MichaelB wrote:but my argument was that the critical success and international distribution of Ivan's Childhood helped ensure that the shelving and censorship of Andrei Rublev didn't go unnoticed.
I'd think rather-- just stating my hunch here-- it's the critical success and word of mouth about
Andrei Rublyov (how many ways to anglicize a russian's name? Andrei, Andre, Andrej, Rublev, Rublyow, Rublov, id est et al mutatis mutandis) that helped ensure that the shelving and censorship of
Andrei Rublev didn't go unnoticed. 2 nice little awards from Venice & SF on a film
from five to six years before (this is just going by
Ivan-to-
Andrei's completion year.. not factoring in the shelving issue, by which time
Ivan was a distant echo) probably would have meant diddly to the soviet authorities if
Rublev was not
Andrei Rublev. Also there was the issue of a distribution deal having been signed, which forced the state's hand. Another thing which held up the release was Tarkovsky himself, who refused to make certain cuts. The film shook the very earth under the feet of a good number of those who saw it-- not everyone, of course, maybe not even half-- but enough of those who mattered and knew what the hell they were talking about and were culturally authoritative about what was accomplished there. The film also did surprisingly well in Russia!
Believe it or not wikipedia has a succinct and well-footnoted & completely verified condensation of the holdup-to-release process, and what the reasons for the breakthrough to full distribution were:
A second invitation was made by the organizers of the Cannes Film Festival in 1969. Soviet officials accepted this invitation and allowed the film shown on the festival out of competition. The audience response was enthusiastic and the film won the FIPRESCI prize. Soviet officials tried to prevent the official release of the film in France and other countries, but were not successful as the distributor had legally acquired the rights in 1969.[11]
Despite Tarkovsky's refusal to make the demanded cuts, Andrei Rublev was finally released on December 24, 1971 in the 186 minutes version of 1967. Reasons for the final release include the pressure of influential admirers of Tarkvosky's work, including the film director Grigori Kozintsev, the composer Dmitri Shostakovich and Yevgeny Surkov, the editor of Iskusstvo Kino.[9] Tarkovsky and his second wife, Larissa Tarkovskaya wrote letters to influential personalities. Larissa Tarkovskaya even went with the film to Alexey Kosygin, then the Premier of the Soviet Union. As Tarkovsky successfully resisted any further cuts from the 1966 version with a length of 186 minutes, all versions of the film were cut by Tarkovsky and no one else. Although some of the cuts made from the original 205 minutes version were demanded by Goskino, Tarkovsky was in the end convinced that the latest version with a length of 186 minutes was the best and most successful.[6] When the film was released Tarkovsky complained in his diary that in the entire city not a single poster for the film could be seen, he also noticed that all theaters were sold out.[13] The film was released in 277 copies and sold 2.98 million tickets.
In the end, I see very little contribution of the Venice award to the process of the film finally being releasd
ten years after Ivan!
But in the end, in the context of this discussion, the fact remains.. if Bergman, a successful enough director keyed decently into his industry by that time (having won academy awards in the US etc) wasn't aware of
Ivan's Childhood despite it's award.. it pretty much bears out the theory that a Golden Lion doesn't mean that your name is telegraphed out for the ages (especially when it's your first film.. filmmakers come in with great first features then flame quickly out and are never heard of again.. sometimes you hafta keep plugging away and prove yourself to get someone like Bergman's attention--with his ego-- or, indeed, simply make Andrei Rublyov!).
Remember there are multiple award ceremonies across the continents throughout the annual cycle and there are many winners for many awards.. what really
can catapult a guy to super stardom is winning multiples, i e taking the prize from more than one country: that makes a guy like Bergman open his mind to you, or penetrate his own self-absorption... Or, as I said, simply
Make Andrei Rublyov!
Here's the WIKI link (EDIT: Fixed by removing parentheses... thanks to u know who u are)
wikipedia Rublyov entry
