Smiryo!

The festival "White Pillars" began with dismissal. For the last years, the country's main film archive is a zone of high turbulence

Recall that after the article in the “New” and the open letter of the leading filmmakers of the country, the director of the State Film Fund Nikolai Borodachev was dismissed. The new leadership was appointed-Vyacheslav Telnov and his deputy Sergei Alekseev: to rake the blockages, deal with criminal abuses, dismiss the numerous relatives of Borodachev, normalize fundamental research work, return the archivist Peter Bagrov, who was expelled from there, because of which all the fuss, letters to the government began ...

And it seems that the work that Alekseev mainly led. He moved his family from St. Petersburg to Moscow, entered all the details of archival activities. But in November 2018, Telnov was transferred to a new front-to head the Kino Foundation, instead of the former director of the ex-director Anton Malyshev, who fell into disgrace.

Sergei Alekseev became the acting director of the GFF. During this time, I managed to do a lot. The archive was cleaned of non -core "offices": car wash, bath, sawmill. They reduced the number of a bloated state, there was an opportunity to increase the salary, stopped spreading expression of researchers. We decided to cancel the meaningless expensive festival in Nice, reduced costly international representative offices.

They launched the "Illusion." Now in the cinema there are archival programs, retrospectives, premieres of Russian cinema. They continued work on the restoration of old cinema, was looking for lost or completely unknown materials. Organized the 22nd festival "White Pillars" on their own. Because for the GFF, a film -inspection is a chance of precious ore, film -skins - to reach the surface. “Show,” as Peter Bagrov says, “for which we are building a storage, we fight for the lines in law, we buy expensive technologies.”

... and at this time

Work was in full swing on the Gosfilmontov festival, which did not take place last year due to perturbations with the leadership. Bagrov and Alekseev decided to open the forum with an unprecedented premiere - the show of the legendary “fragment of the empire” by Frederick Ermler, in the reconstruction of which the GFF took part. Alekseev allowed to invite a symphony orchestra for a significant event, who played the music of Vladimir Khhnevyov, written specifically for the film (in the history of our cinema, this happened three times: original scores were also created by Shostakovich to the New Babylon and Dmitry Afrettsev to the Golden Beiva).

... In the morning, buses with the participants of the festival went from the "Illusion" to the White Pillars. “And at this time” - as they write in movie trips ...

And at that time, the bosses from the Ministry of Culture came to the archive without declaring the war and presented the new general director of the new general director.

It was the former deputy minister of culture of Russia Nikolai Malakov, who retired from the ministerial position by order of the Prime Minister.

Larisa Ottovna Solonitsyna, Director of the Cinema Museum, she will become the first deputy general director, arrived with Malakov. Apparently, the long plan of Mikhalkov -Medinsky is carried out by the merger of the museum, the State Film Fund, the Eisenstein library. Today, in general, the merger and unification of everything with everything is the Time Trend. Researchers talk about the controversy of the idea of ​​draining two problem organizations located at different parts of Moscow. Peter Bagrov refers to unsuccessful international experience, when several archives “merge” into one, hands in them reach only the most burning problems.

Without sentiment

It is no less curious how exactly the introduction of a new position was carried out. The harsh general director, according to the employees, immediately began with the cleansing of managers.

The writing of the statements “on their own” was allocated for 50 minutes, offering to clean the rooms for new employees.

In fact, the State Film Fund and the festival are not a senior link now - the acting The general director (Alekseev was ordered to urgently release the office), deputies: on economic issues (Muzychenko Pavel Ivanovich was also the director of the White Pillars festival), for the repair and construction (Baluev Anatoly Vladimirovich, and for the opening of the VIP hall in the “Illusion” “Maximum of 10 people” for custom-made sessions-by personal order of the Minister Cultures), in economics and finance (Shatalova Rosa Olegovna, worked in the fund since 2011), for public relations and special projects (Anoshina Daria Dmitrievna), and development.

At a brief meeting with the team, Malakov said that the significance and status of the State Film Fund is growing: “Judge - earlier the general director was Borodachev, who came from the cinema. Then Telnov - who led the department at the ministry.

And I was already the deputy minister. Imagine who can be next "

The festival, which lost the leadership, stabbed in an obvious confusion, although the shows began on time.

Why?

Experts have various opinions about the causes of sudden purpose. Some believe that Alekseev, a man of business, did not have enough courtesy and reverence in relations with officials. According to others, history is connected with a long-standing battle for the amendment in the 77th Federal Law. Officials offer to cancel the rules for the delivery of films for storage - the obligation to transfer the film to the archive: the most reliable and long -term method of conservation. In fact, according to amendments in the law, films will be given on any media. Producers are warmly supported by the innovation - they will not have to spend money on the printing of film scopies.

But the collection of the State Film Fund will no longer be replenished with films on the film, and whether the producers will take their cinema - a question.

In the collection of the State Film Fund there is a gaping hole-a movie of the 90s, then it was not necessary to give copies to the GFPI.

Alekseev in this battle took the side of scientists, guardians - to the displeasure of officials.

A turning point in the confrontation between the GFF and the Ministry of Culture was the summer of 2018, when the founder of the fund instead of the government was the Ministry of Culture. Then, from the State Film Fund, the opportunity to replenish the archive by foreign films was selected.

But there is a third, most convincing explanation of the causes of the crushing personnel revolution, which the GFF employees themselves call the capture by the “face to the wall” method.

On the initiative of Telnov and Alekseev, the GFF took part in the national project, thanks to which the archive collection is finally intended to digitize. For this, it is planned to build a modern storage. 3 billion 680 million will be allocated only for equipment, 540 million has already been received.

Putting “your financier” means “reasonable” to master the budget of the national project.

Malakov formulated the main tasks: “digitization, restoring order in copyright and the construction of a new funds.” He promised to maintain and increase the wealth of the state of state.

Keepers

And then there was a discovery arranged by the team of Alekseev. And I must say, such a festival spectacle in terms of emotions, in terms of semantic filling, there were not only “white poles”.

The first part of his speech, the artistic director of the festival, Petr Bagrov (he was bred by the state, makes the festival under the contract) devoted to the memory of the main custodian, the soul of the archive of Natalia Yakovleva, who was not literally on the eve of the film, which was fighting for the State Film Fund, not sparing itself. Literally until the last days in the hospice.

She put her life to explain and prove to the whole world and the employees of the fund that this is a great cultural organization, as significant as the Tretyakov Gallery.

Bagrov said that thanks to people like Natasha, her teacher Vladimir Dmitriev and the wonderful scientist Valery Bosenko, a unique atmosphere has developed in the Gff:

“You come to a small provincial town and find yourself in the center of world culture that stores the memory of civilization. But this mighty bunch, admitted by Dmitriev, was thinner. Therefore, an honest, modest man Natasha Yakovleva turned out to be the main keeper of the atmosphere, the main fighter for the archive. For films, the invaluable of which is irrefutable. ”

Peter spoke so sincerely, slowly, trusting, as if there were no strangers in the hall. As if he is addressing loved ones, understanding connoisseurs. God knows what will now be with the archive, whether the courage, personal and professional dignity to employees will protect the collection from arbitrariness.

There were no performances of singers in brocade outfits, there were no expensive fireworks. There was an event.

The reference version

The show “Fragmentation of the Empire” is a canonical picture, one of the peaks of silent cinema, a masterpiece of the discoverer Friedrich Ermler. His movie about a man losing his memory on the fronts of the First World War, his memory will return to him already in unfamiliar Soviet times. According to Bagrov, the main thing in restoration is not to improve the original, not to harm. The “Club of the Empire” - the key work in the work of Ermler - is studied in all the cinema. Its copies are stored almost in all movie archings of the world. But it turns out that for 90 years they looked not just not a complete version of disgusting quality ... A copy made specifically for the village was replicated. Because the first spectators the film seemed too sophisticated. Recently, the full version of the picture was collected from nine different options found abroad, collected as a mosaic - on mounting sheets.

On the battlefield of the First World War there are warring heroes: Russians, Germans - with horror, convinced that they have the same face. And this happens at the foot of the crucifix - a gas mask is put on the face of gigantic Christ (this frame was also absent in a “village copy”).

Then the tank crushes a cross with a crucifix. The war defeats faith. The film has many amazing personnel. One of them is an unbearable long close -up of a dog, nursing puppies ... before her execution.

This is the “face of the dog”, looking into the eyes of death, from a number of strong artistic impressions.

Even problems seemed to retreat under the influence of art. But in order to show the canonical (almost no one visible) version of Ermler's masterpiece, it took seven long years of scientific and restoration work.

The masterpiece was returned to the masterpiece, and he sounded in full voice - to the symphonic music of the avant -garde composer Vladimir Khhnevyov, who was compared with Shostakovich and Prokofiev. This synchronous consonance of cinema and music stunes and immerses us in the lost era, as if to us, the audience, returns the lost memory. The film and the orchestra were applauded standing. All. Including the high authorities.

Plans for the future - in the past?

One of the festival programs showed Sternberg’s “spent” with Marlene Dietrich as a spy recruited by the Austrian secret service. Verolomic and sincere. Falling in love with the enemy - an officer of the Russian army. The mysterious lady in the veil, furs, plays the “Danube waves”, Strauss and Beethoven, drinks Bakardi. He does not part with the cat (like Holly from “Breakfast at Tiffany”), chooses love, although he can choose life. And before the shot, slowly, he straightens a thin stocking, driving crazy soldiers with guns.

Among the presented finds; The first Ukrainian sound cartoon "Murzilka in Africa" ​​(it was bought recently); The cute children's film “About the Monkey” of 1935 discovered in the Darwin Museum; The painting “Orange Jazz” from the project “New” - “Cinema that we lost”, its copy was lost, and this year was accidentally discovered. And many other work of different years.

One of the central programs “The sixties” demonstrates relatively rare films from the times when “Truth and Faith are rafting indissoluably, ingenious, it is difficult to figure out where ...” - these lines from the Trifonovsky “old man” Kinovist Evgeny Margolit quotes in the presentation of the program. He says that the films of the thaw era, which in itself seemed like “Free!” - as long -awaited exhalation as time itself. The little -known films of Alova and Naumov, Smirnov and Yashin, Maslennikov and Averbach are penetrated by the currents of historical memory. And this memory is still alive, not yet turned into a sovereign epic of the seventies or current tenths.

Researchers who have achieved the trust of the ex-head of Alekseev had a lubricant's plans. They planned to buy films with a rare shooting of the beginning of the twentieth century (!) Baletmeister Alexander Shiryaev. These films scatter, require "urgent treatment". They planned to engage in Eisenstein's dumb films (few people know that in his “General Line” there was an avant-garde color fragment made almost manually, and a color explosion arose in black and white cinema). A copy with a color fragment was recently found in the Italian archive. In Paris, about two dozen Russian pre -revolutionary films were found, which were considered lost. We found the first film adaptation of Ostrovsky with the first role of a clan in the cinema.

Found the lost films of Evgeny Bauer and Yakov Protazanov. And one of the first Russian-Japanese ribbons with the participation of the famous Japanese actress Hanaco Ota is the stars of the European scene, the lover of Rodin. Her only shooting was made in Russia in 1912.

In general, work for years to come. Whether it will be completed is a big question. Perhaps Nikolai Malakov is only outwardly formidable, and in his soul he is happy to work. But this Czech with a change of leadership with a criminal taste is similar to a bad dream. As if they were given the command "quietly!". Not only films in the archive, but also people here are alive. They are also destroyed. They have the right to calm life and honest work, and not just an unequal struggle for dignity and survival

Today, the threat of collapse, the possible death of the archive speaks of cinema and film science historians.

Here is the opinion of Irina Ivanovna Rubanova, the largest specialist in Polish cinema:

“I would say that the prospects of the archive are very gloomy. It seems to me that the dramaturgy of the end unfolds in front of us. It seems to have been hopes recently. And again everything is sad. It is applied, if not the last, then one of the last blows. And it was done in rather rude shape. But only stupid and blind can not evaluate the significance of this institution. It is extremely necessary not only to theorists, but for the cinema itself, for which the experience and breakthroughs of past generations are easy, without which it is impossible to breathe. ”

PS

The editors sent an official request to the Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation in connection with personnel changes in the State Filmond of Russia. We are waiting for an answer.

Help "New"
Nikolai Malakov has been the post of deputy minister of the Ministry of Culture since 2012. By order of the Prime Minister of January 29, 2019, he resigned in connection with his retirement. The Department of Economics and Finance, the Department of Science and Education, oversaw the Ministry of Economics.

Nikolai Malakov was born in Arkhangelsk on April 10, 1956. He studied at the Arkhangelsk Forestry Institute named after Kuibyshev, then graduated from the Moscow Cooperative Institute. In the early 2000s, Malakov worked as deputy head of the regional administration in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

Since 1985, he headed the reign of the Arkhangelsk regional bonus-ears. In 1986 he graduated from the Moscow Cooperative Institute of the Central Union with a degree in Economics of Trade.

Since 1996, he held the positions of the First Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Administration of the Arkhangelsk Region, the First Deputy Head of the Administration-Chairman of the Government of the region Anatoly Efremov.

He graduated from the North-Western Institute for the Department of the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation. In the same year, at the State University of Management, he defended the dissertation on the topic: “Organizational and economic aspects of the management of the project for the implementation of the program of economic recovery of the region. On the example of the Arkhangelsk region. "

Since 1999 - Head of the Department of State and Municipal Administration of the Northern Arctic Federal University.

In 2002, Malakov took the post of deputy head of the Department of the Ministry of Finance of Russia.

Since September 13, 2012, Nikolai Alekseevich Malakov was deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky. Coordinated and controlled the activities of the Department of Economics and Finance and the Department of Control and personnel.

Dmitry Medvedev by order of January 29, 2019 resigned the Deputy Minister of Culture Nikolai Malakov in connection with retirement.

By order of the Ministry of Culture of Russia on February 25, 2019, Nikolai Alekseevich was appointed General Director of the State Film Fund of the Russian Federation.