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Interview with Nicholas Maksymow, The Artistic Director of Russian Resurrection Film Festival Australia
by Max Davine, Australian writer and author
Film festivals have long been an integral part of Australian film culture, from the Melbourne International Film Festival to the Melbourne Underground Film Festival, there is something for any audience in full swing almost year-round. Casting the cultural web across broader lines are specifically focused festivals celebrating one unique culture at a time, from Spain to Italy, Israel to Germany, nary a cultural heart is declined while Australia plays host to diverse celebrations of ethnic motion pictures.
Film, after all, is art, and art tells stories through the truthful eyes of the artist who is invariably influenced by his or her cultural background, continental or religious upbringing. In turn, nothing is healthier for any race or group of people than expanding their cultural knowledge and experiencing the life through storytelling as portrayed by those of these demographics.
Nothing displays a mindset so fully as film, with literature a close second, and whether the viewer is well-traveled or not, nothing quite opens the eyes and hearts of one nation’s people to those of another, and their mindset of whichever time period is explored, like the art of motion picture.
When celebrating the art form itself, one cannot help but be drawn to the cultural pioneers or cinema; the medium as we know it was invented in France, and the French auteurism can be celebrated to this day their contemporary cinema. The USA turned film into a form of mass-market entertainment, and in doing so has refined the art form infinitely through a desire to move and influence the entire planet.
Russia, however, stands alone in one unique aspect. Here, the profession of storytelling through scripted performance hits a peak of grandeur which is unparalleled in the rest of the world. The roots of this is religious like reverence to which the Russian people accord their theatre, and though it came about under unfortunate circumstances, this great and powerful respect for the medium and its history can be experienced across Eastern Europe.
Theatre inadvertently influences early film, and while there is an unfortunate underlying of propaganda evident in early Russian cinema, it is impossible to ignore the influence and technical innovation of the works of Sergei Eiesenstein, images and techniques featured in Battleship Potemkin can be seen in contemporary cinema the world over. However, it was with the inevitable collapse of the Soviet Union that Russian cinema hit its stride, echoing the beauty and awe inspiring scope of pre-communism Russian theatre, while incorporating that same drive toward breaking technical boundaries. “Russian Ark” is a spectacle which cannot be ignored here.
Thus it is with great excitement Bohemian Rhapsody Club welcomes the Russian Resurrection Film Festival to our shores, and I was fortunate enough to have a few minutes with festival director Nicholas Maksymow.
TICKETS FOR RUSSIAN RESURRECTION FILM FESTIVAL 2014 AT ACMI
by Max Davine, Australian writer and author
Film festivals have long been an integral part of Australian film culture, from the Melbourne International Film Festival to the Melbourne Underground Film Festival, there is something for any audience in full swing almost year-round. Casting the cultural web across broader lines are specifically focused festivals celebrating one unique culture at a time, from Spain to Italy, Israel to Germany, nary a cultural heart is declined while Australia plays host to diverse celebrations of ethnic motion pictures.
Film, after all, is art, and art tells stories through the truthful eyes of the artist who is invariably influenced by his or her cultural background, continental or religious upbringing. In turn, nothing is healthier for any race or group of people than expanding their cultural knowledge and experiencing the life through storytelling as portrayed by those of these demographics.
Nothing displays a mindset so fully as film, with literature a close second, and whether the viewer is well-traveled or not, nothing quite opens the eyes and hearts of one nation’s people to those of another, and their mindset of whichever time period is explored, like the art of motion picture.
When celebrating the art form itself, one cannot help but be drawn to the cultural pioneers or cinema; the medium as we know it was invented in France, and the French auteurism can be celebrated to this day their contemporary cinema. The USA turned film into a form of mass-market entertainment, and in doing so has refined the art form infinitely through a desire to move and influence the entire planet.
Russia, however, stands alone in one unique aspect. Here, the profession of storytelling through scripted performance hits a peak of grandeur which is unparalleled in the rest of the world. The roots of this is religious like reverence to which the Russian people accord their theatre, and though it came about under unfortunate circumstances, this great and powerful respect for the medium and its history can be experienced across Eastern Europe.
Theatre inadvertently influences early film, and while there is an unfortunate underlying of propaganda evident in early Russian cinema, it is impossible to ignore the influence and technical innovation of the works of Sergei Eiesenstein, images and techniques featured in Battleship Potemkin can be seen in contemporary cinema the world over. However, it was with the inevitable collapse of the Soviet Union that Russian cinema hit its stride, echoing the beauty and awe inspiring scope of pre-communism Russian theatre, while incorporating that same drive toward breaking technical boundaries. “Russian Ark” is a spectacle which cannot be ignored here.
Thus it is with great excitement Bohemian Rhapsody Club welcomes the Russian Resurrection Film Festival to our shores, and I was fortunate enough to have a few minutes with festival director Nicholas Maksymow.
TICKETS FOR RUSSIAN RESURRECTION FILM FESTIVAL 2014 AT ACMI
Max Davine (MD) interviews Nicholas Maksymow (NM)
MD: Hi Nicholas, welcome to Melbourne, how are you enjoying Melbourne?
NM: Yeah, good thanks very much, it’s always good to launch a film festival in Melbourne or Sydney, and travel around to the cultural capitals of Australia.
MD: So, your English is fantastic, were you born in Russia?
MD: So, your English is fantastic, were you born in Russia?
NM: No I was actually born in Australia.
MD: Did you spend much time over there?
MD: Did you spend much time over there?
NM: I did spend some time in Russia, with the festivals and such. Working.
MD: What films can we expect at the Russian Resurrection Film Festival 2015?
MD: What films can we expect at the Russian Resurrection Film Festival 2015?
NM: We’ve got 18 new films this year, it’s the biggest program in the festival’s history. Mostly war films, because this year is the seventieth anniversary of WWII, but we also have a great variety of action films, art house, adventure films like “Territory”.
MD: Okay, great, thank you so much for your time today.
NM: No worries, thanks.
MD: Okay, great, thank you so much for your time today.
NM: No worries, thanks.
interview by Max Davine
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