September 11, 2019— (Key West, FL). Key West Art & Historical Society to present documentary film “Russian Ark”
On Tuesday, September 24, at 6:30pm, Key West Art & Historical Society will present its final Summer Art Film, “Russian Ark,” in the Helmerich Research & Learning Center at the Custom House Museum, 281 Front Street.
Alexander Sokurov’s spellbinding masterpiece “Russian Ark” is a multi-award-winning film consisting of one single, unbroken camera shot that moves through 33 rooms of St. Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum.
“It’s a staggering work of art,” says Society board member, film series curator, and cineaste Michael Shields.“An impressive technical feat that is also cinematic poetry of the first order.”
As Sokurov’s camera glides in and out of cathedral-like galleries, opulent ballrooms and shadowy corridors and workrooms, three centuries of Russian history and European art are compressed into a single 96-minute shot. In the dreamlike journey, an unseen modern filmmaker (voiced by Sokurov) is guided by a scornful French diplomat through the great paintings of El Greco, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, Rubens and others; at the same time, we’re offered glimpses of both iconic and private moments in Russian history.
“Russian Ark” is an extraordinary film that, like the museum itself, captures three centuries of Russian culture and history in all its beauty, confusion, terror, and majesty.
For more information, visit kwahs.org, click “Tickets.” Your Museums. Your Community. It takes an Island.
Photo Caption:
On Tuesday, September 24, at 6:30pm, Key West Art & Historical Society will present its final Summer Art Film, “Russian Ark,” in the Helmerich Research & Learning Center at the Custom House Museum, 281 Front Street. (Image Credit: THE KOBAL COLLECTION / FORA FILM/HERMITAGE BRIDGE STUDIO]