SYNOPSIS
WIZARDS/MAGICIANS/ Charodei - 21 Oct 2008 – 6.30 pm
Director:Konstantin Bromberg - 1982/ colour/160’/ fairytale
Plot: In a small Russian town, there is a Research Institute for magic. One of the witches, Alyona Sanina, is going to marry a guy named Ivan Puhov (not a magician). A jealous Apollon Sataneev tells her boss Kira Shemahandskaya that Sanina is going to marry not Ivan Puhov, but Ivan Kivrin, whom Shemahandskaya is going to marry herself. Enraged, Shemahandskaya, who is a powerful witch, orders Sanina to forget about her Ivan but marry Sataneev instead. And this will be final unless Alyona kisses Puhov before midnight on New Year. Alyona’s friends call Puhov to the rescue.
IRONY OF FATE / Ironiya sudby, ili S legkim parom! - 22 Oct 2008 - 6.30 pm
Director:Eldar Ryazanov - 1975/ colour/ 184’/ comedy
This modestly budgeted, romantic comedy became one of the most popular films in the former Soviet Union and a staple of TV broadcasts on New Year’s Eve. On New Years eve, too much vodka and beer makes two friends unconscious. The problem is that one of them (Sasha) has to go to Leningrad but another one (Zhenya) goes. Zhenya wakes up at Leningrad airport, believing that he is still in Moscow he takes a taxi and goes home. The street name, building and even apartment number, the way an apartment complex looks the same and the key coincide completely - just typical Soviet-type ‘economy’ architecture. Imagine the surprise of Nadya when she enters her apartment and finds a man without trousers in her bed. What’s more - Nadya’s fiancé also finds him there…
EVENING ON A FARM NEAR DIKANKA/ Vechera na khutore bliz - 23 Oct 2008 – 6.15pm
Director:Semen Gorov - 2001/colour / 91’/ fairytale
Plot: In the remote Ukrainian village of Dikanka, handsome but poor Vakula loves the beautiful Oxana, but she’s holding out for a wealthy prince, and her father doesn’t think much of him either. On Christmas Eve she sends him on a ridiculous quest for dancing shoes that takes him all the way to the imperial palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, with the help of some odd characters from the village and the Devil himself.
THE FAIR BARBARA WITH SILKEN HAIR/ Varvara-krasa, dlinnaya kosa - 23 Oct 2008 – 7.45 pm
Director:Aleksandr Rou - 1969 / colour/ 85’ / fairytale
Plot : The powerful Czar Yeremey the Bearded (Mikhail Pugovkin) lives in a sunny kingdom, but his idyllic life is turned upside down one day when he stares into a well and finds himself confronted by a subterranean ruler, Chudo Yudo the Lawless (Georgi Millyar), who clutches onto the tsar’s orange beard and threatens to drag him down into the fairy kingdom. Yeremey’s freedom can only be granted if he agrees to provide Chudo Yudo with anything from the kingdom. The tsar returns home to discover that a new heir has been born. Chudo Yudo’s demand for the baby results in a thwarted infant swap, leaving the false baby raised by the Czar and the real heir spoiled into stunted infancy
THE TALE OF TSAR SALTAN / Skazka o tsare Saltane 24 Oct 2008 – 6.15 pm
Directors:Ivan Ivanov-Vano, Lev Milchin - 1984/colour/ 69’/ fairytale
Plot: The Tale of Tsar Saltan is a colorful Russian fairy tale based on the classic poem by Alexander Pushkin. When Tsar Saltan is away at war, the scheming members of his court exile his young wife and newborn heir. The tsarina and the young prince Guidon survive and reach a remote island. Guidon saves the beautiful Princess Swan from an evil sorcerer and through a series of miracles she helps the prince to reunite with his father.
FATHER FROST / Morozko - 24 Oct 2008- 7.30 pm
Director:Aleksandr Rou - 1964/ colour/ 84’ / fairytale
Plot A beautiful, abused girl named Nastenka, and Ivan, a strong, proud young man, fall in love. Nastenka lives on the edge of the forest, where her wicked stepmother treats her horribly while doting on her own daughter, whom she hopes to marry off to a wealthy boy; Ivan, from another part of the forest, goes off seeking adventure, but he is too proud for his own good and must learn humility — he does this with the help of a strange old man, who casts a spell on him giving him the head of a bear. He gets back his own face only after he performs a good deed for the sheer goodness of doing it, and is soon worthy of marrying Nastenka . Both Nastenka and Ivan get unexpected help from Father Frost, a St. Nicholas-like figure with his magic carriage and his icy staff.
Awards:1 win