Russian Ark
UW Cinematheque 821 University Ave., UW Vilas Hall, Room 4070, Madison, Wisconsin
press release:
Russia | 2002 | DCP | 96 min. | Russian with English subtitles
Director: Aleksandr Sokurov; Cast: Sergey Dreyden, Mariya Kuznetsova, Leonid Mozgovoy
Sokurov’s internationally celebrated tour-de-force employs an immersive point-of-view camera that takes us into the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Sokurov allows the viewer to magically travel through time and witness Catherine the Great, Czar Nicholas, and the Great Royal Ball of 1913. In a dazzling achievement, the camera travels across the Museum in a single, uninterrupted shot covering 4,265 feet of galleries, 867 actors, hundred of extras and three live orchestras. Shrewdly avoiding the October Revolution of 1917, Russian Ark provides an elegy to the past (and future) of Russian
All Cinematheque screenings are free and open to the public.