2002: THE YEAR IN REVIEW: Films by Dovzhenko gain much exposure (01/12/03)

2002: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

Films by Dovzhenko gain much exposure

The films of Oleksander (Alexander) Dovzhenko (1894-1956), a key figure of Soviet-era and world cinematography, whose works include classics of the silent and early sound eras, were given multiple exposure in film programs throughout the United States. The series was organized with help from the Ukrainian government, which has taken an active role in championing Dovzhenko's work outside his native country.

A forceful modernist in the structural, especially visual, aspects of his work, Dovzhenko, also drew on the Ukrainian folkloric tradition. With Stalin's denunciation of Dovzhenko in 1944, the filmmaker's post-silent-era career was characterized by banned projects and unproduced or drastically altered screenplays.

The Dovzhenko film series premiered at the Walter Reade Theater at New York's Lincoln Center on May 8-21, with subsequent screenings at the University of California at Los Angeles (October 3, 5 and 8) in a program organized by UCLA Film and Television Archives and the Hollywood Trident Foundation. Concurrently with the Dovzhenko series at the National Gallery of Art in Washington held December 7-29, Dovzhenko's films were shown at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Brooklyn Academy of Music as part of BAMcinematék (December 5-19), as well as at Cornell University.

Featured in New York were all of Dovzhenko's extant works, i.e., 13 films, including his early silent films, which were presented with live music accompaniment, and the rarely screened later films. The series also included "Farewell, America," Dovzhenko's unfinished final film, which was restored under the sponsorship of Mosfilm and Gosfilmofond Rossii in 1995 as well as "Povist Polumianykh Lit" (The Chronicle of the Flaming Years), 1945, based on a script by Dovzhenko and filmed by his wife and close collaborator, Yulia Solntseva.

The film programs in New York, Los Angeles and Washington were supplemented by symposia on Dovzhenko's art and legacy, featuring scholars from Ukraine and North America, and a gallery exhibition curated by the Dovzhenko Museum in Kyiv that comprised posters and Dovzhenko self-portraits and drawings.

The New York symposium, titled "The Art and Legacy of Alexander Dovzhenko," featured representatives from the National Center of Oleksander Dovzhenko (NCAD), and the Ministry of Art and Culture of Ukraine, Serhii Trymbach, film historian at the NCAD as well as P. Adams Sitney and Josephine Woll, author of "Reel Images: Soviet Cinema and the Thaw."

The UCLA program, titled "Earth - The Films of Alexander Dovzhenko," featured presentations by Marco Carynnyk, editor and translator of "Alexander Dovzhenko's 1939 Autobiography" and translator of "Alexander Dovzhenko: The Poet as Fimmaker"; George O. Liber, author of the just published book "Alexander Dovzhenko: A Life in Soviet Film"; and Bohdan Nebesio.

The Dovzhenko series was presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Seagull Films in collaboration with Ukraine's Ministry of Arts and Culture and the National Center of Oleksander Dovzhenko.

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