Zviagintsev’s Leviathan (2014)

Saturday seminar with Svitlana Kobets, PhD

From the time of its triumphant screening at the 2014 Cannes International Film Festival, Zvyagintsev’s film Leviathan kept receiving the highest international awards, including the 2015 Golden Globe and 2014 Cannes Festival award for the Best Script, yet at the same time it kept being censored and banned in the director’s home country, Russia. Leviathan’s opponents attempted to ban the film altogether, accusing it of Western orientation and strong anti-Russian bias. Yet the prolonged ban achieved quite the opposite: it heated the Russian audiences’ interest and made the film immensely popular despite its Art House genre. Leviathan’s success, of course, cannot be reduced to its serendipitous release and marketing benefits of censorship. It is a masterfully crafted work of extraordinary intrinsic merits, which moves and engages as it mesmerizes by its unforgettable imagery, superb lead performances, spellbinding cinematography, depth and pathos of the narrative. As we discuss at our seminar this instant classic, we will address its art and narrative as well as its director’s idiosyncratic vision.

Date: November 14, 2015

Screening time: 9:30 am (time change alert!), lunch: 12-12:50 pm, discussion: 1-3 pm

LocationAlumni Hall, room 400, 121 St. Joseph St. M5S 1J4

 
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