Marina Goldovskaya
April 7, 2005 - April 17, 2005
Artist in Residence, April 13–17
"I'm filming and I'm crying."—Marina Goldovskaya, The Shattered Mirror
There are people who are born in a place, others who are born of a place. Documentarian Marina Goldovskaya is of the latter strain, a citizen of Russia with a profound allegiance to its community and culture. A self-described "Homo Sovieticus," for almost forty years Goldovskaya has made powerful documentaries that struggled against the "citadel of ideology," in her case the State television service. In the late 1980s, as Glasnost was forming, she embarked on a film that many say accelerated the breakup of the Soviet Union: Solovky Power (1989), a disquieting exposé of the first Soviet prison camp. This revelatory documentary was eventually championed by Gorbachev, who helped find an audience for its controversial disclosures. With the return of Russian autonomy, Goldovskaya's committed documentary practice took a liberating turn. Gone was the masterful use of broadcast conventions, to be replaced by the personal and inquisitive style of such films as The Shattered Mirror and Lucky to Be Born in Russia. "It's as if she's painting a fresco," said Naum Kleiman, director of the Film Museum in Moscow. "You can examine each figure by itself, but together they form a panorama of the entire country."
We are pleased to have Marina Goldovskaya, a professor in the film department at UCLA, as our artist-in-residence in the ongoing series Documentary Voices. In addition to presenting a lecture on the second night of the series, Goldovskaya will be present at screenings to engage with the audience, and will hold a salon with students and others interested in her process.
Steve Seid
Thursday, April 7, 2005
5:30 p.m. The Prince Is Back (Free Screening!)
You're a former prince; the Soviet Union has collapsed; the ancestral estate is still standing, sort of. What do you do? A delightful inquiry into the new Russia.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
7:30 p.m. Solovky Power
Marina Goldovskaya in Person. Goldovskaya's revelation of the first Soviet labor camp, created by Lenin in 1923, was a shocker here as it was in Russia, where its reception by Gorbachev was a sign of glasnost.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
7:30 p.m. The Shattered Mirror: A Diary of a Turbulent Time
Lecture by Marina Goldovskaya. Moscow, 1992: Goldovskaya, camera in hand, locates the sweeping changes in her country in the stories of friends and strangers. In her opening lecture, the artist will discuss her vision for a committed documentary film.
Friday, April 15, 2005
1:30 p.m. Salon with Marina Goldovskaya (Admission Free)
Join our artist-in-residence at the PFA Theater for an informal salon about her artistic process.
Friday, April 15, 2005
7:30 p.m. Lucky to Be Born in Russia
Marina Goldovskaya in Person. "Goldovskaya's restless and ever-present camera on the streets, during demonstrations, in trains, at workplaces, and in the homes of her subjects during...tumultuous times."—Cineaste
Friday, April 15, 2005
9:15 p.m. The House on Arbat Street
Marina Goldovskaya in Person. The story of a fine old Moscow apartment house over many decades becomes "a kind of social-history essay, very human in the telling."—Cineaste
Sunday, April 17, 2005
5:30 p.m. Art and Life: Finding the Thread
Marina Goldovskaya in Person. A foray into the many worlds of renowned artist, opera/theater director, and activist Peter Sellars. Shown with portrait-film excerpts.
Documentary Voices is made possible with the support of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Prints and program notes from Gold Films. Our series title is taken from the title of Marina Goldovskaya's yet-to-be-translated book Woman with a Movie Camera.
