Kira Muratova (1934-2018), who worked mostly in the Ukrainian city of Odessa, is one of the most innovative, imaginative, exciting and versatile directors to emerge out of the Soviet Union, where her early films were censored and her later work – celebrated. Whilst she is well known within the territory of Russia and Ukraine, her work – an oeuvre that comprises more than fifteen feature films made over six decades — remains little seen and not widely recognized as part of the shaping feminist cannon of film history.
With the workshop Kira Muratova@St Andrews, co organized by the IGCCC and CRSCEES, we aim to compensate for this. The event was first planned to take place face-to-face on 8 April 2020, but we had to move it online due to the COVID-19 pandemics. Registered participants are viewing the material made available online in advance, and the discussion is taking place in an online meeting via videoconferencing, on 8 April 2020 at 2 pm GMT. For registration, please email Zofia Soch, [email protected].
The film shown in full is Muratova’s early KOROTKIE VSTRECHI/BRIEF ENCOUNTERS (1967). This is her first solo-directed feature film, made at Odessa studios, starring Nina Ruslanova, Vladimir Visotsky, as well as Muratova herself, B&W, 87 min.
Contributors to the workshop include Prof. Dina Iordanova and Dr Victoria Donovan (St Andrews), Dr. Irina Schulzki (Ludwig Maximillian University of Munich), Dr Masha Shpolberg (Wellesley College), and critic/independent scholar Giuliano Vivaldi (currently based in Russia). As the discussion takes place via an online platform, colleagues, researches, students and other interested parties from other institutions and countries are also welcome to take part.
The materials that were made available in advance can be accessed via the following links:
Masha Shpolberg’s video essay, Between the Fragment and the Ruin: Socialism in the Films of Kira Muratova. 22 min. Please view first.
Irina Schulzki’s (Munich) vieo presentation: The Sense of Gesture: Muratova’s Textures, Ornaments and Colours. 20 min.
Giuliano Vivaldi’s video presentation: Setting Out on a Voyage Into the Realm of Ultra-Realism: Kira Muratova’s Getting To Know The Big Wide World. 10 min.
A special thank you for the assistance from Mina Radovic, Zofia Soch, and George Nalbantov.
