excerpts“Every artistic work lives its life and, in an absolute sense, doesn’t even need a spectator. It’s already been made, it already exists. A member of the audience at The Russian Ark has to do a lot of work to understand it. On the other hand, someone going to the film without any preconceptions, with an open heart, gets everything.”
Alexander Sokurov’s interview to Edward Guthman for the San Francisco Chronicle 02.02. 2003
http://www.russianark.spb.ru/eng/interview_full.php?int_id=13
(última consulta em 2008-01-08)
“I’d like human society to preserve simple concepts of what is of genuine value and what isn’t of value. I’d like people to stop reassessing what they regard as being valuable, and I’d like human society to adopt as being axiomatic the idea that art is the greatest thing that man has managed to create and that the aim of any state should be the preservation and development of art. Politics and economics change, they’re volatile, but the only thing that unites us is art. It’s the only public space where we remain people. Everything else divides us – politics, territory, gravity.
Only fundamental art, which has undergone the test of time - popular forms of art - create what is shared by humanity. You can’t reevaluate these categories, because that’s misguided. It’s the only anchor, the only support for the lives of people on this planet.”
Alexander Sokurov’s interview by John Hartl, chief film Writer for the Seattle Post Intelligencer 02.02. 2003
http://www.russianark.spb.ru/eng/interview_full.php?int_id=14
(última consulta 2008-01-08)
“I see Time in its entirety - the present continuous tense. I have to be inside it, I have to be as integral as this artistic space, as this multiplex yet indivisible architectural ensemble. No close–ups - just one single panorama.”
Interview by Alexandra Tuchinskaya. English translation by Anna Shoulgat, © 2002.
http://sokurov.spb.ru/isle_en/isle_ftr.html
(última consulta 2008-01-08)
“I am not able to make revolutions (the more so, as this is not in my nature). I definitely prefer evolution. Besides, how can we talk about innovations in the context of art? What is new, for instance, in the paintings of Kandinsky or Malevich in comparison to the art of Ancient Egypt, or in the works of impressionists, Cezanne compared to Rembrandt? (…)
To my mind, all the definitions of an innovation are nothing but corporate conventionality of art critics. Art is created - actually it was created long ago.”
Interview by Alexandra Tuchinskaya. English translation by Anna Shoulgat, © 2002
http://sokurov.spb.ru/isle_en/isle_ftr.html
(última consulta 2008-01-08)
cinema, editing and consciousness
“As I said, there have been films with very long takes. Tarkovsky, in his lectures, gave the example of several hour-long shot of a sleeping man, and we learn that when the man eventually wakes up everybody feels relieved. That was just a film-makers joke. But we are talking now about a serious artistic work and one of great importance.”
“It turned out that the spectator simply, organically and calmly perceives our picture, which is shot in one take. The main thing for me, in fact, was to ensure that this technological aspect – making the film in one shot – didn’t become the main thing in the film. The most important thing was for the viewers to naturally, as in the process of breathing, immerse themselves in the artistic qualities of the film, the artistic and dramatic issues and the beauty that they see before them. And when that happens, the viewer simply doesn’t pay attention to the technical side of the film. They’re simply interested in it.”
“We live in a world, and are surrounded by perceptions of it, that is shot in one take. (…) And that’s very organic for human perception.
And if it turns out that the artistic goal is more important than the technology, if the instrument for achieving the concept isn’t visible, then it works. […] So there’s nothing strange about it. All preceding intellectual practice (particularly in literature) leads up to it.”
Alexander Sokurov’s interview to Edward Guthman for the San Francisco Chronicle 02.02. 2003
http://www.russianark.spb.ru/eng/interview_full.php?int_id=13
(última consulta 2008-01-08)
“Editing, in that sense, preserves more of the rudiments of literature and other art forms.”
“For the first time, we organically and in real time created a film work without any form of internal violence. The main instrument of violence in film, until the appearance of The Russian Ark, was editing. Editing is the main sign of the existence of film, it’s the biggest letter or word in the cinematic dictionary, and without that component, cinematography is unthinkable, although many have dreamt of achieving it before us.”
“We’re now shooting another film. It employs editing and I’m not saying that I’m rejecting traditional film tools. Nevertheless, I’m still tired of editing. I want to deprive cinematography of that instrument which allows for the creation of aggressive and destructive works. Today, with the aid of editing, the whole world is engaged in destructive work on the human consciousness. That’s my belief.”
Alexander Sokurov’s interview by John Hartl, chief film Writer for the Seattle Post Intelligencer 02.02. 2003
http://www.russianark.spb.ru/eng/interview_full.php?int_id=14
(última consulta 2008-01-08)
“We shouldn’t be afraid of difficult films, we shouldn’t be afraid not to be entertained. The viewer pays a high price for a film. And not in money. Viewers spend their time, a piece of their lives – an hour and a half to two hours. A bad film, an aggressive film, takes several centuries of life from humanity… You have to go joyfully to a meeting with these difficult films. These films respect viewers and don’t demean them, these films love free, strong people with a developed sense of their own internal democracy. These films love people who love art and are prepared to listen to other people. At the end of the day, you don’t have to have a literal, conceptual understanding of films such as these. So-called auteur films are an encyclopedia of candidness and an encyclopedia of open hearts. So you have to see these films.”
“Only filmmakers give us the opportunity to study the atmosphere of the event. That’s the crucial thing that we love and value in cinema. To show our contemporaries the atmosphere of a time long since passed – that’s one of our aims. You can go back to that time that has long since passed in an almost documentary manner. And, believe me, there are a lot of astonishing sensations, astonishing discoveries and moods. I would include the scene of the ball in 1913 in that category. It would be hard to imagine another such open window across time. We shouldn’t be afraid of the flow of time.”
Alexander Sokurov’s interview to Edward Guthman for the San Francisco Chronicle 02.02. 2003
http://www.russianark.spb.ru/eng/interview_full.php?int_id=13
(última consulta em 2008-01-08)
“It was very important to us that we ourselves got involved in the flow of time and that that flow be preserved and itself become reality. This wasn’t an experiment, this was the accomplishment of a serious professional task, accompanied by the routine of film work.”
“Working harmoniously with time and not overriding time in the shot, we, perhaps, are pointing out another, special way forward to young filmmakers.”
Alexander Sokurov’s interview by John Hartl, chief film Writer for the Seattle Post Intelligencer 02.02. 2003
http://www.russianark.spb.ru/eng/interview_full.php?int_id=14
(última consulta 2008-01-08)
“I’ve got a personal principle which maintains that a film is a living organism and, while we’re working on the film, there should be opportunities for certain alterations to be made. “
“From the point of view of the dramaturgy, the film’s construction is quite unusual, with the main visual event coming at the end. But the one-shot filming allows the dramatic center of the film to be moved closer to the end. It’s a refinement, a concrete idea, that could only be accomplished by virtue of the fact that all the components of the ball were prepared and planned long in advance.”
the State Hermitage
“He accepted my idea knowing that nobody had ever attempted anything like this before, but the Hermitage needs some sort of visual exposure. It also needs new and more modern forms of expression, the re-animation of its ancient myths and legends, and the creation of new ones.”
“It’s almost a personal story, because the main artistic impressions of my life are linked to the Hermitage. You could say that my artistic maturing is linked to the Hermitage. In my personal view, there is nothing higher than painting, or higher than literature. At the Hermitage, there’s an astonishing opportunity to be one on one with original paintings, a vast scale of variety and a colossal historical retrospective of artistic works, all of them located in one place in several historic halls which simply awe you. They’ve worked out, for example, that if you spend a minute in front of each painting and sculpture, then, in order to see the entire Hermitage collection, you’d have to be there for three years. It’s an enormous school. And if a person thinks seriously about their profession, then they can’t get by without world culture. Everyone loves to study, and that’s particularly true of us, filmmakers. The center of the city and the center of Russia is the Hermitage. It’s the young heart of Russia.”
Alexander Sokurov’s interview to Edward Guthman for the San Francisco Chronicle 02.02. 2003
http://www.russianark.spb.ru/eng/interview_full.php?int_id=13
(última consulta em 2008-01-08)
“I was curious to know how it was to live inside a work of art - in the Hermitage–museum, an architectural monument, as well as in the Hermitage–the historical residency of the Russian State. Have a try to live inside a piece of jewellery - in a Faberge Easter egg!”
Interview by Alexandra Tuchinskaya. English translation by Anna Shoulgat, © 2002.
http://sokurov.spb.ru/isle_en/isle_ftr.html
(última consulta 2008-01-08)
Russia and Russian Ark
“There’s no doubt that several periods of time are existing in parallel in the life of Russia today. Elements of feudalism and elements of early Russian capitalism and continuing socialist habits. This is true of the people and the authorities, and so on. Yes, Russia is distinguished by the fact that in one temporal plane, a multitude of historical epochs are in existence. And, despite the fact that we live in the 21st Century, we are also living in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.”
Alexander Sokurov’s interview by John Hartl, chief film Writer for the Seattle Post Intelligencer 02.02. 2003
http://www.russianark.spb.ru/eng/interview_full.php?int_id=14
(última consulta 2008-01-08)
“(…) despite all the enormous technical complexities of the project, all of us – the director, the producer and the technical specialists – were united in making a film in one breathe, in making a single, uninterrupted shot. In essence, that task created a unique and astonishing mood and existence for everyone that took part in the creation of the film. The emotion and organic nature of the behavior of the actors in that shot was created by the very fact that they were participating in the creation of this specific artistic work and in this experience. Our actors were proud of the fact that they were taking part in this artistic enterprise and, of course, no stops or incisions into the body of the picture could be allowed on moral grounds.“
“However, every artist chooses his own way to his own target. I personally do not have a right for pure experiment: I am not a millionaire. I make my films with the money either of the state or those people, who trust me. Russian Ark is an absolutely academic work of art. It was well-thought–out and planned a long time ago, but has been brought to life in extremely hard conditions. Therefore we are far from having accomplished everything that was planned.”
“Those are just emotional impressions of my own: reflections of a man, brought up on certain cultural traditions, - reflections on Time, on historical characters. And this is undoubtedly the system of feelings and ideas of a contemporary citizen of my Native Land.”
spiritual sight - a sight of the soul
“In our film, there’s one almost documentary scene. It’s led by Tamara, a woman who’s in fact blind. But in her real, day-to-day life, she sees with a special, spiritual sight. It’s a seeing soul that people without sight have. They have a sight of the soul and it’s much more refined than ours. Not everyone can understand how much people with spiritual sight have helped everyone one of us in our personal lives. In fact, it’s an enormous mystery – how does a person without a detailed, object-based perception of the world, manage to perceive that beauty. I’m not really able to discuss this subject…All our rehearsals with Tamara, the shooting, the dubbing – all those meetings caused anxiety for me and, for some reason, I had a sense of guilt. I was too embarrassed to ask her questions and I was afraid of making a careless comment.
She’s a very good, quiet woman. It seems that this sight of the soul is much more sensitive than our visual sight.
It’s a very dramatic subject and it’s evidence of the fact that there are at least two worlds in existence between people. And there’s an enormous dramatic pause between us. It’s very important to stop at the right moment, and not to speak too much about this subject. You have to stop because the truth isn’t in words, of course.”
Alexander Sokurov’s interview to Edward Guthman for the San Francisco Chronicle 02.02. 2003
http://www.russianark.spb.ru/eng/interview_full.php?int_id=13
(última consulta em 2008-01-08)
high art is live energy
“My conviction that there is no such thing as dead art comes from my profound belief – not an abstract belief, but, at the same time not entirely concrete, rather an almost physiological belief – that everything that is original and that is really “from the author” within the walls of a museum, and in this case within the walls of the Hermitage, is alive. A canvas that Rembrandt has touched, or El Greco, or Van Eycke, carries the paint that these great people have put on in layers and they all preserve the energy of the author and everything that is extraordinary about the essence of these people. If you are a sensitive person going to see an original painting by a great painter, you get a very definite sense that it’s a living thing, because that energy is preserved eternally, or as long as that canvas materially exists. Without a doubt, our relations to painting and to original sculptures are the same as our relations to living beings. That doesn’t derive from any pagan or primitive beginnings and there’s no pagan element to it. It’s simply an organic belief in the fact that fundamental high art is live energy that has been preserved down to our days.”
Alexander Sokurov’s interview by John Hartl, chief film Writer for the Seattle Post Intelligencer 02.02. 2003
http://www.russianark.spb.ru/eng/interview_full.php?int_id=14
(última consulta 2008-01-08)
all times exist in parallel
“I hope that the audiences that see the film in the warm and friendly city that is San Francisco understand that all times exist in parallel with each other. Nothing has passed and nothing has disappeared into a black hole and everything can be understood. Everything will change, if we make the effort to understand.”
“We’ve just heard on the radio of the catastrophe that has happened on the American space shuttle. Let all of us light candles in their memory. Words are powerless…”
Alexander Sokurov’s interview to Edward Guthman for the San Francisco Chronicle 02.02. 2003
http://www.russianark.spb.ru/eng/interview_full.php?int_id=13
(última consulta em 2008-01-08)
foto de Alexander Belenkiy
http://www.russianark.spb.ru/
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http://sokurov.spb.ru/
(última consulta em 2008-01-08)
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