And some want to think

On Thursday, March 22, a project with the loud name “Free Screen” was launched in Moscow. A week before the X-hour, the organizers announced the mobilization of films and directors who would like to freely, without any competition, show their works to a wide audience.

It would seem that a not such a large-scale project (well, how could it be otherwise, the project is completely non-profit and is being done by the organizers “because it’s interesting”) has become a precedent.

Firstly, in Moscow there has never been such a thing where he filmed - came - showed. Such absolute freedom, democracy and openness. And secondly, no one could have expected that viewing generally random films would gather an audience of 70 people, who almost “carried out” a small restaurant on Komsomolsky Prospekt over the course of the evening.

The interest in the homemade cinema represented by the director (this is the condition of the Free Screen) turned out to be enormous. The directors presented the films, and the audience not only watched, but after viewing they began to dig deep - there were professional analyzes, there were delights and almost fainting from what they saw, there was also cruel criticism.

Isn't it interesting? Out of nowhere, at one moment, something diverse, thinking, debating, a whole gothic club grew up. A sort of mini-swamp and micro-sugar. And this is interesting... Because the main conclusion that suggests itself here is that, in fact, everyone has long been tired of both comedies and action films, of the “official” theatrical cinema, which entertains, but makes you think, does not provide food, in the author’s sense it is practically impersonal and therefore far from us, much further than the screen itself is from the viewer’s glass of popcorn.

Home-made cinema, which, however, was of a fairly high level, this young, festival film, made by graduates of VGIK, VKSR, various film schools, turned out to be an excellent living dish that I wanted to discuss with the author, here and now, on any topic, on any, but close .

The films were different. Thoughtful youth dramas with characters suffering from loneliness and incomprehensible personal dramas ("The Muse and the Asshole", directed by Evgeniy Selivanov, "Cocoon", directed by Andrey Shurbakov), there were comedies, one of them called to space, and very successfully called - flight was filmed as if the director had a huge budget ("HIGH VOYAGE", directed by Radik Kagirov). There was a very professionally shot social film about our most intimate problems ("One Minute", directed by Elena Galyanina, "Exam", directed by Lika Alekseeva), there was a social film about sick children ("Short Summer", directed by Vadim Gets), there was also a very strange metaphorical movie, which was more likely not a movie, but a film painting (“Child”, directed by Arseny Gonchukov), which caused a variety of reactions in the audience - from attempts to be rude, to quiet delight.

The diversity of the paintings was successful; the audience was clearly not bored. And the evening itself left the impression of some real “insight”.

I left the show feeling like I had read a good book, even several. And that evening there were books and films, and people who came, watched, thought, talked.

Yes, “Free Screen” No. 2 will take place with the support of www.PublicPost.ru on March 30, as part of the socio-political short film program “Refractions”.

And now, within the framework of this evening, I want not just a free discussion, but reflections on the topic. Recently, one of the most famous producers in Russia said that the Russian viewer does not need meaning in cinema, he does not want to reflect and think, is this really so? So let's discuss it. But first, let's see what young filmmakers are thinking about and what they want to say.

The show will take place at the Viaggio TURIN restaurant on Komsomolsky Prospekt, 15.

Starts at 19.00

Free admission.

Be sure to come!