RusDocFilmFest-3W: series “RUSSIAN LITERATURE, THEATER & BALLET”

He has lived his life in the shadow of his renowned sister. The film discloses Azari Plistesky’s own enormous talent as a ballet dancer, teacher, and founder of a ballet school in Cuba. Plisetsky reminisces about working with Maurice Béjart, about his sister Maya, and about the art scene in Moscow during the “Thaw” of the 1960s. Unique home videos from the Plisetsky family's personal archive form the basis of this film.
 
Era of Lyubimov. Master’s Rehearsals
Director: Elena Yakovich
Russia, 2017, 49 min
This film is about the innovative stage director Yuri Lyubimov, founder of the famous Taganka Theater. Lyubimov was the head of his theater for over 20 years, creating its aesthetic and artistic principles. This film was made in honor of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the great director, and is built entirely on unique archival footage, private home videos, footage of Taganka rehearsals, and interviews with Yuri Lyubimov himself. The director’s voice still sounds bold and daring, and his ideas have not lost their relevance in today’s Russia. Q&A session with film director.
 
Sasha Sokolov. The Last Russian Writer
Director: Ilya Belov
Script: Nikolai Kartozia, Anton Zhelnov
Russia, 2017, 60 min
 Sasha Sokolov – he is called the “Russian Salinger”. Vladimir Nabokov wrote elatedly about his novel “School for Fools”. His books were distributed through Samizdat, and published worldwide. His parents disowned him when he was a young adult and had him committed; he was banished from the USSR and his citizenship was taken away. A living legend, and a living mystery, the writer determined the direction in which Russian literature would proceed at the end of the 20th century. The film is built on conversations with the author, family home videos, and over a hundred never-before-published photographs from Sasha Sokolov’s personal archive. Perhaps this film will lay the foundation of a yet unwritten biography of the great shut-in of modern Russian literature, who lives among us, and yet remains so evasive.
 Language: Russian, English Subtitles. American premiere.
Screening at the Main Theater