or The Italian itinerary of Tetiana Derevianko

Tetiana Derevianko has extremely pleasant memories of Italy. Last year, at the film festival in Pardenon, she was awarded the prestigious Domino Mitri Prize, named after a well-known Italian film director. The prize was given «for outstanding contribution to world cinema.» Ms. Derevianko is Ukraine's only winner of this honorary award. Meanwhile, the public at large apparently knows her very little. The point is Ms. Derevianko has undertaken the difficult and indispensable mission of being custodian of the memory of Oleksandr Dovzhenko, Ivan Kavaleridze, Natalia Uzhviy, Serhiy Paradzhanov, Ivan Mykolaichuk and many other Ukrainian film personalities. She has been curator of the Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Feature Film Studios' museum for a solid forty one years. A passionate propagandist of Ukrainian cinema, Ms. Derevianko herself keeps in the shadow of great names. However, but for her insistence, the museum could hardly have lived through all economic hardships suffered in the past few years by national cinematography in general and the studios in particular.

For the museum is unique. And I wish it did not exist owing almost exclusively to the enthusiasm of Ms. Derevianko and the small staff. Of course, the studio's manager Mykola Mashchenko also does his bit. Deputy Minister of Culture Hanna Chmil does not forget the museum, either. But their resources are, unfortunately, rather limited. For example, there is no place at all to find money to preserve the existing exhibits, let alone replenish the stock. The latter contains over 300 personal archives, including artistic biographies of Ukraine's leading cinema personalities, the scripts and continuity sheets of various years, short-hand minutes of film debriefings, editorial remarks, sketches of the scenery and costumes, adverts and posters, and trial-photo albums... In a word, a real bonanza for all those who study the history of cinema, the future directors, production designers, and cameramen.

But the most surprising thing is they contrive to replenish the stock under the conditions of total lack of money. I think the wonderful reputation of the museum and, to a large extent, of Ms. Derevianko herself, a pains-taking and judicious collector, plays by no means the last role. Many cinema personalities and their families hand over, free of charge, archives, documents, photos, and memoirs, being well aware that these will be kept safely in the museum as part of the history of Ukrainian cinema about which nobody seems to care outside the studio walls. As a satirist said, rescuing drowning victims is the headache of the victims themselves. Meanwhile, the state can again quietly watch what is going on, basking in he sun on a beach. It is in Italy that the guardians of history are rewarded...

This museum is also remarkable for its atmosphere. It occupies a few small rooms in the so-called «Shchors' block» built in 1936 specially for shooting Oleksandr Dovzhenko's film Shchors . «The Master's memorial office and exhibition halls are here. But there is no pomposity or corniness. You always feel good and cozy here, as if at home, and see that life is still bubbling up. This is so even in the hardest times for the studios, when film production has virtually ground to a halt. I wish special awards for such activities would be instituted.

Tetiana Derevianko has recently visited Italy again. This time to Bologna for a festival of free cinema. Its motto was «The films that have reached us.» Unique pictures made from the turn of the century until the 50s. They were presented by the film archives of various countries except for ours. We have problems with film archives and with memory in general. However, there is an agreement whereby Ukraine will be invited to the next festival with three films by Dziga Vertov, Ivan Kavaleridze, and perhaps some of the modern directors.

Yet, the main project Ms. Derevianko has been dealing with for several years still remains unfulfilled. The museum has been gathering for twenty years materials about Oleksandr Dovzhenko's first, but later lost, film Vasia- reformator (Vasia the Reformer). Tremendous work has been done by a well- known cameramen Eduard Tymlin, who managed to restore some miraculously preserved frames. In other words, everything is in fact ready for making a film about the film. Moreover, it has already been included in the program of the 2000 Berlin Festival (this picture is to open the retrospective show of Oleksandr Dovzhenko's films). What is still to be done is very little: to find money for this project.