Screening and discussion on Saturday, May 23, 2015

One of the greatest masters and revolutionaries of cinema, whose name is evoked on par with Fellini, Bergman and Kurosava, Andrei Tarkovsky is known for his distinct style and idiosyncratic vision. While Tarkovsky is the best-known Russian film director, Andrei Rublev is his single most famous film. By many it is regarded as the best art-house film of all time.

Andrei Rublev, which follows the life of a fifteenth-century icon painter and Russian national saint, is about medieval Russia yet it has strong contemporary and, indeed, a-temporal relevance. It is more than a biography and more than a meditation on the value of life, creativity and selfhood, although it is all of the above. The film’s power is in its visual beauty, which mesmerizes the viewer, making her want to watch it over and over again. And we will do it in our one-day seminar. After we watch Tarkovsky’s Andrei Rublev, we will discuss its narrative and its author’s craftsmanship, which transpires in imagery, motifs and themes of this unforgettable visual marvel.