Classy cinema in the capital

I was pleasantly surprised to hear about a new film club with a funny name, Voobrazharium [which can be loosely translated from Russian as Imaginarium. – Ed.]. Unfortunately, we must face a sad fact: highbrow films have a very limited audience today. It comprises those eccentric individuals that watch very little television, if any, read conventional rather than electronic books, and whose cinematographic tastes cannot be catered for by an ordinary “menu,” designed for the vast majority of viewers.

It immediately brought to mind the clubs of film amateurs that were so popular in the late 1980s: it was not that easy to become a member, as the films shown there were not to be seen anywhere else. Those advanced little communities were headed by young, ambitious, and well-educated guys (surprisingly, they more often had scientific than artistic backgrounds). Without names, titles, or connections to the film world (or circles close to it), by hook or by crook, they managed to somehow get hold of prohibited, “political,” or simply recent foreign films, that would only appear for the public years later. Naturally, downloading films online was impossible back then.

Cinema buffs would also acquaint the grateful public with the classics of world cinema, and invite famous actors, film directors, or cameramen to club soirees. For example, I was lucky enough to meet the brilliant Serhii Parajanov a year before his death, and even interview him. It happened at what was probably the most popular club back then, the Dialog Cinema Club in Kyiv. The club itself came to be owing to the efforts of Liudmyla Hordeladze (now director of the well-known Zhovten Cinema), and was run by Andrii Khalpakhchi, now president of the International Film Festival Molodist, and Alik Shpyliuk, program director of the Odesa International Film Forum. Those were the times!

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then. Now any latest movie can be downloaded from the Internet even before its first run in movie theaters. One can also purchase world cinema classics there, with nothing but the click of a button. Thus, learning about the new club came as a shock, a return to days long gone. It was sweet and nostalgic — but still, revisiting the past.

I must mention that the opening of Voobrazharium was celebrated with a talented, yet complex work: Sidney Lumet’s drama 12 Angry Men. The film was produced in the US in 1957. Bearing in mind that everything (even the most brilliant films) will eventually become outdated, and the presentation of the new club drew a crowd of young people, it turned into quite a challenge for the masterminds of the event. I will not exaggerate when I say that it was a case of sink or swim.

Anticipating any questions I will say that the apprehension was groundless: the discussion after the show never actually turned into a debate: most visitors simply thanked the curators of the project for the opportunity to see a real film, and wished the film club long and fruitful years to come. You can’t deny that it is worth a lot.

“The first meeting of Voobrazharium was scheduled right after the closing of the Berlinale, where Alexander Mindadze’s On Saturday also took part in the contest program,” said film critic Andrii Alfiorov as he commented on the club’s conception:

“The producer Oleh Kokhan spoke about the reception the film met at the festival, shared release dates, and answered journalists’ questions concerning the prospects of Ukrainian filmmaking. However, we were not able to show the film itself, so for the first session (in style and conformity with the subject) I decided to pick a film from the treasury of the Berlin Film Festival.

“At first, I was inclined to show Patrice Chereau’s Intimacy. This film literally blew up the Berlinale 2001. However, later I doubted if it would be the right film. I had a rather dim idea of what sort of people would come to the club and whether they would accept Intimacy — a great, but nonetheless very abrupt film.

“Lumet’s 12 Angry Men suggested itself as an alternative. The film was awarded the Golden Bear, the main prize of the Berlin Film Festival, in 1957. There were several reasons that prompted this choice. Firstly, of course, Nikita Mikhalkov’s famed Twelve, the modern Russian version of Reginald Rose’s play, which everyone had seen and discussed. Yet it turned out that a lot of viewers had never heard of the wonderful American film, 12 Angry Men, which I think should be made known and discussed nowadays.

“Secondly, I thought that it was just the right kind of film to show at the launching of a club: it had stood the test of time, and it offered an intellectual challenge and material for discussion after the show. At the same time, this film wasn’t as aggressive as Intimacy probably would seem.

“The repertoire of the meetings of the club is decided well into May. The Baboon ‘jury’ have a flexible time-table: first they are going to meet once a month, and I hope that later on they will do it on a weekly basis. The future repertoire includes, among others, Peter Brook’s Moderato Cantabile, 1960, and Claude Chabrol’s Inferno, 1994.

The first guests of Voobrazharium held their breath as they watched Lumet’s exquisite black-and-white 12 Angry Men. Time has no power over the talent of the American cast, in particular, the stunning Henry Fonda, who received a BAFTA award for this part in the nomination “best foreign actor.” By the way, many journalists who were among the guests preferred this screen version of the play by Rose, ranking Mikhalkov’s interpretation as second. They argued enthusiastically as they were discussing the film. The most active participant, the journalist Oleksandr Husiev, even got encouragement from the masterminds of the project: he was presented with a photo album Two In One, made during the shooting of the eponimous film by Kira Muratova.