29th Flanders International Film Festival Ghent 2002

Jacques Dubrulle is to be envied! The director of the Flanders International Film Festival has the picturesque backdrop of Ghent (Gent in Flemish), with a cultural heritage dating back to the 9th century, to delight international guests and to assure that cinema is this august city is to respected as a modern art form. If there happened to be any doubters in the crowd, then he had only to take a stroll through the Old Town to the Ghent Coermersklooster to view the festival’s Memory of Film photo exhibit. For this exhibit not only paid cinematic respects to John Huston’s The Misfits (1961) ­ scripted by Arthur Miller and starring Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable, and Montgomery Cliff ­ but it also served as a fitting homage to the Magnum photo agency. How many cinéastes and film historians knew that this wonderful brace of set-stills bear the signature of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Elliot Erwitt, Cornel Capa, and Ernst Haas, all welcomed visitors to The Misfits set ­ as the photos nobly testify.

        Another major Memory of Film highlight at the 29th Flanders International Film Festival (8-19 October 2002) was the tribute to Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1946-1982) to commemorate the 20th anniversary of his death. Actress Hanna Schygulla was invited to reminisce on RWF’s Liebe ist kälter als der Tod (Love Is Colder Than Death) (1969), Warnung vor einer heiligen Nutte (Beware of a Holy Whore) (1970), Der Handler der vier Jahreszeiten (The Merchant of Four Seasons) (1971), and Die Ehe der Maria Braun (The Marriage of Maria Braun) (1979). Schygulla commented that »Fassbinder at the beginning of his career would stage plays like they were movies, while his first movies were like plays.« This lasted until the Fassbinder met his creative match in cameraman Michael Ballhaus, who first collaborated with him on his seminal Ich will doch nur, dass ihr mich liebt (I Only Want That You Love Me) (1976) and contributed significantly to the success of The Marriage of Maria Braun.

        A major event at Flanders 2002 was the digital projection of Alexander Sokurov’s Russian Ark in the A Look Apart section. For critics and film historians Russian Ark ranks as either a tour-de-force of technical achievement or as a masterpiece of cinematic art. In my book it’s both ­ for this is the one film of the season that will be discussed for its brilliance for a long time to come. Although anticipated by Alfred Hitchcock and Max Ophüls, the technical side of this extraordinary film begs description and numbs the imagination. From concept to realization, the film was eight years in the making, the breakthrough coming when the brand new 25p HD Steadicam camera raised digital filmmaking in the hands of cameraman Tilman Büttner to a standard of aesthetic acceptance and cinematic brilliance.
        The rich journey through 400 hundred years of Russian history is alone worth the price of admission. In Russian Ark this journey covers circa 1500 meters in 35 rooms of the Hermitage Museum and the Winter Palace. The »ark« ­ in the sense of a »cradle of civilization« ­ is populated with 897 actors and more than 500 extras. The halls and corridors serve as »passages« through period in Russian history as though we are in a time-machine. We follow Marquis de Custine, a French diplomat from the 18th century, as he discusses art and history in a rather cavalier manner with a Russian acquaintance (Alexander Sokurov in off), we encounter Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Tsar Nicholas I, and Tsar Nicholas II and his family at a gathering at the dinner table. These magnificently staged events flow easily into a ballroom party set in 1904. And Russian Ark ends on a bravura note: the filming of the exit of a thousand guests down the staircase of the Winter Palace and back out into the wintery streets.

For a truly rewarding tour of world cinema, just pick up the 2002 Flanders festival catalogue ­ 335 pages!. And make a note of next year ­ see insert above.

Ronald Holloway