Russian Film Symposium to Examine Gender Stereotypes

The University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Filmmakers will present the 16th Annual Russian Film Symposium from May 5-10 at Pitt and at the Pittsburgh Filmmakers’ Melwood Screening Room, 477 Melwood Ave., Oakland. Titled “Gendering Genre,” this year’s symposium offers a unique chance for the public to view recent films and examine how gender and genre stereotypes are foregrounded and subverted in recent Russian cinema.

Russian movie theaters are now dominated almost exclusively by two genres, explained Vladimir Padunov, a Pitt professor of Slavic languages and literatures. There are romantic comedies, usually set in Moscow or Saint Petersburg, and gritty dramas about everyday life, usually set in the provinces. These two genres are often coded as either “woman friendly” in the case of the romantic comedies or “masculine” in the case of the dramas.

A number of scholars and critics of Russian film, traveling from Russia, the United Kingdom, and across the United States, will attend the symposium to examine this theory of a division along gender lines. Among the noted critics who will introduce the symposium’s films are Viktoriia Belopol’skaia, programming director of the ArtDocFest film festival and a regular contributor to the film journals Séance and Iskusstvo Kino; Anzhelika Artiukh, a film scholar and film critic whose reviews have appeared in Iskusstvo Kino, Séance, Film Comment, and Imago; Philip Cavendish, author of The Men with a Movie Camera: The Poetics of Visual Style in Soviet Avant-Garde Cinema of the Silent Era (Berghahn Books, 2013); and Jeremy Hicks, a specialist in Russian documentary cinema and the author of Soviet Cinema and the Genocide of the Jews, 1938–1946 (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2012). Pitt faculty members and graduate students will be on hand to lead discussions in response to the films.

All films will have English subtitles. Admission costs for the duration of the symposium are $8 per film for regular admission; $7 for seniors and students; and $4 for Pitt and Art Institute of Pittsburgh students.

Monday, May 5

Till Night Do Us Part (2012)
Directed by Boris Khlebnikov
A romantic comedy featuring a journalist who eavesdrops on conversations at one of Moscow’s most exclusive restaurants.
10 a.m., 1500 Posvar Hall
Introduction: Critic Viktoriia Belopol’skaia
Response: Natalia Ryabchikova, Pitt PhD candidate, Department of English’s Film Studies

Dumpling Brothers (2013)
Directed by Gennadii Ostrovskii
When their father dies, two brothers with nothing in common convince their grieving mother to cook them dumplings, an innocent request that leads to unexpected consequences.
2 p.m., 1500 Posvar Hall
Introduction: Anzhelika Artiukh, film criticism instructor, Saint-Petersburg University of Film and Television
Response: Beach Gray, Pitt PhD candidate, Department of English’s Film Studies 

Tuesday, May 6

Me Too! (2012)
Directed by Aleksei Balabanov
A bandit and a musician go on a road trip to seek out a mysterious “bell tower of happiness,” a place of no return where a chosen few are taken to paradise.
10 a.m., 1500 Posvar Hall
Introduction: Media historian Mark Lynn Anderson
Response: Chip Crane, instructor, Pitt’s Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

Delhi Dance (2012)
Directed by Ivan Vyrypaev
A series of seven vignettes about the interactions between characters waiting in a hospital for news about their loved ones.
2 p.m., 1500 Posvar Hall
Introduction: Philip Cavendish, senior lecturer, Russian Literature and Film Studies, University College London
Response: Olga Mukhortova, Pitt PhD student, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

Wednesday, May 7

Eternal Homecoming (2012)
Directed by Kira Muratova
A man seeks out a former schoolmate for help deciding between two women he loves.
10 a.m., 1500 Posvar Hall
Introduction: Daniel Morgan, associate professor, Department of Cinema and Media Studies, University of Chicago
Response: Kiun Hwang, Pitt PhD student, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

Intimate Parts (2013)
Directed by Natasha Merkulova and Aleksei Chupov
Film explores middle-class attitudes toward sex and secrecy, using a series of interlinking plots that revolve around Ivan, a photographer with a passion for freedom.
7:30 p.m., Pittsburgh Filmmakers
Introduction: Anzhelika Artiukh, film criticism instructor, Saint-Petersburg University of Film and Television

Thursday, May 8

She (2013)
Directed by Larissa Sadilova
Featuring a cast of mostly amateur actors from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, She traces the fortunes of a young woman who follows her significant other to Russia from Tajikistan, exploring the conditions of migrant workers.
10 a.m., 1500 Posvar Hall
Introduction: Jeremy Hicks, Reader (Associate Professor) in Russian Culture and Film, Queen Mary University of London
Response: Olga Kim, Pitt PhD student, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures and film studies

The Convoy (2012)
Directed by Aleksei Mizgirev
A police officer and a soldier travel to Moscow to recover missing money and to bring a deserter back to face a military court in this gritty crime drama.
7:30 p.m., Pittsburgh Filmmakers
Introduction: Jeremy Hicks, Reader (Associate Professor) in Russian Culture and Film, Queen Mary University of London

Friday, May 9

Winter Journey (2013)
Directed by Sergei Taramaev and Liubov’ L’vova
A tragic love story between two men: a conservatory student and a homeless criminal whose paths cross during a bus journey, with the snowy beauty of Moscow as a backdrop.
10 a.m., 1500 Posvar Hall
Introduction: Petre Petrov, assistant professor of Russian, Princeton University
Response: Olga Klimova, instructor, Pitt Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari (2012)
Directed by Aleksei Fedorchenko
Filmed in the Mari language, this comedy-drama comprises 26 stories influenced by the folklore of the Mari, an ethnic group living along the Volga River whose members are sometimes called “the last authentic pagans living in Europe.”
2 p.m., 1500 Posvar Hall
Introduction: Neepa Majumdar, professor, Pitt Department of English’s Film Studies
Response: Irina Anisimova, Pitt PhD candidate, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

Break-Up Habit (2013)
Directed by Ekaterina Telegina
Recent university graduate Eva has a new job, friends, and a doting boyfriend. But fearing a predictable life with marriage and children, she dumps her boyfriend and embarks on a string of dating mishaps in this self-aware romantic comedy.
7:30 p.m., Pittsburgh Filmmakers
Introduction: Philip Cavendish, senior lecturer, Russian Literature and Film Studies, University College London

Saturday, May 10

Living (2011)
Directed by Vasilii Sigarev
A meditation on the presence of death in life, this award-winning film weaves together stories of Russian families challenged by death.
7:30 p.m., Pittsburgh Filmmakers
Introduction: Viktoriia Belopol’skaia, film critic and programming director, Russian film festival ArtDocFest

The Russian Film Symposium is supported by the University of Pittsburgh Office of the Dean of the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences; the University Center for International Studies; the Center for Russian and East European Studies; the Humanities Center; the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures; the Program for Cultural Studies; the Graduate Russian Kino Club; and a grant from the Hewlett Foundation. Pittsburgh Filmmakers is a cosponsor of the symposium.

For more information, visit www.rusfilm.pitt.edu or contact Vladimir Padunov, professor of Slavic languages and literatures.