Review of Belarusian Culture: Cinema (September-October '22)
REVIEW OF BELARUSIAN CULTURE: CINEMA (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER '22)
REVIEW OF BELARUSIAN CULTURE: CINEMA (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER '22)
REVIEW OF BELARUSIAN CULTURE: CINEMA (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER '22)
REVIEW OF BELARUSIAN CULTURE: CINEMA (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER '22)
REVIEW OF BELARUSIAN CULTURE: CINEMA (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER '22)
REVIEW OF BELARUSIAN CULTURE: CINEMA (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER '22)
REVIEW OF BELARUSIAN CULTURE: CINEMA (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER '22)
REVIEW OF BELARUSIAN CULTURE: CINEMA (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER '22)
REVIEW OF BELARUSIAN CULTURE: CINEMA (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER '22)
REVIEW OF BELARUSIAN CULTURE: CINEMA (SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER '22)
The most important of the arts: cinema as a bureaucratic project
The Main Trends of the Season:
The most important of the arts: cinema as a bureaucratic project
The Main Trends of the Season:
- bureaucratic activities around the cinema increased dramatically;
- attempts are being made to transform the official cinema by eliminating everything "unofficial";
- offline cinema distribution in the country is the sphere of state cinema, while online is becoming the space of non-state cinema.
Mind map
Mind map
These two months were so quiet for Belarusian cinema that the creaking of the bureaucratic process could be heard at its very bottom. It determined the essence of those two months, creating a feeling of déjà vu of 2013, when non-state cinema had just emerged and here and there made small holes in the solid state narrative with rare news about a new film created by a lone author with a minimal budget. It remains to be seen if this process will be able to drive Belarusian cinema into a long and rather hopeless trend.
The process goes on
The process goes on
Back at the end of August, the Ministry of Culture announced a student short film explication competition (note the nominations - "My Native Corner", "First Love" and "Urban Legends"), as well as a synopsis competition for a film about Alaksandr Prakapienka, a football player of "Dinamo Minsk". Such contests quietly happen from time to time just to continue a bureaucratic ritual. But this time it was moved into the category of major initiatives.
At the same time, the first meeting of the organizing committee of the "Listapad" film festival was held, headed by - you should concentrate now - Vice Prime Minister Ihar Pietryšenka. Never before had the film festival been such a big state affair or required the presence of a vice prime minister.
After that, a panel on cinema and circus was held in the Ministry of Culture, where it was insistently stated that "Belarusfilm" studio was the "leader of domestic film production". It was announced that there were 14 films at various stages of production there (which again indicates the close to zero capacity of the studio and the system), a couple of them were announced - at least a New Year's comedy "Olivier" co-produced with Russia.
Then there were a number of Days of Belarusian Cinema abroad. Abroad means in Russia. On September 14, Days of Belarusian Cinema took place in Kursk, then in Fergana, and then in Moscow. New feature films of 2022, "Detonation" and "10 Lives of Miadźviedź", were also announced there. If "10 Lives of Miadźviedź" was indeed shown in Fergana (and there is no confirmation of that), then here is an alarming precedent for you: the international premiere is significantly ahead of the national premiere (or may even replace it). Officials would like to think that it means "entering the international arena" again. But no: it is just cleaning up the national space again.
On September 23, a presidential art grants competition, including film grants, was announced. How it ended and whether it ended is still unknown.
On September 28, Prosecutor General Andrej Švied visited "Belarusfilm" in connection with the launch of the "We Are One" project about Western Belarus. Earlier, in July, Prime Minister Raman Hałoŭčanka also visited the film studio for the same reason. And there was a time when films did not require the participation of officials of this level. The filming started on October 5.
A small festival wave followed: at the beginning of October, a bureaucratic documentary film festival of the CIS countries "Eurasia.Doc" took place in Minsk and was covered by the state media quite unenthusiastically. On October 12, the slogan of the "Listapad" film festival was loudly and significantly announced - as we remember, “Истинные ценности / Сапраўдныя каштоўнасці” ("True values"). That's right: bilingual, first in Russian and with a slash. If last year "Listapad" was still quite confused, then this year it found a sure path and announced every step along it with soldierly zeal. But "Listapad" will be discussed in more detail next time. At the end of October in Mahilioŭ, modestly and without attracting anyone's attention, the animation festival "Animaytion" (“Анімаёўка” in Belarusian) took place.
Finally, there was a small wave connected with the films themselves. "Belarusfilm" announced the shooting of a documentary film about the life of Jakub Kołas during the war, then started shooting the film "We are one" and at the end of October announced the start of shooting the film "A Letter of Waiting" by Alaksandr Jafremaŭ, one of the authors of the new Constitution and the stated creative director of the film "We are one".
Admittedly, there were too many high-profile events for two months – and a lot of formats of the same administrative activity. They are united by their clear intention to create the illusion of complete control over the cinema. Let's pay tribute to the effort: we saw how much administrative effort is put into making sure that officials-in-charge of the cinema do their job.
At the same time, the first meeting of the organizing committee of the "Listapad" film festival was held, headed by - you should concentrate now - Vice Prime Minister Ihar Pietryšenka. Never before had the film festival been such a big state affair or required the presence of a vice prime minister.
After that, a panel on cinema and circus was held in the Ministry of Culture, where it was insistently stated that "Belarusfilm" studio was the "leader of domestic film production". It was announced that there were 14 films at various stages of production there (which again indicates the close to zero capacity of the studio and the system), a couple of them were announced - at least a New Year's comedy "Olivier" co-produced with Russia.
Then there were a number of Days of Belarusian Cinema abroad. Abroad means in Russia. On September 14, Days of Belarusian Cinema took place in Kursk, then in Fergana, and then in Moscow. New feature films of 2022, "Detonation" and "10 Lives of Miadźviedź", were also announced there. If "10 Lives of Miadźviedź" was indeed shown in Fergana (and there is no confirmation of that), then here is an alarming precedent for you: the international premiere is significantly ahead of the national premiere (or may even replace it). Officials would like to think that it means "entering the international arena" again. But no: it is just cleaning up the national space again.
On September 23, a presidential art grants competition, including film grants, was announced. How it ended and whether it ended is still unknown.
On September 28, Prosecutor General Andrej Švied visited "Belarusfilm" in connection with the launch of the "We Are One" project about Western Belarus. Earlier, in July, Prime Minister Raman Hałoŭčanka also visited the film studio for the same reason. And there was a time when films did not require the participation of officials of this level. The filming started on October 5.
A small festival wave followed: at the beginning of October, a bureaucratic documentary film festival of the CIS countries "Eurasia.Doc" took place in Minsk and was covered by the state media quite unenthusiastically. On October 12, the slogan of the "Listapad" film festival was loudly and significantly announced - as we remember, “Истинные ценности / Сапраўдныя каштоўнасці” ("True values"). That's right: bilingual, first in Russian and with a slash. If last year "Listapad" was still quite confused, then this year it found a sure path and announced every step along it with soldierly zeal. But "Listapad" will be discussed in more detail next time. At the end of October in Mahilioŭ, modestly and without attracting anyone's attention, the animation festival "Animaytion" (“Анімаёўка” in Belarusian) took place.
Finally, there was a small wave connected with the films themselves. "Belarusfilm" announced the shooting of a documentary film about the life of Jakub Kołas during the war, then started shooting the film "We are one" and at the end of October announced the start of shooting the film "A Letter of Waiting" by Alaksandr Jafremaŭ, one of the authors of the new Constitution and the stated creative director of the film "We are one".
Admittedly, there were too many high-profile events for two months – and a lot of formats of the same administrative activity. They are united by their clear intention to create the illusion of complete control over the cinema. Let's pay tribute to the effort: we saw how much administrative effort is put into making sure that officials-in-charge of the cinema do their job.
It split up
It split up
A new attempt to return the cinema exclusively to its ideological part, fused with the bureaucratic apparatus, is also evident here: "the party marks the way - filmmakers pave it." The actual goal is to transform the official culture, which fully serves the requests of the state and caters for members of the bureaucratic system. Well, all conditions have been created for this. The first and foremost is that the cinema, uncontrolled by the bureaucratic apparatus, has been pushed out of the country physically or has gone underground.
And now, as before, it creates these small holes in the solid state narrative about the cinema: the film "Belarus 23.34" by Taćciana Śvirepa was nominated for an award at the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, "A Date in Minsk" by Mikita Łaŭrecki won the DocLisboa festival, "Live" by Mara Tamkovič won the festival in Gdynia.
The air in the cinema has become so clear that there is even news as if from the past: a Belarusian is making a film with his own money and has released a trailer. This time it's a film about the war in Ukraine.
Such a contrast between the official and the unofficial, the centralised and the decentralised, the vertical and the horizontal held Belarusian cinema for almost a decade. And now, after a year's lull, it is clearly trying to recover. Only there is one significant factor: single authors are mostly emigrants now as well.
But the time for the wave of emigrant cinema has not come yet.
This new scattered state must be named somehow. After all, we have what we have - an impeccably empty space inside the country, where the cinema exists in four aggregate states: an opening of a film production competition, an announcement of production, a start of filming and a presentation dedicated to just another official date of little significance. The fifth state is a presentation abroad (which almost automatically means that it will not be shown in the country).
Perhaps this is exactly what the beginning of the split into domestic and foreign cinema looks like. One thing is clear: the internal product should become fully approved by the state.
And now, as before, it creates these small holes in the solid state narrative about the cinema: the film "Belarus 23.34" by Taćciana Śvirepa was nominated for an award at the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, "A Date in Minsk" by Mikita Łaŭrecki won the DocLisboa festival, "Live" by Mara Tamkovič won the festival in Gdynia.
The air in the cinema has become so clear that there is even news as if from the past: a Belarusian is making a film with his own money and has released a trailer. This time it's a film about the war in Ukraine.
Such a contrast between the official and the unofficial, the centralised and the decentralised, the vertical and the horizontal held Belarusian cinema for almost a decade. And now, after a year's lull, it is clearly trying to recover. Only there is one significant factor: single authors are mostly emigrants now as well.
But the time for the wave of emigrant cinema has not come yet.
This new scattered state must be named somehow. After all, we have what we have - an impeccably empty space inside the country, where the cinema exists in four aggregate states: an opening of a film production competition, an announcement of production, a start of filming and a presentation dedicated to just another official date of little significance. The fifth state is a presentation abroad (which almost automatically means that it will not be shown in the country).
Perhaps this is exactly what the beginning of the split into domestic and foreign cinema looks like. One thing is clear: the internal product should become fully approved by the state.
Escaping online
Escaping online
There is nowhere to escape from this closed space, except online. It seems that the main events of domestic cinema will take place there in the near future. There is already the first case: the video production festival "Hliadač", which was supposed to take place offline in Minsk and was cancelled the day before the start. And on September 23 and 24, it took place online: 37 fiction and documentary short films in two streams and a chat as a space of contact between authors and viewers with the possibility of instantly donating to your favourite authors.
Unconditioned at last by the bureaucratic system, it rejects hierarchy, centralization and other features of state power structures. And builds, like the Cinema Perpetuum Mobile festival before it, horizontal connections and an open community. Note the Belarusian Latin alphabet in the title: as can be seen in the case of "Listapad", the language issue is fundamental in the cinema this year.
Going online confirms that there is now a significant difference between a physical presence and an online presence. The online cinema space is still officially labelled if not as marginal, but as insignificant and, perhaps, amateurish. In any case, it is still "external", "outside the borders" and uncontrolled - in this it has more luck than the media space. In a certain segment of the cinema, it can also mean freedom.
"Hliadač" defined online as a space of expression and self-identification outside the boundaries of the ubiquitous bureaucratic system. At the present time, this is a phenomenon and an act of bravery.
Unconditioned at last by the bureaucratic system, it rejects hierarchy, centralization and other features of state power structures. And builds, like the Cinema Perpetuum Mobile festival before it, horizontal connections and an open community. Note the Belarusian Latin alphabet in the title: as can be seen in the case of "Listapad", the language issue is fundamental in the cinema this year.
Going online confirms that there is now a significant difference between a physical presence and an online presence. The online cinema space is still officially labelled if not as marginal, but as insignificant and, perhaps, amateurish. In any case, it is still "external", "outside the borders" and uncontrolled - in this it has more luck than the media space. In a certain segment of the cinema, it can also mean freedom.
"Hliadač" defined online as a space of expression and self-identification outside the boundaries of the ubiquitous bureaucratic system. At the present time, this is a phenomenon and an act of bravery.
Searching for a safe way of expression
Searching for a safe way of expression
Bureaucracy would, of course, be happy to exist silently and fruitlessly. But in the cinema, the lack of expression is also an expression. All the actions of the official cinema prove that it is busy searching for the safest possible way of expression, preferably synonymous with silence.
The only new feature film officially released in the country this autumn and in the last two years is the mentioned "Detonation" by Ivan Paŭłaŭ, which gives certain ideas about currently allowed screen discourse.
It is not difficult to notice that it is safe precisely because it coincides with the Year of Historical Memory. In Minsk, "Detonation" was shown together with the ATN stories (in cooperation with the KGB) "Without a statute of limitations" - about the "genocide of the Belarusian people during the war". In Žlobin, for example, it was instrumental on the Day of National Unity together with "A triangle letter from the front" master classes, "Historical memory and truth" banners, soldier's porridge and other attributes of the state cosplay of the victory - despite the fact that the film is about an undeniably peaceful life and post-war mine clearing in Belarus.
Notably, in “Detonation” an image of a shapeshifter character (a positive hero who turns out to be a negative one) is reborn after long oblivion: an Osoaviakhim teacher, who turned out to be a member of a gang and took part in a shooting of civilians. Since the 1930s, the motif of a shapeshifter has saved Belarusian cinema while it was avoiding direct expressions. And paranoia apparently still looks like the most economical way of understanding reality.
This avoidance is made even more poignant by the fact that the film - then called "Flame under the ashes" - was originally planned to be not at all about post-war mine clearing, but about the fire in the NKGB club in 1946. During the production, the series about the fire turned into a series about current and post-war deminers’ cooperation with - get ready - the Mine Action Centre of the Ministry of Defense, and from it into a full-length film exclusively about the post-war period.
It looks like a good story about chasing a safe way of expression. A crucial point in it is the cooperation with the Ministry of Defense. Now films again have to be justified by the need of important state agencies. And in the near future, one should not expect anything, except for the amplified - not sly, like in the herbivorous 2010s - but downright ceremonial servility.
In such circumstances, we will once again look to amateur cinema for a long time. If only because of the fact that at the "Hliadač" festival it managed to resonate with the emotional reality, which we now struggle to understand and which official cinema is stubbornly squeezing into the marginal space, all the while remaining within its characteristic themes of loneliness, splitting (and bifurcation) and disintegration and in the captivity of dim plots and images.
The only new feature film officially released in the country this autumn and in the last two years is the mentioned "Detonation" by Ivan Paŭłaŭ, which gives certain ideas about currently allowed screen discourse.
It is not difficult to notice that it is safe precisely because it coincides with the Year of Historical Memory. In Minsk, "Detonation" was shown together with the ATN stories (in cooperation with the KGB) "Without a statute of limitations" - about the "genocide of the Belarusian people during the war". In Žlobin, for example, it was instrumental on the Day of National Unity together with "A triangle letter from the front" master classes, "Historical memory and truth" banners, soldier's porridge and other attributes of the state cosplay of the victory - despite the fact that the film is about an undeniably peaceful life and post-war mine clearing in Belarus.
Notably, in “Detonation” an image of a shapeshifter character (a positive hero who turns out to be a negative one) is reborn after long oblivion: an Osoaviakhim teacher, who turned out to be a member of a gang and took part in a shooting of civilians. Since the 1930s, the motif of a shapeshifter has saved Belarusian cinema while it was avoiding direct expressions. And paranoia apparently still looks like the most economical way of understanding reality.
This avoidance is made even more poignant by the fact that the film - then called "Flame under the ashes" - was originally planned to be not at all about post-war mine clearing, but about the fire in the NKGB club in 1946. During the production, the series about the fire turned into a series about current and post-war deminers’ cooperation with - get ready - the Mine Action Centre of the Ministry of Defense, and from it into a full-length film exclusively about the post-war period.
It looks like a good story about chasing a safe way of expression. A crucial point in it is the cooperation with the Ministry of Defense. Now films again have to be justified by the need of important state agencies. And in the near future, one should not expect anything, except for the amplified - not sly, like in the herbivorous 2010s - but downright ceremonial servility.
In such circumstances, we will once again look to amateur cinema for a long time. If only because of the fact that at the "Hliadač" festival it managed to resonate with the emotional reality, which we now struggle to understand and which official cinema is stubbornly squeezing into the marginal space, all the while remaining within its characteristic themes of loneliness, splitting (and bifurcation) and disintegration and in the captivity of dim plots and images.
Conclusions and predictions
Conclusions and predictions
With the cleared internal offline cinema space, there is only the online format to rely on. It can be expected to reduce the division between domestic and emigrant cinema. And the community will be able to retain at least the understanding of the Belarusian cinema space, which was established at the time by the "Listapad" national contest: Belarus as a point of contact of identities regardless of place of residence and production.
The only positive news is the opening of the renovated “Belarus” cinema in Stoŭbcy with a very modern public space. It looks like a challenge to the bureaucratized culture, which perceives the grassroots movement as a danger. So if a cinema can't be a cinema, let it be a modern venue for spontaneous local networking for new generations. This is at least something future-related.
The only positive news is the opening of the renovated “Belarus” cinema in Stoŭbcy with a very modern public space. It looks like a challenge to the bureaucratized culture, which perceives the grassroots movement as a danger. So if a cinema can't be a cinema, let it be a modern venue for spontaneous local networking for new generations. This is at least something future-related.