New directions at Open Cinema

The annual short and animation film festival this year features a record number of Russian productions.

By Luisa Schulz

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: July 25, 2012 (Issue # 1719)

ushev.com ‘Nightingales in December.’

The 8th Open Cinema International Short and Animation Film festival that kicks off in St. Petersburg this weekend is open in more than one way: It is in part an open-air festival, and focuses on being open to new cinematic directions.

Its spotlight is on animated films and experimentation. In addition to countries traditionally prominent in the cinematic world such as France, the U.K. and Germany, there are also more exotic representatives on the competition shortlist, including Cuba, Albania, Slovakia, Sri Lanka and Kosovo.

The latter are not the only countries where cinema is currently a struggling art, however. Another such country is Russia itself. Funding for young directors is almost non-existent in Russia today, especially in minority subgenres such as short film, documentary and experimental film. In light of this fact, it is a pleasant surprise that this year’s Open Cinema festival is “stating a Russian vogue,” according to the festival’s website, with a record 23 out of 84 shortlisted films being Russian.

The festival opens next weekend on the beach of the Peter and Paul Fortress and commences with two all-night open-air short film marathons on July 27 and 28, starting at 8 p.m. and going until the first bridges reopen to traffic. Under the name “Around the World in a Night,” the July 27 session will feature a series of visually impressive productions from all over the world, some of which — but not all — are also finalists of the festival’s competition. The evening will include the Russian big screen premiere of Taisia Igumentseva’s “The Road To...,” which won the debut prize at the Cannes International Film Festival earlier this year.

FOR SPT Natalya Mirzoyan’s ‘Chinti.’

The second night has a more specific title: “The Echo of Metropolis.” According to the festival organizers, Fritz Lang’s monumental technocracy dystopia “Metropolis,” released exactly 85 years ago, is particularly evocative for young directors today. While it is not very surprising that many films on the program deal with topics such as the modern world, technology and the two-tiered societies that Lang’s tour de force paradigmatically dealt with, there are also films that refer explicitly to Metropolis.

Max Hattler’s “1925 aka Hell,” for instance, is a remake of the Moloch Machine — a contraption in Lang’s film whose inexhaustible appetite absorbs all of the energy of those who work on it — while David O’Reilly’s cynical “The External World” perpetually quotes the classic. By using computer animation, these films have not only drawn on Lang’s stop motion technique, but developed it further — and with it the dystopia.

Most of the 52 short films shortlisted for this year’s grand prix — a symbolical hourglass — are still live acting films, however. These will be screened at the city’s Rodina movie theater from July 30 through Aug. 1.

The films cover themes as diverse as the problems encountered by the Kurds in Turkey (Rezan Yesilbas’ “Silent”), German soldiers repatriated after serving in Afghanistan (Christoph Schuler’s “Fallen”), a man returning to Kosovo from a Serbian prison after the war (Blerta Zeqiri’s “The Return”) and a Cuban transvestite seeking his mother’s attention (Simon Paetau’s “Mila Caos”). The most internationally acclaimed pieces include Douglas Hart’s “Long Distance Information,” Slony Sow’s “Winter Frog” with Gérard Dépardieu and Mikhail Mestetsky’s Russian Internet hit “Legs — Atavism” about grotesque medical experiments.

FOR SPT Gerard Depardieu stars in the short film ‘Winter Frog’ by Slony Sow.

Two screenings are entirely devoted to animated films. Many of these seem to revolve around themes of nature and art, real and fictional worlds and the tangible and the intangible. Some of them rely on drawing, while most are primarily computer-animated with the use of unorthodox techniques. One is Theodore Ushev’s “Nightingales in December,” which uses classical painting, and is remarkable for its frenetic and chaotic cuts and montage. Another original example is “Chinti” by Petersburg director Natalya Mirzoyan, who used various kinds of tea leaves to build minuscule figurines of ants.

A former addict settling down in a Slovakian village, language problems between a bilingual couple and cocaine are examples of themes on the documentary shortlist. Locals may be interested in a documentary by Sergei Lando titled “Petersburg Dolls” on puppet theater in St. Petersburg.

Among the most curious films in the competition are those tagged “experimental.” Directors shortlisted in this section include German experimental director Max Hattler with his mandalic war film “Spin,” French visual artist Francois Vogel with a hypnotic train journey titled “This Thirst,” and Singapurian celebrity Royston Tan with his exploration of memory in “Fish Love.” A favorite in the section is certainly Will Anderson’s 2011 “The Making of Long Bird,” in which the director describes how he fabricates his film’s hero, a black cartoon bird, which keeps ranting and laughing at him throughout the creation process.

For films so extravagant that they do not fit under any of these categories, there is yet another, alternative competition with wide-ranging sections such as “Great Expectations” and “The Other Lands.” Particularly intriguing is the alternative section “No Anesthesia,” which is intended for politically incorrect films.

The 8th Open Cinema International Short and Animation Film Festival runs from July 27 through Aug. 3 on the beach of the Peter and Paul Fortress and at the Rodina movie theater at 12 Karavannaya Ulitsa, M. Gostiny Dvor. Tel. 571 6131. For a complete timetable of events visit the festival’s website at www.opencinemafest.com.