The camera looks into the war

The future of Russian cinema, seen at the pitching of the Film Fund

“A young gifted artist Ryabinin cannot stay away from the conflict in the Donbass; He leaves his beloved girl in Moscow, a well -fed and calm life, and leaves for a civilian ( !!! - K.F. ) warfare war to capture the tragic events of Russian history and express feelings that caused only anger in his bohemian environment; The suffering of people and the heroism of the comrades completely change the consciousness of the young man - he loses its former affection, grows up and gains himself. ”

This text sounds like a self -disclosing parody, especially if you pay attention to the selection of words - “young gifted artist Ryabinin”, “bohemian environment”, etc. But this is not our new text from the section “The Military Future” and not even the sequel of the play “6.5 angry militias” . This is a real description of the project presented to the financing of the Film Foundation - the film by Ilya Kazankov “The Militia” based on the novel by Alexander Prokhanov (apparently, this refers to the novel of 2015 - “The Murder of Cities” ; it is a pity that instead of the original cool name in the spirit of “Chronicles of predatory cities” chose a new and so faceless “militia”).

Another project, no less radical - “Gang Mission”, co -products with India. The description reads:

“February 2022. A student from India Aliya and her friends undergo training in the Ukrainian city of Sumy, receiving medical professions. After the start of the special military operation of Russia, Indian students receive the order of the embassy to return to their homeland. However, Ukrainian nationalists arrange riots in Sumy and begin hunting for foreign students. Alia and her friends have to fight for life. After the government of India for help, the Russian military perform a special mission to evacuate Indian students from the city seized by the Azovites.

Perhaps, in the production process, the chronological framework of the picture is slightly shifted-otherwise some strange thing is obtained: for some reason, “Ukrainian nationalists” begin to hunt for students after the start of the “special military operation of Russia”? So I want to ask - where were they eight years old? It seems to me that it will be more patriotic to make the Indian students are in danger in mid -February - and this is precisely for the sake of their salvation and was forced to start the invasion. Why is this reason worse than “denacing”? Much more specifically and clearer - even the “humanitarian” intervention is like.

Against the backdrop of these proposals, the film by Alexei Pimanov, known for the film “Crimea”, dedicated to the war of 1812 and an attempt by “Young Muscovite Mary”, which is trying to get to the Kremlin and get Napoleon, but suddenly falls in love with the emperor’s bodyguard, looks unexpectedly adequately; Moreover, the Tarantino fantasy "Russian frosts" about the timeless military superhero of the ghost - and also in the war of 1812 appears nearby. Other projects-“Patriot” about “The Former of the Alpha group, Gennady Zaitsev”, “Sevastopol 1942” (Great Neyming, when everything is clear without words), “Litvyak” from the studio (!) “Twenty-eight Panfilovites”, “Elijah Muromets” (designated as Bayopic! I hope the authors use one of our ideas )-are also not impressive.

Unless “Lienso” is “The First Russian Film of the Vietnamese War”, where Soviet missilers in 1965 teach the Vietnamese “to protect their sky from American aircraft that bomb their homeland daily” near Hanoi; “Soviet missiles are menacingly looking at the sky, but American planes continue to bomb Vietnam daily.”

I will assume that the project was conceived before February 24 - but now, of course, when it is Russian missiles bombing Ukraine daily, the Ode Heroes of Air Defense looks at least ambiguous.

Here you need to make a brief retreat. The pitching of the Film Fund is a rather narrow and intra -industrial event, not particularly noticeable from the outside: not all films presented will be shot, and those that will be, may differ from the declared plans.

It is noteworthy that almost a year after the start of the war, the film industry began to react to the “propaganda request” - but it is clear how sluggish. The executive director of the Film Fund, for example, says this: “The share of content applications that reduces anxiety - fabulous, fantasy has increased. To maintain diversity, the fund takes into account the genre palette of what is proposed. Now, of course, I would like to see more Romkoma and melodrama. ”

The bifurcation of the personality of the state defenses responsible for the “culture” is natural: on the one hand there is an obvious idea of ​​“distracting” a certain “averaged viewer”, reduce the very “anxiety” (I want to ask: “What happened?”). But, on the other hand, there is an order - except to “distract”, it is necessary to “inspire”.

However, the whole system of state support for the cinema, no matter how scolded it, was designed precisely as support -and it is not so simple to reformat it for the conveyor of propaganda. It is significant that among the leading companies of film production (i.e., the most successful in a commercial sense), for which the Film Foundation conducts separate pitching, this season there were projects of fantasy, fairy tales and adventures. Nothing regarding the political agenda was declared (even the Tritho Studio Nikita Mikhalkov, let's pay attention, said the Bremen musicians, and not at all some full-scale “sun”).

The Minister Lyubimova herself three years ago formulated this principle as follows: “The Ministry is a production center <...> we need either money or glory - and better both of them.”

But it turned out that instead of the “Producer Center”, Goskino needed, and instead of money/glory, a report on “ideologically true” films.

The vast majority of filmmakers, of course, “understand everything”-and therefore in the fork between “pure entertainment” and “propaganda” they will choose the first, or try to somehow combine one with the other.

In fairness, there was one project that sincerely interested me. The “largest moon” by Alexei Popogrebsky: “Among the Emers live among us - superhumans with unusual abilities that can control human emotions. Emers do not feel pain, do not use modern technology and cannot truly love. ” I hope that the mention will not hurt this picture - after all, it immediately gives the impression that it is dedicated to the Russian Security Council.