rich strain of Russian fantasy film. A village blacksmith is sent on an endless quest on Christmas Eve that finally ends in Saint Petersburg and includes a visit with the devil en route. (Aleksandr Rou, 1961, 35mm, Russian with subtitles, 69 mins.)
Calendar of Events | Journey through the Russian Fantastik
To the Stars by Hard Ways
September 23 at 4:30 p.m.
Boldly heading where no man has ever gone, starship Pushkin finds an abandoned vessel in deep space filled with decaying bodies of humanoids. There is, however, one surviving member of the crew, a gynoid named Niya (Yelena Metyolkina in an eye-popping performance) who seeks the help of earthlings to restore her severely polluted home planet. This collaboration with sci-fi writer Kir Bulychyov was restored in 2001 under the supervision of the late director's son. (Richard Viktorov, 35mm, 1985/2001, Russian with subtitles, 118 mins.)
also
The Cameraman's Revenge
Preceding the feature is The Cameraman's Revenge, a silent stop-motion animation about love in the insect kingdom. (Ladislas Starevitch, 1912, 35 mm, 12 mins.)
Calendar of Events | Journey through the Russian Fantastik
Planet of Storms
September 29 at 2:30 p.m.
Arriving on Venus in Planet of Storms, a team of cosmonauts finds a landscape filled with volcanoes and prehistoric beasts. From a run-of-the-mill source novel, director Klushanstev finds ingenious ways to inject poetry into mundane, politically acceptable dialogue. Legendary American producer Roger Corman recycled the footage later in Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet and Queen of Blood. (Pavel Klushanstev, 1961, 35mm, Russian with subtitles, 83 mins.)
also
Interplanetary Revolution
Preceding the feature is Interplanetary Revolution, a silent, animated spoof of space travel, mocking a once-popular Soviet notion of a rising proletariat on Mars. (1924, 35mm, 9 mins.)
Calendar of Events | Journey through the Russian Fantastik
Zero City
September 30 at 4:30 p.m.
A Moscow engineer arrives in a small town with instructions to make key technical changes at a local plant. Absurd and disorienting events begin to take place, and he discovers he cannot leave. "A hilarious mockery of Soviet life," wrote one reviewer, "coming on the scene just as Perestroika was making this old world obsolete." (Karen Shakhnazarov, 1988, 35mm, Russian with subtitles, 103 mins.)
Calendar of Events | Journey through the Russian Fantastik
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