china's first space laboratory heads into orbit as the country steps up its space program for an even more ambitious project but by the launch of beijing's own space station. right now on r.t.l. going off turns the spotlight on prominent russian of filmmaker alexander so could of whose movie founds was awarded the venice film festivals top prize the gold lion stay tuned for that.

hello again to walk and to spotlight. on i. guess there's a live sound with a self-portrait joining us from st peter's. this year's venice film festival has been a great success from russia with the movie called fouls directed last night poor i was awarded the gold blog the festival's growth rate critics say that's a sign of the industry's revival but the self is not so optimistic this is a tour of thanks to the logistics of filmmaking in russia still leaves much to be. classed as our guest on. out sound so curled this year's biggest victor at the venice film festival alexander secure of help to overcome much misunderstanding in his or the career the student films were mostly unknown accepted by his teachers at the state film school in moscow and his early

works were banned by soviet censors what helped secure of move then was support from one of the greatest filmmakers of all time under. the end of the one nine hundred eighty s. and gorbachev zero team as a rule the force of guru whose films were finally released to receive acclaim both at home and abroad the filmmaker could finally quench his thirst for work make can see. films a year both speeches and documentaries secure of zim person they stick works marked by a philosophical approach to history and human nature one then lots of intellectuals world wide one of the filmmakers trademarks is the peering in there are people in his fiction films secure of his famous for experimenting with film language he's russian ark became a sensation in two thousand and two as it was made in this single ninety six minute long shot in the one nine hundred ninety six worked on his famous to troll

exploring the effects of the war on one's personality the first three films were biographies of some of the most powerful political leaders of the twentieth century . and hero. the fourth film of the to troll would you follow sed broke securities biggest cinematographic award the golden lion of the venice film festival. mr secretary thank you very much for joining us good afternoon and a warm welcome from st petersburg. first of all i would like to congratulate you on the goldline award for the it's a great achievement for the russian filmmaking industry as well as for you personally. but before we start discussing the award in new dance that surrounded i would like you to comment on the latest news of the russian filmmaking community.

after all so what's your take on this scandal around russia's pick for the wards i mean since. after the official vote the chairman of russia's oscar committee refused to sign the papers. how can that happen. what's your beyond that which you. i don't have an opinion on this issue really i wasn't aware of it before i saw it in the newspapers i didn't know about russia's nominating a movie for an oscar either i read about it later also in the newspapers and heard about it on the radio. i think what's happened is all down to how human nature decisions are taken by humans it must have been a personal conflict. anyway why do you think epic isn't fit to run for an

oscar we are aware of styria types the americans have of russia we often know the artistic taste of the academy members. film may well be the right choice for an oscar but why should european style serious movies of humanitarian carol to compete for what is basically a commercial prize. over all this story didn't really stir any emotions in me. that was pretty this mr sekulow if maybe this is the way it should be. off it was against the nomination of this film argued primarily that this film by mikhail cough was actually a poured over a larger movie just one of the ports but mr sokurov in the film that earned you the golden lion she's also a part of your. which includes tourists in the sun and leslie you fall in on this fourth and last part receives the ward do you regard your false there's a need to pan and peace or

a part of the. i mean that if the latter is true then the viewers who have not seen the previous parts will have to watch all of them first before seeing faults. no it's a separate film each of the pods has its own value and leads a separate life but that's how it was the general idea behind the technology is humanitarian. not quite cinema to graphic. the roots of the method i employed i mean such fundamental studies could be traced back to literature. it's not typical of cinematography neither russia nor international it may as well be a unique case the first case of such an in-depth study but as a director i cannot imagine that it would be possible to produce small taurus or the sun and keep them on the shelf during all these years waiting for files to come out finalist is a separate film but you can also viewed as the last chapter of the tetralogy.

well it's not the first time we talk to you in over the years i have come to know you a bit what i mean is that i know you don't like the high life it's hard to imagine your magazines covers or gossip columns but then all of a sudden you're the talk of the town the festivals hero the gold line in your hands standing right there in the center of that celeb gathering what do you feel at the moment. well not much i'm afraid which would be similar to what you have described because when al a television channels broadcast the news. i was still in venice. then i travelled back to st petersburg and wasn't very much affected by the whole thing. the only reason i felt that something really happened was a string of phone calls with congratulations from my friends relatives

acquaintances and colleagues whom i deal in love. but it's actually not the first of my awards i have three vatican awards my movies regularly receive prizes though it's not usually reported. that's the conditions i work and. part of my jaw has to take. a procedure i don't quite like either. my movies make their first steps for me a festival is not a competition i have always been against competition the contemporary movie making industry doesn't offer other options that would be as efficient money wise to present to the international cinematography community as fast hauls. but the budgets for my movies do not include funds for promotion already not a single cent by the way we have a deficit budget for found most with only one copy printed so far. at the moment

we don't really know how to show viewers so i mean it's my job on the new year's eve i know that the next day on the first of january things will still be the same i know for sure. awards are only important because they encourage my friends and colleagues who helped me make the movie and maybe they were happier about it than me everybody knows that you don't like film festivals you don't like the idea of a competition held among artists as if they were athletes but you can't deny that film festivals are essential for the development of the film industry and filmmakers so you're kind of left in between. you don't know whether you're against film festivals or for them right definitely what is better to abolish them want to let them be. film festivals held in the form of film showing the one in venice are absolutely necessary it can be otherwise. wrong to hold film

festivals as a competition. but almost anything. both renowned and experienced directors who do have a name in the film industry and beginners. who have. long been part of the cinema world are a nonpolitical for the newcomers for the young artists all along for awards attention recognition and fame far more than we do it would take me i don't need any of these because i have grown out of this and when i really needed such things there were none today i realize that appreciation and attention as well as film distribution and television time i needed badly by young film directors and part of the audience needs all this as well we need a renewal we should give young people a chance this is not only true for films a film festival organizers

a film show like the venice film festival and unlike hands or bilin that hold a film contest a kind of rivalry is the most reasonable and justified type of film festival as the film competitions they should be abolished i have contacted the organizers of all the biggest film festivals and have been telling them for a number of years that the system of film competition has no future but they won't be making money without a competition because it's basically the competitive part of the festival it attracts people attract so what he means fans and sponsors i'm not sure. mr socor off new films attract people this is what attracts people new films. the habs but not the computer itself it is the desire and the opportunity to see new films that drives thousands to the festivals including the press and television. award winning russian film director spotlight surely.

culture is that so much given to each musician on the mark when the united nations the global body in search of a mission often derided as a competent and ineffective deal when it is also accused of being. on. the map. the you.

see. on. the.

welcome back to spotlight i'm just a reminder that my guest on the show today is. the award winning russian film director mr sokurov after you won the gold mine award you said in one of your first interviews following the event i quote the current form of existence of the russian filmmaking industries fundamentally are wrong and should be changed immediately and quote. what is wrong in particular with the russian filmmaking industry. as i see it the reporter has twisted my words a bit the quote is not accurate. and then it has changed it i was referring exclusively to the way funds are distributed in the morgan film industry if the

government finances film production as a not as a type of culture i emphasize no type of commercial special attention should be paid to the issue of fun distribution the way funds are distributed to days totally unacceptable those funds are basically pocketed by a few self dealing people in moscow. a film funded not foster film production growth there has been only a couple of in the country and all last year's films the films that were produced after the reform after the responsibility for fun distribution was taken away from the ministry of culture so bad that no t.v. channel not even channel one that is known for favoring commercial films will ever show that the way funds are being distributed is nothing but embezzle meant plain and simple. working in the west a lot he's so can you point out a country that could become a model for russia the united states and germany or france.

is really good but excessively bureaucratized i remember german t.v. reporters asking me in venice why my film was not financed from german funds among others which. i told the procedure is too complicated in germany you have to go from province to province collecting those contributions into. fifty thousand euros here twenty thousand years there the french model could feed the russian system best of all. the french have a transparent and democratic procedure for applying for government support followed by an equally transparent and democratic discussion of strong and weak sides of the film project the director is seeking government funds for we used to have something very similar at the time when the. distribution then the system was changed. to have certain drawbacks of course but anyway it has been abandoned. he was

transferred to a group of i don't know whose but has been going on from bad to worse ever since we must introduce an absolutely transparent form of it because it is absolutely necessary it is necessary wherever government funds are distributed. needed to accomplish this is integrity and decency integrity and decency that's all nothing else i think is no facing a severe lack of integrity and decency. you have. with the authorities for some time now. to prime minister. film from. why can't be privatized he said because there are no decent people left who can manage to. react to your request in any way.

it will be clear and simple the management model that have evolved had been privatized would have led to a situation where. a vast country we the people clearly predisposed towards cinematography. we might have no administrative talent but we have a great talent for cinematography and sciences we are great writers and great composers but the liquidation of landfill have led to monopoly russia would only have to studios left. and the russian world studios. where would directors who did not fit into the aesthetic and humanitarian of those studios. and artistic environment should present as many creative haven't as many production opportunities as possible. that is what makes

a good artistic environment. studios we have. a small independent artists who would be able to realize their creative ideas but. i would never be able to direct anything at. the russian. would have never produced my fondest. director's especially young directors need as many alternatives as they can have most young directors would not be able to take off the russian. we do need len film. because we need a humanitarian studio seats. make rajin lee would say i'm. not getting a response in russia. you see that most of your films are not screened in russia

and probably never will be. i don't. but that's the essence of it how do you explain the difference the. public treats you with is it the way film distribution works or does it have to do with becoming less cultured in general. i have to say first and foremost the cultural landscape in russia has been changing ever since social and political changes began in our society. i would say that the average cultural level in our society is the same as it was in nine hundred twenty nine hundred thirty. compared to the soviet period it is a sign that society on the whole has degraded this is my opinion. the kind of films i make and not just me there are other very notable directors in russia vis sword

have always been watched by university students specialists and educated classes in general. russian students are in a very difficult situation these days. it is essentially an environment devoid of humanitarian values. the number of specialists has greatly diminished as most of the factories and research centers have been shut down most of those people are interested in culture and life in general some of them have other interests. culture is really struggling these days everywhere in the old world i'm not talking about the united states. there is a real battle going on between consumerism and. humanitarian by. it is a real. it is happening in russia as well. of course there is no national distribution. it is no wonder that distributed by to western owned companies

there is no independent distribution and. national all municipal distribution system like they have in germany for example i do not see to merging in the near future either of course there is no room for me in the system but i think room should be made make most of my films documentaries and fiction with government funds. to present my films to the audience the taxpayer should see where their money goes. this is the general situation and it should be changed. can be changed. by the response your films have attracted in united. will level of the american people is not much higher than that in more than russia. but the general cultural level of the population is undoubtedly higher than in

russia unfortunately as a citizen of russia i am saying this with a heavy heart i think this is one of the principle. that they were mostly in the sphere of culture and. of course the cultural level in the us is higher and they have alternative ways of self-expression and systems of distribution. do you think these losses were natural and inevitable when such a huge leap to capitalism was performed. unavoidable when societies restructured or not. this is a very important question i think partially inevitable but they're also very much the result of the revolutionary changes which have brought russia to the state it is in today being led to minded mainly by humanists intellectuals by scholars who left the field they had belonged to and with drew attention an effort impaired the

development of humanities and arts the quality of work in these fields the right moment to prevent trouble was missed today we're trying to catch up with what was lost back then the struggle for leading today is an example of that we were able to persuade the prime minister that we should not snap decisions on issues of privatization and this is encouraging shows we should continue winning back what was lost in the past the russian capitalism can't be trusted that it is an old creature with only a stomach and. no heart or head whatsoever we just don't see all these organs how can we trust these beasts semi beast. to kate and everything it gets we have to be careful culture must be a priority you should always come first culture is the ultimate goal of

a nation's existence they can be no other goals but culture development it is not only true for russia it is true for all the other nations europeans are facing same problems as russia and all the recessions and deadlocks both social and economic can be traced back to the oblivion the cultural sphere has fallen in all right last question if you call yourself a literature person but what often happens these days is say when my son i ask him . and he says i watched a movie. i watched. this tendency to produce screen version so bad because it steals the. readers into view. well that's a very important question and it's cinema source sport that's something that touches is very cool because there is no way there can be serious cinema without literature the only thing i can see is that the purpose of my work when i make films based on some profound literature sources is to inspire the viewers to go and

read the book after they have watched the film thank you very much for being with us and just a reminder that my guest today was alexander award winning filmmaker joining me from st petersburg and that's all for now from our spotlight. until then stay on russia today and take. a mission. couldn't take three. judges are free to make free. three stooges free. and free broadcast quality video for your media project

a free media party dot com. the

german parliament votes decisively to boost the euro zone's bailout guarantees to seven hundred eighty billion euros that's as a greece tries to persuade the e.u. and i.m.f. to release more and emergency cash. fighting in libya continues as anti kadafi forces take the airport of syria to one of colonel's few remaining strongholds frightened residents flee the city as their homes are destroyed meanwhile president obama has always hailed the arab uprisings as a victory for democracy now say this and he now says they've contributed to sloppy economic recovery of the u.s. . three two one and we have liftoff the first space laboratory zooms into orbit as china steps up its space program for an even more ambitious project the launch of beijing's own.