Training animals humanely
Moscow’s famous Durov Theater has been charming audiences for a full century. Founded in 1812 by world-famous clown and animal trainer Vladimir Durov, the theater featured Durov’s unique approach of casting animals as actors in plays, after extensive training that involved rewards rather than punishment.
Along with his brother Anatoly, Vladimir was also a talented clown who gave performances abroad, but eventually focused entirely on working with animals, even experimenting with animal telepathy and collaborating with psychologist Ivan Pavlov.
The Durov Theater’s most famous act is one in which the animals – including monkeys, geese, and a goat – actually operate a train. The theater is in the same building in which it was founded 100 years ago and caters mainly to a younger audience.
The struggle with time continues
The switch to year-long “Summer Time” (Летнее время), a feat many jokingly say was Dmitry Medvedev’s only memorable accomplishment as president, may be reversed under President Vladimir Putin.
A bill has been proposed in the Duma to resume moving clocks back in autumn and forward in the spring, following complaints from Russians (particularly those further north) that they are not getting enough daylight. The time switch (or rather non-switch, since clocks were not moved back last fall) prompted some protests, especially in regions that ended up losing two hours of daylight, due to their time zone being combined with a neighboring one in an attempt to “simplify” zones across the vast breadth of Russia.
The proposed legislation to revert to winter time has caused problems for companies like Russian Railways, which sells tickets well in advance of travel dates and has stopped some sales due to confusion over timetables for long-distance trains that traverse time zones.
Primaries rouse little interest
Russia’s opposition seeks to form an alternative political representative body for Russians not happy with Vladimir Putin’s government. Several hundred candidates are competing in internet primaries, and 45 people will be chosen through a popular vote to create a “Coordinating Council,” which will formulate opposition strategies and unite the many different opposition groups – from nationalists to environmentalists – into a single bloc.
Registration to vote in the primaries is a multi-step affair, and at press time fewer than 60,000 people had been granted “certified voter” status. Televised debates on Dozhd TV primarily addressed political questions, but also featured the recitation of poetry about Russian history. During these early-stage debates, candidates were given only 30 seconds to formulate their answers. All of the usual suspects are in the running, including Boris Nemtsov, Alexei Navalny, Garry Kasparov, and other less obvious and more exotic candidates. The vote is scheduled for October 20-21. (cvk2012.org)
Historical films almost lost
The American company Magna-Tech Electronic presented Russia’s Lenfilm Studio (St. Petersburg) with 350 silent films made before the Revolution and taken out of the country during the early wave of “White” emigration. The films were collected by Samuel Kipnis, who lived in Miami until his death in 1982, when the collection was transferred to the University of Florida. When the school had a fire, the films were rescued by businessman Steven Krams, the head of the company.
Krams told RFE/RL in an interview that he never really watched the films but decided Lenfilm should be the home for the collection after he visited the studios while in Russia. Lenfilm said it has asked for help restoring the films and making them accessible to the public after they are shipped to Russia at the end of the year.
Classic novel comes to film
Vasily Grossman’s internationally acclaimed novel, Life and Fate, chronicling the cataclysmic period of World War II and the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, has been made into a television miniseries. The project, undertaken by director Sergei Ursulyak, premiered in mid-October on the Rossiya channel, which partly financed the film.
The series stars Sergei Makovetsky, Alexander Baluyev, and Polina Agureyeva, among others, and much of the supporting cast is comprised of amateur actors. Filmed in Yaroslavl and Moscow, Life and Fate is a lavish period production that the director says offers a nuanced view of the war’s tragedy for Russia and its people.
Ursulyak has previously made similar, successful miniseries, such as Liquidation and Isayev. A preview of the film can be seen at bit.ly/lifeandfatetrailer
Moscow’s Pushkinsky movie theater, located on Pushkin Square, has been transformed into a venue for staging musicals. The first performance, in early October, presented Disney’s The Little Mermaid.
Pushkinsky, also known as the Rossiya movie theatre, made the transition after the movie distribution company that operates the building decided its gargantuan 2000-seat facility was no longer practical for showing movies. (Watch a short trailer of The Little Mermaid here: bit.ly/mermaidtrailer.
Art parses life
Dukhless (Soulless), the 2006 bestselling novel about a corporate drone in capitalist, amoral Russia, has been made into a movie, leading many to draw parallels with the protest movement against Vladimir Putin.
The book, whose author Sergei Minayev has been compared rather unabashedly to the French author Michel Houellebecq, was adapted to the screen by music video director Roman Prygunov. It sets the unlikely romance between the wealthy protagonist and a beautiful young protester against the backdrop of modern Moscow.
Mostly financed from Russia’s state budget and starring a young woman who is now a Duma deputy for United Russia, it even draws parallels with the anarchist art group Voina, and has Vladimir Putin appear in one character’s dream in a superhero costume. Watch the trailer here: bit.ly/soullesstrailer
Russia is 3 for 3 in its World Cup 2014 qualifying campaign: a 2-0 victory over Northern Ireland, a 4-0 win away in Israel, and a 1-0 win over Portugal.
The goal scored against top rival Portugal on October 12, by Alexander Kerzhakov, made Russia the undisputed leader of qualifying group F, with 9 points after three games. Kerzhakov’s goal came early in the match, and Portugal dominated the ball possession for the rest of the match but failed to equalize.
“It was a tough match, but today I’ve seen that team on the pitch that I saw at practice all this week,” said Russia’s Italian coach Fabio Capello. “The players played with huge desire and commitment.”
The Russian men’s team finished second at the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul, Turkey. The gold went to Armenia, which also won in 2006 and 2008 (Armenians edged out the Russians in a tie-break). Meanwhile, the women’s squad – Alexandra Kosteniuk, Nadezhda Kosintseva, Tatiana Kosintseva, Natalia Pogonina, and Valentina Gunina – earned their second consecutive Olympic Chess gold medal after defeating China in a tie-break. The success of the women’s team meant Russia brought home the Gaprindashvili Cup, awarded to the best country at the Olympiad. Nadezhda Kosintseva and Natalia Pogonina also won individual gold medals on boards 3 and 5.
Russian men’s tennis hit rock bottom as the national team dropped out of the World Group for the first time in 20 years after being blanked 5-0 by Brazil in Davis Cup playoffs. The two best Russian players – veterans Mikhail Youzhny and Nikolai Davydenko – were missing from the team, though Youzhny later said he simply was “not invited.” Tourney commitments for Yevgeny Donskoy and Andrei Kuznetsov meant that captain Shamil Tarpishchev did not bring his best players to the tie.
Local critics say Russian Tennis Federation chief Tarpishchev is deliberately using the principle “the worse – the better,” trying to attract attention from the Kremlin, which has not been in a hurry to dole out money for development of Russian tennis. Indeed, shortly after the Brazil debacle, in a wide-ranging interview with RIA Novosti, Tarpishchev blamed Russian tennis woes on the lack of adequate state financial support.
Yet, one of his former trainees, Andrei Chesnokov strongly disagreed. “We must make transparent all finances which are transferred to our (tennis) federation. There is the budget money. And then there is the extra budgetary money – none knows about it except for Tarpishchev. No matter how much money you give to our federation, there will never be enough, as far as I understand.” Chesnokov went on to accuse Tarpishchev of nepotism and incompetence, leading some to suspect that the “eternal captain” may be on his way out.
The International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) and Russia jointly announced the 11 Russian cities that will host the 2018 World Cup: Kaliningrad, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Saransk, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd and Sochi. Thus, Krasnodar and Yaroslavl were dropped from the original candidate list. Earlier, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko had warned that Yaroslavl had “several problems” that might kill its bid. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised message that hosting the World Cup was a “good stimulator to boost the economy... More than anything, it’s a very good way to get young people involved in sports.” The government will offer subsidies to support transportation in the host cities, he promised.
Several senior Zenit (St. Petersburg) players voiced their protest after the soccer club, bankrolled by Russian energy giant Gazprom, spent €100 million to get Brazilian striker Hulk and Belgian midfielder Axel Witsel just before the league’s transfer deadline. Disgruntled Zenit captain Igor Denisov was demoted to the reserve team after issuing a contract ultimatum, demanding to know why foreign stars are paid so much more than Russian players.
Zenit, the reigning national champion, has failed to win a game since the scandal broke out. “I’m not against foreign players, but there must be a balance in the team,” Denisov told Sport-Express daily. Denisov was reportedly making €3 million per year and was asking for a €2 million raise. “The club feels that Denisov’s demands are groundless, as he already is one of the best-paid players not only at Zenit but in the entire Russian league,” Zenit said on their website.
пару лет назад, все начало схлопываться, и все друг друга начали кушать
“We used to have a strategy of relying on other platforms rather than competing with them... But then, two years ago, everything began to collapse and everyone started eating everyone else. Google started promoting its own browser, Chrome, and pushing out competitors.”
Yandex CEO Arkady Volozh on the Russian search engine wars and the launch of the Yandex Browser (Vedomosti)
такой задачей могло бы стать создание лунной станции
“There is great competition between countries in outer space activities, and therefore there should be a greater goal that will pull science and industry forward... I would suggest that we undertake a great mission, and creating a lunar station could be just such a task.”
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, dreaming of space despite Russia’s streak of losing satellites (Vesti FM)
стрелять в воздух нельзя на радостях ни в Москве, ни в Махачкале, ни в Нью-Йорке
“There are all kinds of cultural traditions, but nobody has yet abolished legal norms, so you cannot shoot into the air out of exuberance, not in Moscow, not in Makhachkala, and not in New York.”
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, after a group of young Dagestanis went on a joyride through Moscow shooting into the air and at passing cars during a wedding, only to be released with a fine. (Interfax)
это кощунство, я считаю
“It’s impossible to outlaw everything that was signed by Lenin. In my opinion, that would be a travesty.”
Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, on why he refused to outlaw a series of Lenin’s decrees from the 1920s regarding building power plants. (RIA Novosti)
“They once called us anti-Soviet, but even back then they didn’t call us foreign agents.”
Valery Borshchov, veteran human rights campaigner in Russia, on the new law labelling NGOs with foreign funding “foreign agents.” (Washington Post)
«Играете мою пьесу, а меня чуть не убили!»
“I had the honor of being friends with Pasternak. At the Vakhtangov Theater, Hamlet was playing in his translation, and I was also playing Romeo there. And in the play’s swordfight, a piece of my sword broke off and pierced the seat right between Pasternak and Voznesensky. Pasternak then came backstage and said to me, “You are in my play, and you nearly killed me!” But Voznesensky took the broken-off piece of the sword, so I don’t have it anymore.”
Theater titan Yury Lyubimov reflecting on life shortly before he turned 95 in October (Vechernyaya Moskva)
Victoria Fyodorova was the daughter of Soviet film star Zoya Fyodorova and U.S. Navy Admiral Jackson Tate, who was stationed in Moscow at the end of World War II. Although Zoya tried to conceal her affair from the authorities, she was arrested shortly after Victoria’s birth and sentenced to 25 years in a labor camp, along with several relatives. Zoya and her daughter lived in Kazakhstan until after Joseph Stalin’s death, while Tate lived in the United States, completely unaware that he had a daughter.
Victoria, who also became an actress, eventually found her father, and traveled to visit him in the U.S. She stayed there, married a Pan American pilot, and eventually wrote a memoir, The Admiral’s Daughter, about her family’s experiences. When Zoya was shot in her apartment in 1981 (the crime is unsolved to this day), Victoria was not allowed to return to the USSR for the funeral. She lived out her life quietly in Pennsylvania, reportedly suffering from lung cancer before her death in early September at 67.
Former Defense Minister Pavel Grachyov, who headed the army during the Yeltsin era and is seen by many as the mastermind behind Russia’s bloody Chechen war, died on September 23 in Moscow at 64. Grachyov’s controversial role in the history of modern Russia made him a despicable figure for many, and, after his ouster in 1996, he lived the last years of his life in relative obscurity, dying of meningocephalitis in a Moscow hospital.
Born in the Tula region, Grachyov became a paratrooper and had an illustrious military career during the Soviet Union’s Afghan War (1979-1989). He was awarded the prestigious title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and in 1990 was promoted to Commander of the Soviet Airborne Troops. Later, he emerged as an ally of President Boris Yeltsin when, during the 1991 coup attempt, he refused to storm the Supreme Soviet building and arrest Yeltsin.
He became defense minister in 1992. His most memorable legacy from the First Chechen War (1994-1996) was his careless quote that the insurgents could be quelled in two hours. That and his disastrous decision to storm Grozny, which he previously had said would only be attempted by an “incompetent commander.” He was right.
Grachyov was dismissed from his post in 1996 and appointed a senior advisor to the state arms export company (from which he was fired just one year later). Embroiled in corruption scandals and facing criticism over Chechnya atrocities, Grachyov’s fall from grace was as swift as his rise. The harshest condemnation came from human rights activists. Yet many who knew him commend him for being a good military leader and taking on difficult jobs during Russia’s most difficult years. He was a “quintessential Russian paratrooper,” wrote Alexander Golts, a military analyst, in The Moscow Times, but “fate played a cruel trick on him by elevating him to the highest military post too rapidly.”
Pyotr Fomenko, the iconic head of one of Moscow’s most famous theaters, died in late August at the age of 80. A teacher at GITIS (the Russian Academy of Theater Arts) who trained scores of Soviet and Russian stars and directors, Fomenko is credited with creating a style and method of acting uniquely his own and instantly recognizable.
Originally from Moscow, Fomenko made friends at university with the famous Russian bards Yuly Kim and Yuly Vizbor. From his start in the 1960s, his theatrical work was imbued with light-hearted but poignant irony. Not surprisingly, he was the target of criticism from official Soviet circles for taking liberties with the classics, which led to a temporary banishment from the capital.
He established his own Fomenko Theatre in the 1990s, when he was 61, and staged his signature productions in a tiny hole-in-the-wall theater west of central Moscow for years, until a modern venue was built next door to the original theater. Fomenko’s most famous productions include Wolves and Sheep by Alexander Ostrovsky and One Absolutely Happy Village by Boris Vakhtin, along with classics by Tolstoy and Chekhov, usually performed to full houses. Most of the actors and directors at the Fomenko Theater are his former students.
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