Moscow Cinema Museum in Danger

[Saskia]

Dear Seelangers,

I just got this public letter that may be of interest to this list, I hope.

Truly,

Saskia Ouaknine
Montreal

******
Moscow Cinema Museum in Danger
A public letter by Erika and Ulrich Gregor
Source: http://www.shomingeki.de/moscow.htm

According to latest informations ("Rossiyskaya Gazeta", "Moscow News", "The
Hollywood Reporter"), the state-supported Cinema Museum in Moscow is again
seriously threatened in its existence.

The Moscow Cinema Museum ("Musei Kino") with its five cinemas, exhibition
halls, offices and storage spaces is housed in the "Kino Zentr" in Uliza
Druzhinnikovskaya, a building constructed fifteen years ago by the Union of
Filmmakers of the USSR to house the collections and activities of the Cinema
Museum. It is directed by the internationally renowned film historian,
Eisenstein expert, film author and curator Naum Kleiman. In the fifteen
years of its existence it has become an irreplaceable part of cultural life
in Moscow. In 1995, the Moscow Cinema Museum presented a selection of more
than 70 films from the programmes of the International Forum of New Cinema
of the Berlinale in the context of the Moscow Film Festival. In the
meantime, the Cinema Museum owns a film collection and a collection of
400.000 exhibition objects.

However, many filmmakers' unions of ex-Soviet republics have already sold
their parts of the property to the commercial company "Kino Zentr" which is
developing the Arlekin entertainment center with a casino, a restaurant, a
night club and a cinema multiplex. The Russian Union of Filmmakers, which
still owns 32% of the building, according to latest informations, is
contemplating to surrender its property stakes to Kino-Zentr and Arlekin
after the end of the forthcoming International Moscow Film Festival. In that
case, the eviction of the cinema museum from the Kino Zentr would be
imminent. "The new owners are raising the question of "freeing up" all the
auditoriums and storage rooms for commercial use" (press release of the
cinema museum). A "fait accompli", an irreversible transaction, could soon
take place.

The Musei Kino with its ongoing film programmes, its exhibitions and
publications is a permanent meeting point for the Russian and international
film community and serves as a focal point and bridge between the
cinematographies of Russia and the world, between the past and the present.
It is also an instrument of education of the cinema public. It is the only
non-commercial cinema in Moscow to regularly show classical films and the
best of contemporary cinema, experimental and documentary films. If its
activities would have to stop it would be a catastrophic and incalculable
loss for cultural and cinematographic life in Russia and the world.

We protest vigorously against all measures of giving up property originally
belonging to the Filmmakers' Union and thereby endangering the continued
existence of the Cinema Museum. We ask the competent authorities of the
Russian Federation, the Russian Government, the municipal Moscow
administration, the Cultural Committee of the Russian Parliament, the
Culture Ministry of the Russian federation, of which the cinema museum is a
part, and the filmmakers' union of Russia - to ensure that the Cinema Museum
can continue its activities at its present locations in Kino Zentr

Signed: Ulrich and Erika Gregor and all collaborators of the Friends of the
German Film Archive, the Arsenal cinema and the International Forum of the
Berlin Film Festival.

Note:

Many filmmakers and film institutions from the international film community
have already expressed their support for the Cinema Museum in Moscow. The
friends and visitors of the Museum will stage a public protest during the
International Moscow Film Festival on June 23 on Pushkin square.

Informations about the current situation of the Moscow Cinema Museum can be
found at its website,
http://help.museikino.ru/upholdhelp.asp
http://help.museikino.ru/program.asp#eng
http://help.museikino.ru/upholdmain.asp#eng
http://help.museikino.ru/upholdmain.asp#eng

The Cinema Museum's website is
http://www.museikino.ru

Berlin, 17 June 2004


-- 
"Il mangeait russe, il buvait russe, il pensait russe, il rêvait russe"
- Henri Troyat, La Malandre, p. 237

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