REDUX: THE POETIC CINEMA OF ANDREI TARKOVSKY

Russian master Andrei Tarkovsky (1932–1986) made seven feature-length films during his lifetime. The Melbourne Cinémathèque’s 2014 retrospective, Geographies of Place and Time: The Poetic Cinema of Andrei Tarkovsky, screened four of these in what remains one of our most popular seasons to date. We are pleased to augment this with a rare 35mm screening of Tarkovsky’s preferred cut of his lengthy medieval masterpiece, Andrei Rublev.

7:00PM – ANDREI RUBLEV
Andrei Tarkovsky
 (1966) 183 mins PG

Deemed “dangerous” by the Soviet authorities of the time, and banned from release for several years, this magnificent and truly epic film is often regarded as Tarkovsky’s masterpiece and is unquestionably one of the greatest films ever made about an artist. Based on the life of the medieval monk and pioneering painter of Russian icons (played by Anatoly Solonitsyn), this historical fresco combines weighty moral and national concerns with an audacious display of formal experimentation. Several of its set pieces, the sacking of a medieval town and the creation of a large bell, are amongst the greatest in Tarkovsky’s cinema. Co-written by Andrei Konchalovsky.

35mm print courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive, Australia.

CTEQ ANNOTATIONS:
The Passion According to Andrei: Andrei Rublev by Anna Dzenis.
by Hamish Ford.