Elegy of a Voyage

Driven by a force greater than his own will, a man embarks alone on a journey. He crosses immense snow-covered plains, borders, and seas to finally arrive in a foreign country. He tells the spectator of all he sees and of those he meets. The real world sheds light on his unknown paths. In industrialized regions such as Germany and Holland, the man is borne along by the swell of traffic in the streets and avenues. Unexpectedly he arrives at the gates of a palace that seems abandoned. He walks in: it is the famous Boijmans museum in Rotterdam. In the shades of night he discovers that the prime objective of his mysterious journey is a painting by Master Peter Saenredam, “St. Mary’s Square”. To his surprise, he experiences a revelation in which he himself was present when the picture was painted in the seventeenth century. Elegy of a Voyage, selected for the 25th Mostra is the ninth film of the celebrated series Elegys, poetic and visual essays of from 20 to 90 minutes that Sokurov began in 1978.

Was born in 1951 in the city of Podorvikha, Russia. His work, even as a student, was unacceptable to Russian bureaucracy, and he was accused of formalism and of assuming "anti-Soviet views". His first feature, The Lonely Human Voice (1978, 26th Mostra) was refused as a graduating project by the VGIK, the Russian Cinema Institute. Sokurov`s films were shown in Brazil since 1997, at the 21st Mostra, with Mother and Son. He had a retrospective of 33 of his films at 26th Mostra, when was also released the first book in Portuguese about his work, Aleksandr Sokúrov, by publishing house Cosac Naify. Among his most important films are Dolce (1999, 24th Mostra), Elegy of a Voyage (2001, 25th Mostra), The Russian Arc (2002, 26th Mostra), Father and Son (2003, 27th Mostra) Alexandra (2007, 32nd Mostra), in addition to the films that complete the Power Tetralogy: Moloch (1999, 23rd Mostra) about Hitler; Taurus, about Lenin (2001, 26th Mostra), and The Sun, about the Japanese emperor Hirohito (2005, 30th Mostra).

43ª MOSTRA INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA

43ª MOSTRA INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA