Dom Mastera
Russia / Germany,
1998, 105 min
Shown in 1998
CREDITS
- dir
-
Marianna Kirejewa
- prod
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Naum Kleiman
- scr
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Naum Kleiman
- editor
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Alexei Rebrow, Uli Peschke
- source
-
FilmsTransit, 402 est, rue Notre Dame, Montréal, Québec H2YI C8, Canada. FAX: 514-844-7298. EMAIL: filmtran@odyssee.net
- premiere
-
North American Premiere
OTHER
Marking the 100th anniversary of Sergei Eisenstein’s birth—and the 50th anniversary of his death—this documentary to honor Russia’s great film pioneer is chock-full of fascinating facts and made with a skill and intelligence that the maestro himself would have approved. Eisenstein grew up amidst the pre-Revolutionary luxuries of Russia’s haute bourgeoisie. Though he kept up the pretense of respectability as a student at St. Petersburg’s Civil Engineering Institute, he was haunted by vague “dreams of the arts.” It was in St. Petersburg that he acquired tastes for Schopenhauer, Nietzsche and, most dangerous of all, the theater. But only after the Russian Revolution spelled the end of his parents’ world was he free to pursue his artistic dreams. After the international acclaim that greeted his 1925 The Battleship Potemkin, he was wooed by Hollywood, but, disappointed by the experience, returned to Stalin’s Russia, where he made his greatest films: Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible. Increasingly critical of Stalin, Eisenstein felt the noose tightening, and, knowing that his fate was sealed, seems deliberately to have worked himself to death. Adopting many of Eisenstein’s own techniques, Eisenstein: The Master’s House is a melange of new and period footage, still photographs and feature films. Organized chronologically, it is especially moving as it recounts Eisenstein’s last days when, harassed and despairing, he continued to work furiously.
FACTOID #107
Incubus, the only known film made in the Esperanto language (at least the only one starring William Shatner), played the 1966 San Francisco International Film Festival.
