Figner: The End of a Silent Century
(Figner)
98 minutes, 2006
Wed. Oct 11, 7:00PM, Rafael
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Fri. Oct 13, 7:00PM, Rafael
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FOCUS: THE NETHERLANDS • In Russian with English subtitles • Through her very real subject Edgar Figner, director Nathalie Alonso Casale offers us an intimate sense of the 21st-century Russian zeitgeist. A true alchemist, Mr. Figner has spent his life in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) as a sound-effects artist at Lenfilm Studios, where from the silent era to the present he has used commonplace objects (cabbages, old shoes) to create complex sound effects for films. Under the pressures of contemporary Russian life, Figner begins to retreat into a past comprising his own personal history and the history of Russian cinema. As reality and memory blend with stunning scenes from Soviet films, Figner's art becomes a soundtrack for the muffled culture created by the repression of the Soviet era. This delicate mix of documentary, reality and cinematic imagination creates a deeply sensitive account of the silences at the heart of the Russian social, political and cinematic experience. — I. Tovbis
Director: Nathalie Alonso Casale
Producer: Nathalie Alonso Casale, San Fu Maltha
Screenwriter: José-Luis Alonso Hernandez
Cinematographer: Vladas Naudzius
Editor: Irina Gorokhovskaja, Chris Lawrence
Cast: Edgar Figner, Jevgeni Mercuriev, Tatiana Tkatsch, Angelica Nevolina, Daria Konstantinova, Alexander Yudin
Print Source: Holland Film
Jan Luykenstraat 2
Amsterdam, 1071 CM
Netherlands
Tel: +31 0 570 7572
PRECEDED BY:
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Director Vanessa Woods
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Sponsor:
Eastman Kodak Company
