Английский язык для студентов-физиков. Кинооператорство. English for physics students. Cinematography. Учебное пособие

War and Peace (1966-1967)

This four-part, Academy Award-winning epic directed by Sergei Bondarchuk is considered the best screen adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s novel and was the most expensive film ever made in the Soviet Union. A special cinematic cavalry regiment of 1,500 riders was created by the Soviet Defense Ministry for the battle scenes. The regiment participated in the production of many subsequent films.

Production of the film took six years. During that time, the collections of 58 museums in the country were used and more than 40 Soviet enterprises made weapons and equipment of the historical period shown in the film, from snuffboxes to wains. Also produced were 9,000 suits, 12,000 shakos, 200,000 buttons, and exact replicas of Russian and French medals and arms.

The film is also noted for its sweeping battle scenes and the innovation of panoramic camera shots of battlefields. For example, during the shooting of the 1812 Battle of Borodino, for both the French and Russian armies a 950man cavalry regiment and 15,000 infantrymen were cast.

Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (1980)

The film also won an Oscar, for Best Foreign Language Film, in 1981. Before his historic meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985, U.S. President Ronald Reagan, a former actor, watched Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears several times to better understand the Russian soul.

It was the work of a largely unknown director (Vladimir Menshov) and cast; some famous Soviet actors had declined roles in what they regarded as a non-prestige project. But those who did participate became overnight stars due to the popularity of the movie, which portrays the multifaceted life of many Soviet women.

The movie's heroine is abandoned by her boyfriend after he gets her pregnant. She finds relief from her hard life by becoming the successful head of a large factory and a great mother to her teenage daughter. Finally, she finds her true love.

The Asthenic Syndrome (1990)

Film directing is a profession long dominated by men, both in Russia and abroad. But in Soviet cinema, Kira Muratova was an acclaimed exception. The Asthenic Syndrome covers two eras, the pre-perestroika Soviet Union and

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the reform period itself, although the film’s two parts are unconnected. The first, filmed in black and white, tells the story of a woman mourning the death of her husband; the second part, shot in color, portrays a teacher suffering from asthenia, a form of weakness.

The film won numerous awards, including the Silver Bear special jury prize at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival.

Brother (1997)

This criminal drama directed by Aleksei Balabanov was emblematic of the immediate post-Soviet period and embraced by young people of that era. Banditry, racketeering and other forms of criminality that poured into Russian streets following the Soviet Union’s collapse are depicted in this story of a young veteran of the first Chechen war, Danila Bagrov, trying to find his place in a new society.

The film was shot in 31 days, on a small budget, but instantly became a hit with audiences. The sequel, Brother 2, was released in 2000.

Loveless (2017)

the Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and has been submitted as Russia’s entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Picture. It portrays a child who finds himself psychologically abandoned and unwanted by his mother and father.

Director Andrei Zvyagintsev has been a favorite of European cineastes since the release of his first film, The Return, which received a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 2003. Zvyagintsev’s subsequent films have all been nominated or awarded at major European and U.S. festivals — The Banishment (2007), nominated for Cannes’ Palme d’Or; Elena (2011), winner of the Cannes Jury Prize; and Leviathan (2014), winner for best screenplay at Cannes and recipient of the Golden Globe award for best foreign-language film.

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