Conference

Information about the conference (I International Film Festival “Zerkalo” named after Andrei Tarkovsky)

“Andrei Tarkovsky’s phenomenon in intellectual and artistic culture” – is the title of the International scientific conference which was carried out within the limits of I International Film Festival “Zerkalo” named after Andrei Tarkovsky.

A press-conference of Evgeny Tsymbal, the winner of national cinema award “Nika” (years 2003 and 2007), the winner of BAFTA Award, one of the organizers of the Conference, took place on the eve of this significant event in news agency “Interfax”. Evgeny Vasilievich noted that the necessity to carry out a festival named after Andrei Tarkovsky had become imminent long ago and was discussed for a long time. And as soon as an idea of festival appeared, an idea to carry out a scientific conference was formed: “Carrying out a film festival is impossible without the serious and thoughtful analysis of that agonizing, really titanic work to which our great compatriot devoted all his life. Ivanovo has a considerable experience of carrying out different forums of scientists and art critics who study creativity work of Tarkovsky.

So the fact of a film festival to be carrying out in Ivanovo is quite appropriate”. About thirty scientists from Great Britain, Italy, and Spain and from different cities of Russia gathered on July, 9-10, 2007 to debate about meaning and value of Tarkovsky’s world, its correlation with other phenomena of world and home culture. There were intense debates about any possibilities of realization of a Christian ideal in secular art, about drastic individuality of Andrei Tarkovsky’s film-thinking and possibilities to transfer his creative search into other forms of world outlook … Professor of Cagliari University (Italy) Simonetta Salvestroni in her speech noted that in our days young men very seldom become thoughtful about the meaning of life and an inner world of a person.

Tarkovsky’s films, despite of their complexity, are necessary as never before and she has been trying to help them to understand the artistic language of his films. For twenty years professor of Bath University (Great Britain) David Gillespi has been studying Andrei Tarkovsky’s creative work. In his report he noted that each new generation of students asks new questions about Tarkovsky, and it means that the director continues to tell millions of people about things which excite them. Professor of Shuya University V.P. Okeansky, one of the active organizers of a scientific conference, in his speech noted: “Andrey Tarkovsky, whose life and creative work has a great cultural value for our region, became a stalker of some kind for many of us. The director introduces us the depths of Russian religious philosophy and leads out to a miracle of life, a miracle of existence”.

A sister of the great film director Marina Arsenievna Tarkovskaya also participated in a work of the conference. All the participants of the conference unanimously noted that the forum devoted to Tarkovsky was unique on its scale. There hadn’t been a forum of such a scale for a long time in Russia. As organizers hope, a scientific conference shouldn’t become a once-only action, but sould start a tradition of studying Tarkovsky’s creative work. In prospect it is possible to think about organizing in our region an institute or a center where the creativity of Andrei Tarkovsky will be analyzed. On the basis of the scientific conference materials there collection “Andrei Tarkovsky’s phenomenon in intellectual and artistic culture” was published with a support of the Russian academy of cinema arts “Nika”. Composers: E.V.Tsymbal and V.P.Okeansky.