Marlen Khutsiev

[neilist]

Legendary filmmaker Marlen Khutsiev will be in Cambridge from 8-11 May and in London from 12-14 May. His visit is sponsored by the Department of Slavonic Studies at Cambridge, the Russkiy Mir Foundation, the Cambridge University Russian Society, the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at UCL and Pushkin House.

Information about his Cambridge talks and screenings may be found by clicking here.

For details of his appearance at UCL on 12 May, click here.

For details of his presentation of ‘July Rain’ at Pushkin House on 13 May click here.

Marlen Khutsiev was born in Tbilisi in 1925, made his first feature films in Odessa in the 1950s, and has lived and worked in Moscow since 1959. His early work was shaped by Soviet filmmakers’ discovery of Italian neorealism in the 1950s and the new political and aesthetic freedoms of the Thaw; his great 1960s films have more in common with the work of Antonioni and Godard. Frequently criticized by Soviet authorities, his films are few in number, but each an artistic and historical landmark. As critic Aleksei Gusev noted when the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) presented Khutsiev with its 2011 award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema’: ‘Our country’s history is lined with his films.’ Khutsiev is President of the Russian Federation’s Guild of Film Directors. Recently retired as Head of the Directing Faculty at the Russian State Institute of Cinematography, Khutsiev continues to offer master classes and lecture frequently on filmmaking. He is a lively raconteur with many stories to tell about his own films, as well as his work with filmmakers Ihor Savchenko, Mikhail Romm, Boris Barnet, Sergei Parajanov, Andrei Tarkovskii and many others.

[Lemmy Caution]

Interesting. Thanks.
Are any of his films available on an English subbed Dvd?

[otis]

There's a Ruscico DVD of the amazing I Am Twenty with English subs. I got mine from Moviemail a couple of months ago. Highly recommended!

[jsteffe]

This is exciting news indeed!

Otis is right - I Am Twenty (1965) is absolutely one of the best Soviet films of the 1960s, as is Khutsiev's July Rain (1966). The Ruscico DVD transfer of I Am Twenty looks very good.

The original version of I Am Twenty was entitled The Ilyich Gate / Zastava Ilyicha - it was over three hours long and had different footage, especially during the poetry reading at the Polytechnic University in Moscow and the conversation between the son and the spirit of his father at the end of the film. Khrushchev personally criticized the film, and Khutsiev was forced to rework it. A print of the original version was revived in (I think) 1990 and I have it on videocassette.

The original version is arguably better, but the reedited version is still fantastic. In fact, when I taught a course on postwar Soviet cinema this spring, several students said that they were blown away by it. Margarita Pilikhina's cinematography is brilliant in particular.

[otis]

A few caps from the Ruscico disc of I Am Twenty:

[mteller]

This is exciting news indeed!
Otis is right - I Am Twenty (1965) is absolutely one of the best Soviet films of the 1960s

Totally agree. The only other Khutsiev I've seen so far is Spring on Zarechnaya Street, which is less impressive but still charming. Wonderful music and cinematography.