Speech by Sokurov and Korevoy at the ceremony. “Everyone knew they would cut it out”: actress Elena Koreneva about how the Nika Award turned into a protest
Laureates of the Nika film award Alexander Sokurov, Alexey Krasovsky, Vitaly Mansky, Elena Koreneva on Tuesday evening at the 30th award ceremony spoke in support of activists detained at protests against corruption on March 26 in Moscow and other cities of Russia, Dozhd reports. .
Director Alexander Sokurov, who received the Eldar Ryazanov Honor and Dignity Award, said that “you cannot start a civil war among schoolchildren and students.”
“We need to hear them. None of our politicians wants to hear them, no one talks to them,” Sokurov said.
“I, like many of us, looked at what was happening in the country on Sunday, and it seems to me that the state is making a big mistake by behaving so familiarly with young people, with schoolchildren and students.<...>They are afraid to do it. Why? This is impossible. It’s impossible to tolerate this anymore,” Sokurov noted.
He drew attention to the harsh actions of law enforcement agencies at mass protests, especially against girls and women. “I want to appeal to our deputies. To male deputies, because women will not accept such a new law. Let us pass a law that prohibits arresting and generally touching women and girls participating in protests,” suggested the director, whose speech was repeatedly interrupted by applause and shouts of “Bravo!”
“We said many times, for many years: “Where are you? Where are you, students? Where are you, schoolchildren? Do you notice that you are inside the country, do you notice what is happening in this country?” There was silence, they were not there. Here they are,” stated the director. “You and I must do everything to ensure that the humanitarian development of our society, our young people, occurs. Because everything connected with the substitution of enlightenment, education with some kind of religious dogma, everything connected with the introduction of religious institutions into the civil and political space leads to the collapse of the country,” Sokurov said.
After director Sokurov’s speech, the audience gave an ovation, many present stood up. A video recording of the director’s speech is posted on the page dedicated to him in Facebook, quotes from his speech are provided by the TASS agency.
Director Alexei Krasovsky, who received the Discovery of the Year award for the film Collector, called on filmmakers to speak out in defense of those who were detained on March 26. He called on the film community to somehow influence the fate of the detained protesters. “I want to ask you to use your power to change something in their fate,” TASS quotes the director. His performance was supported by the artistic director of the Lenkom Theater Mark Zakharov.
Actress Elena Koreneva, who was awarded for Best Supporting Actress, also spoke out in support of the detainees. "We can't help them, but we need to know that this is happening in our country," she said.
Vitaly Mansky, receiving the “Nick” for his documentary “In the Rays of the Sun,” which won in the category “Best Non-Fiction Film,” said that we “are not North Korea yet,” but “we have screwed up the country, so We are worse than North Korea,” writes Kommersant.
The portal kino-teatr.ru quotes the words of actress Yulia Aug, who received the award for best supporting role in the film “The Apprentice.” “This has not happened for a very long time when Nika was a protest action. And this fact means that the abscess is ripe,” said the actress. “I am very sorry that TV viewers will not hear the speeches of Krasovsky, Sokurov and Koreneva. I know it will be cut,” she added.
“Paradise” by Andrei Konchalovsky was recognized as the best film. The director of the film “Collector” Alexey Krasovsky won the “Discovery of the Year” nomination.
Andrei Konchalovsky was awarded for best director, Yuri Arabov (“The Monk and the Demon”) for best script, Eduard Artemyev (“Hero”) for best music, and Vladislav Opelyants (“Apprentice”) for best cinematography.
In the nomination “Best Actress”, the Nika Award was received by Yulia Vysotskaya (“Paradise”), in the nomination “Best Actor” - Timofey Tribuntsev (“The Monk and the Demon”). Prizes for supporting roles were given to Yulia Aug (“The Apprentice”), Elena Koreneva (“Her Name Was Mumu”) and Boris Kamorzin (“The Monk and the Demon”).
Vitaly Mansky's film "In the Rays of the Sun" was recognized as the best documentary film, "Cuckoo" by Dina Velikovskaya was recognized as the best animated film, and "Someone else's House" by Rusudan Glurjidze (Georgia) was recognized as the best film in the CIS and Baltic countries. It should be noted that the film “Red Garden” by Azerbaijani director Mirbala Salimli was also nominated in this category, but the film did not receive the award.
In the nominations “Best Work of an Artist” and “Best Work of a Costume Designer,” the prize was awarded to Andrei Ponkratov and Tatyana Patrahaltseva, who worked on the film “The Duelist,” and in the nomination “Best Work of a Sound Engineer” - Maxim Belovolov (“The Monk and the Demon”).
The winner of the Nika Award in the nomination “For Honor and Dignity” named after Eldar Ryazanov was director Alexander Sokurov, the Academy’s special prize “For Outstanding Contribution to Russian Cinema” named after Alexei German was received by Alexander Mitta, the special prize “For Contribution to Cinematographic Sciences, Criticism and Education " was awarded to Andrei Plakhov, the Academy Council Prize "For Achievements in Television Cinema" was awarded to Pavel Bardin's film "Salam Maskva".
Rallies against corruption on Sunday, March 26, were held in dozens of Russian cities. In Moscow, according to the Anti-Corruption Foundation, up to 20 thousand people took part in them. According to police, the number of protesters was no more than 8 thousand. According to OVD-Info, more than a thousand people were detained, including schoolchildren and students.
Elena Koreneva and Yulia Aug Actresses; winner of the award in the category “Best Supporting Actress”. Yulia Aug - for Kirill Serebrennikov’s film “The Apprentice”, Elena Koreneva - for Vladimir Mirzoev’s film “Her Name was Mumu”. Elena Koreneva: Good evening! I’m glad that there are two of us, that I got on this stage. Sveta Bragarnik, low bow (actress Svetlana Bragarnik was nominated for the award - note from Meduza). Koreneva and Aug bow. Natasha Negoda, hello! Thank you for your support, Little Vera! Julia Aug: I want to say a big thank you to the academicians who appreciated my work. I want to say a big thank you to Kirill, who believes in me. If I name all those to whom I am grateful, this evening will never end, and I am grateful to everyone who worked on our film. I am grateful to my mother, I am grateful to my daughter, and I am also incredibly grateful to the producers. Because this film was made by the independent studio “Hype Film”, that is, without government support. Shouts of approval from the audience. Ilya Stewart, thank you very much. Elena Koreneva: Very briefly. I want to say that Volodya Mirzoev’s film “Her Name was Mumu” was made by his entire family. His wife Katya worked as a producer, his daughter Nastya was killed, the film was made not with money from the state, but through crowdfunding (in fact, the money was received from the producers - Meduza's note), it starred a wonderful actress, very talented, Ira Vilkova. And since I played the mother of an oppositionist, I want to say two words. He looks towards Yuli Gusman. Laughter in the hall. I'm saying this for myself, you all know what I want to say. Our list of political prisoners numbers somewhere around a hundred people. It may be replenished, I will name three names: Oleg Sentsov, our colleague, a Ukrainian director, who received a passport of a Russian citizen against his will and was sentenced here to twenty years and is serving a sentence in Yakutia. Sergei Mokhnatkin, an elderly man with a broken back, who first came to the square on the 31st of some month, he protected a woman from being beaten by a policeman and that’s how he ended up in a paddy wagon. This was the beginning of his long, prison journey, unfortunately. The third person is Alexei Navalny’s brother, Oleg Navalny, who is in solitary confinement and was not released on repeated parole due to eleven outstanding violations. One of them is typical: he took off his outer jacket or sweater while doing exercises in the cell. I repeat that I am saying this more for myself. And we cannot help them, but we must know how this happens. I love and respect all the nominees. Good luck to everyone!
The Nika film award ceremony impressed many as a protest: several filmmakers who became award winners addressed sensitive political issues in their speeches. Thus, film director Alexander Sokurov spoke out in support of the Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov, convicted of terrorism, as well as all those who were detained at anti-corruption protest marches on Sunday, March 26.
The full transcript of the speech can be read on the website Sobaka.ru. A few quotes:
When I called my mother on the eve of departure - she is over 90 years old - she asked me: “Don’t speak, don’t say anything!” "Why?" - I asked. To which my mother told me, “They will kill you, because you are always arguing with the government, you are always dissatisfied with something.”
And I say that I’m not arguing, I’m stating my point of view. And today I want to say that I am waiting for a decision from the president, an answer to the question that we discussed - the fate of Oleg Sentsov (director of Ukrainian origin, in August 2015 he was sentenced to 20 years in a maximum security colony. He repeatedly announced the torture used against him - Note. ed.). And the president said that he would think about this problem. But I say this because I, like many of us, watched what was happening in the country on Sunday. And it seemed to me that the state was making a big mistake by behaving so familiarly with young people, with schoolchildren and students.
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You can’t start a civil war among schoolchildren and students, you need to hear them! None of our politicians wants to hear them, no one talks to them. For many years I turned to Matvienko, I turned to our current governor with a request to start talking to young people. I never received a positive response. They are afraid to do it. Why? This can no longer be tolerated! I want to appeal to our male deputies, because women will not accept such a new law. Let's pass a law prohibiting arresting and generally touching women and girls participating in public events.
<...>
Everyone who is involved with youth today, everyone who is involved in the life of students, who is associated with education, we must all take strong [positions] with you, fight for the power of education, only this will save us from possible savagery, from possible political catastrophes.
The performance was met with applause not only in the hall where the ceremony took place, but also on social networks. A video of Sokurov’s speech was shared by tens of thousands of users.
An absolutely amazing performance. Surprising not because of his courage - Sokurov has long been known as a man of courage and principle. Not with his ideas and manner of presentation - Alexander Nikolaevich, a real Russian intellectual and humanist who really cares for his country - but we knew that too. The audience's reaction was amazing. In the hall sits the flower of Russia's creative intelligentsia. People are not only talented, but also sensitive to society. At the same time, they are largely dependent on the authorities. And look at the reaction of the audience. Should they listen upstairs, or what?
In my opinion, absolutely everyone should (really should) watch this. Take a look and pass it on to all your loved ones.
Director Sokurov's speech brings tears to his eyes. In very simple words, insightfully about the main thing, without pathos
Sokurov - Lancelot, the hero of my heart.
How light and joyful my soul is, excuse me for the pathos.
I look and think: “It’s amazing that Sokurov was allowed to speak for these five minutes.”
Or, here: I recently sat at a concert at night in the Great Hall of the Conservatory and wondered why it was already half past two in the morning, and still the watchman had not turned off the lights in the hall.
Many noted that the name of the award that Alexander Sokurov received - “Honor and Dignity” - was surprisingly harmoniously combined with the content of his speech.
The case when he confirmed right on stage that a worthy person had been awarded.
I just watched Sokurov’s performance on Nika. And the reaction of the audience. And I thought once again how much depends on one person.
Sokurov and literally a few more people - this is our chance. And woe to the nation if it, even belatedly, fails to listen to this quiet voice.
And how good it looked against the background of the words HONOR AND DIGNITY. Like a glove.
Sokurov was also compared with other cultural figures - not in their favor.
Human! And this is who I think would be a good minister of culture. But how far is it from that?
There are, for example, Mikhalkov and Konchalovsky, Yulia Menshova, and then there is Sokurov.
As soon as Niku left Mikhalkov, very decent people began to gather there.
Listen to Sokurov's speech. Look how the audience applauds him. Think about it.
Some remembered the years of perestroika, while others remembered Meryl Streep's recent performance at the Oscars (the actress sharply criticized Donald Trump).
Yesterday Alexander Sokurov performed at NIKA. The audience reacted vigorously and adequately...
In the mid-80s, filmmakers were the first among the creative intelligentsia to rebel against the lies and nonsense of the nomenclature that had lingered in power.
So, by chance, I remembered...
Well, that’s good, otherwise Meryl Streep takes the rap for everyone, and these know letters of joy and pleasure are mostly signed.
Commentators soon moved from admiring Sokurov’s words to criticism.
Alexander Sokurov proposed passing a law prohibiting police from even touching women at rallies.
Well done Sokurov, unlike Fedotov, who defends the right of the police to be peaceful citizens and in every possible way prevent them from exercising their Constitutional rights.
Imagine, director Sokurov on “Nika” agreed to the point that it is forbidden to beat women and children.
The audience was shocked: “What desperate courage!”
You can’t beat men either, but we still have to grow and grow to these heights of thought
Well, that's not entirely true. This is just one line from his speech. He spoke about Oleg Sentsov, about the speeches and arrests on March 26, about prohibitions and freedoms. And the remark about girls and women at protests was a bow in the context of the general protest and harsh speech.
Sokurov says the obvious. Tomorrow he will declare that it is not good to read other people's letters, and the audience will gasp. The trouble is that these obvious things for many educated, cultured people are news that need to be thought over and discussed...
in our time, speaking common truths and calling a spade a spade is a very brave speech
hmm, it turns out that voicing basic values by an intellectual against the background of Chaplin’s obscurantism can be heroic...
When, at the moment of persecution of Shostakovich, Mravinsky performed his concerto, the audience applauded. Although the fact that Shostakovich was a brilliant composer was completely obvious by that time. But only Mravinsky performed his music. The world is such that obvious things constantly require reminders. This is especially valuable when for this reminder of the obvious, a person faces punishment of varying degrees of severity
A well-known methodologist also suggests the benefits of reminding about the obvious in a roundabout way. Peter Shchedrovitsky :
Not long ago I realized one important thing. The process of education is aimed at including a person in one or another ontology - a picture of the world. In contrast to the disparate ideas that each of us has in the course of life and are an element of situational experience, ontology builds a much more complex system of cause-and-effect relationships between phenomena. Thus, it allows a person to plan and carry out meaningful and productive actions. If the World in which we live did not have this or that structure, we could not act in this World, or more precisely, expect that our actions will achieve the results and goals that we strive for. Anyone who does not have an education does not have a picture of the world. Even ruder: people who have not received an education - and they are the majority - do not understand the cause-and-effect relationships between the phenomena and events around them. Alexander Sokurov, whom I have long and deeply respected, proceeds from the fact that those to whom he addresses have an ontology. That is, he expects that those cause-and-effect relationships that he sees in the World or discovers in his reflection are available to his listeners. But, unfortunately, this is a misconception. Most people do not understand the cause-and-effect relationships that exist in the social world. They have no social ontology. This is especially typical for our country, where philosophical and social-humanitarian education has been practically absent for 100 years. Therefore, only Sokurov’s Action itself remains, his act, and not his Thought, indication, hint.
Following Alexander Sokurov on topical topics. Alexey Krasovsky, who received the Discovery of the Year award for the film Collector, called on his colleagues to “use their power to change something” in the fate of those detained on March 26. Actress Elena Koreneva (award for best supporting actress) also recalled the political prisoners - after her words the audience stood up, according to the Kino-teatr.ru website. Fears that viewers would not see these performances on television were justified: the Nika award ceremony was never shown on all-Russian channels.
What happened at the Nika national award ceremony is very serious. Cinema, wine, dominoes are good, of course, but not enough. This time, the creative intelligentsia was remembered not for their films-statements, but for their statements directly, from the stage, thrown into the media space, into the public. In Russia. And this is not a bird that flew out of a paparazzi lens. This is the word “shepherds”, which has already gone to the people. If it flies out, you won't catch it.
Let us mark this day, when the revolt of the intelligentsia took place on the ship of modernity. Very often silent intelligentsia, who not so long ago hid their immortal “I” far away. Staring power in the mouth, declaring its love for Putin. Waiting for government handouts and not disdaining them. No way and no way.
Has the scales fallen from your eyes, the bandage from your mouth? The intelligentsia decided not to remain silent any longer. Where does such courage come from?
Alexander Sokurov, who received the award for “Honor and Dignity”: “You cannot start a civil war among schoolchildren and students... We need to hear them.” After which he called on deputies not to encourage violence against women participating in mass protests.
Alexey Krasovsky, Nika laureate in the “Discovery of the Year” nomination: “I want to ask you to use your power to change something in their fate.” They are the participants in Sunday rallies.
Alexander Mitta, special prize “For outstanding contribution to Russian cinema”: “I share the anxiety and despair, we are all concerned about how our generation is growing, so that it grows up under our concerns, and not scarecrows.”
Elena Koreneva, “Best Supporting Actress” for her role in the film “Mumu”, stood up for the “prisoners of conscience” - Oleg Sentsov, Sergei Mokhnatkin and Oleg Navalny, Alexei’s brother.
Mark Zakharov also supported his colleague Sokurov.
Vitaly Mansky, “Nika” for the documentary “In the Rays of the Sun”: “We are not North Korea yet... but we have screwed up the country, so we are worse than North Korea.”
This is not yet a complete list of cinematic oppositionists.
The relationship between the intelligentsia and the authorities has a very long history. Although some will say: what kind of intelligentsia, the true one, was exiled by Lenin on the philosophical ship in 1922. And those who were not deported were shot at the same time (here they remember Nikolai Gumilyov).
The further relationship between the two seemingly mutually exclusive parties awaits its own Shakespeare. I remember Boris Pasternak, who, together with Korney Chukovsky, greeted Comrade Stalin with extraordinary enthusiasm, clapped his hands at the congress and could not stop. The same Pasternak, after the leader’s phone call to him, never fully stood up for Mandelstam.
Mandelstam himself, who wrote pro-Stalinist poems (and this after “... no matter his execution, it’s a raspberry / And the broad chest of an Ossetian”).
Akhmatova, who wrote odes to Stalin. And then I was ashamed of them.
Bulgakov with his “Batum”, which glorified Usatii, and who immediately died after that.
I’m talking about the best people, the most persistent, who did not break in the end, who raised the honor and dignity of the Russian intelligentsia to unprecedented heights.
It became easier under Khrushchev. But how can we forget that cry of the “maize man” at Andrei Voznesensky. He himself could never forget it. “P...s” addressed to artists, a dispute with Ernst Neizvestny. How to forget Solzhenitsyn, Viktor Nekrasov, Trifonov, Dudintsev... Aksenov, Galich, Voinovich - already under Brezhnev.
Many people have adapted. Yes, they sold themselves for posts, for dachas, for circulation. But a few, very few people, did not allow themselves to do this. They were tempted, of course, but in the end they straightened their backs, raised their heads and did not yield to power. Not one iota.
If we talk about filmmakers who have suffered from those “who are stronger than you,” their name is legion. Askoldov, German, Tarkovsky... Not enough for you? No, there cannot be few of them, each is a personality, each is a destiny...
But then Mikhail Gorbachev came to power. The intelligentsia was immediately fascinated by him and fell in love with him. She, the intelligentsia, usually really wants to fall in love with someone from the highest power. And then be there as much as possible. Advise, whisper in your ear. It's flattering.
However, Gorbachev was inconsistent - both yours and ours. And then the intelligentsia fell in love with Boris Yeltsin. Leaving, of course, Gorbachev. He was left alone, without their powerful support, just like King Lear. And the state collapsed.
The authorities also love the intelligentsia. Sometimes he also fawns over her, he also wants to please her. “I don’t have any other writers for you,” yes. But still, the authorities love loyal, well-fed intelligentsia. Which is what it has been like for the last 17 years under Putin. Even Alexander Sokurov, who recently stood up for Oleg Sentsov at a well-known meeting, apologized for a very, very, very long time. He laid it down softly, but still stood his ground.
And now, it seems, it has burst. “I can’t be silent!” - said Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy on this occasion, who considered “intelligentsia” a dirty word. The weight reached the floor, and they cried out.
The intelligentsia is a terrible force. These are not some mustacheless youths, schoolchildren, students, the unflogged generation. These are people of their word. Which a bayonet can be equated to a feather, no less. These are people who are listened to, or at least listened to. People who have not yet completely lost their reputation and respect.
What should the authorities do now? Urgently charge your intelligentsia from the Golden Eagle? Set regular bulldogs and mongrels from TV against refuseniks? Stop funding, leave on a starvation diet? Again, cajole with titles, orders and medals, kiss your hickey, strangle you in your arms? Or instruct the Duma members to issue a new law stating that such speeches from the stage are equivalent to unauthorized rallies?
It’s hard to say... The thread broke, the lid came off, steam was already coming out. Who are you with, masters of culture? Are you really ready to go all the way? If so, then the Kremlin will remain naked, like that king. Yes, with the Surgeon, with Kurginyan, with Solovyov... But these are not at all the Atlanteans who hold up the sky.
Nika Prize winner Elena Koreneva commented on criticism for supporting participants in uncoordinated protests. The radio station reports this "Moscow speaks".
Previously, State Duma deputy from the United Russia party Evgeny Fedorov stated, that the filmmakers who, at the Nika award ceremony, spoke about the need for dialogue with participants in the uncoordinated rallies on March 26, lack the concept of patriotism and the concept of love for the Fatherland.
For her part, Koreneva said that Fedorov’s claims only cause “homeric laughter” or “heavy silence.”
“We have become so obsessed with the word “patriotism” that we simply don’t want to discuss this topic now,” the actress noted.
She called for talking about conscience, freedom, morality, dignity, decency, fortitude, as well as about violence, which is observed both in everyday situations and in the most global ones.
According to Koreneva, the film “Her Name was Mumu,” which she presented, was not shot with public money in principle.
“But even the one who receives money from the state should not beat his forehead and bend in a pose of eternal gratitude, because the state must support culture, this is its duty,” the actress added.
At the last Nika Award ceremony, many of the awardees used the stage of the Mossovet Theater to express their civic position on the issue of treatment of political prisoners, as well as the mass detentions of young people who took place on March 26 at an uncoordinated rally in Russian cities.