Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Academy of Fine Arts, which is housed at Pushkinskaya 10. Although he died in
2002, he continues to cast a long shadow on the city's artistic scene.
Over the years, the hodgepodge of artists, exhibits and studio space at Pushkin-
skaya 10 has grown. The centre is now officially known as the Free Culture Society,
although it's still often referred to by its original address. In 1998 the Free Culture So-
ciety opened the Museum of Non-Conformist Art, with its own collection of 'unoffi-
cial' art from the 20th and 21st centuries. Most importantly, the various museums and
galleries at Pushkinskaya 10 showcase the ever-growing oeuvre of its member artists,
including not only paintings but also photographs, sculptures, collages, videos, set and
graphic designs and music.
A charming and whimsical film, Alexei Uchitel's
The Stroll
(Progulka,
2003), follows three young Petersburgers as they wander around the city
getting into all sorts of situations from a soccer riot to an argument
between friends and a rainstorm. Great for St Petersburg local colour!
CINEMA
The Lenfilm studio on the Petrograd Side was a centre of the Soviet film industry,
producing many much-loved Russian comedies and dramas - most famously, Sergei
Eisenstein's
October
(1928). Lenfilm has continued in the post-communist era to
work with some success as a commercial film studio. However, the removal of
Soviet-era state funding for film-making has inevitably led to torpor in the local in-
dustry.
There are, of course, exceptions. Ever since
Russian Ark
(2002), St Petersburg nat-
ive Alexander Sokurov has been recognised as one of Russia's most talented contem-
porary directors. The world's first unedited feature film,
Russian Ark
was shot in one
unbroken 90-minute frame. Sokurov's films have tackled a wide range of subjects,
most significantly the corrupting influence of power, which was explored in a tetra-
logy of films observing individual cases, including Hitler
(Molokh),
Lenin
(Taurus)
,
Japanese Emperor Hirohito
(The Sun)
and Faust
(Faust).
Another recent Sokurov pro-
duction that was critically acclaimed is
Alexandra
(2007)
,
the moving tale of an eld-
erly woman who visits her grandson at an army base in Chechnya. The title role is
played by Galina Vishnevskaya, opera doyenne and wife of composer-conductor
Mstislav Rostropovich.
