An Internet Meeting with Alexander Sokurov in the Hermitage's CafeMax
On 5 April 2004

Alexander Nikolaevich, what qualities should young people have for them to understand that cinematography is their calling? Should they be aware that this is first of all difficult and serious work, not just some amusing party-going?
I think a young person by definition cannot realize all the difficulty of his chosen path. He may have heard about this, but he cannot truly know it. He cannot understand how responsible and tough this business is. In this profession you have to experience life. It seems to me that a young man is no position to understand whether cinematography is his calling or not. For this you have to live life a bit. Maybe after many years a man will understand somehow what he has dedicated his life to and find it was not his occupation, that he has lived someone else's life. Mistakes like this are nowadays fairly common when you choose art as the main element in your life. I would say that the majority of people who are engaged in art have made a mistake in choosing this area of activity. You have to strive for mastery. Mastery without art is possible, but art without mastery does not exist.

Alexander Nikolaevich, you have a wonderful film crew. Where and when was it formed?
A film crew is a living organism, like a tree. Our tree grows in a noble place but under a harsh wind. Obviously we are in the North. It was formed here on this soil in 1980 when I graduated from the Institute of Cinematography and began to work in various studios. The first person who was involved in forming the group was, of course, Vladimir Persov, my friend, sound engineer, and sound director. There is also, of course, the sound director Sergey Moshkov who is wonderfully educated and has an amazing artistic personality. The camera men with whom I worked and continue to work are Sergey Yurizditsky, Alexei Fedorov, Alexander Burov. It has been a great honor for me to work with Anatoly Rodionov. And for more than 20 years I am working with the costume designer Lidia Kryukova. Also with the make-up artist Zhanna Rodionova. I am grateful to artistic producers Nataly Kochergina and Elena Zhukova. There were people who supported us. And then there have been the administrators, finance people, production organizers. This group formed because we just love and value one another. And we cannot live without one another. This is a unique phenomenon in cinema, where people come together and split up, meet and then go their own ways.

Alexander Nikolaevich, do you introduce your feelings about the world, your happiness and pain, into your films? Are your films your desires and your autobiography?
I can say quite precisely that I never made a film about myself. My personal life is one of routine and the everyday existence of a professional. There is nothing extraordinary in my life. Everything I do in cinema is dreamed up, a fantasy. But of course the feelings and sensations which arise do have some relation to me as a person.

Alexander Nikolaevich, please tell us whether your activities are based only on film-making or also extend to staging other types of productions such as shows or concerts?
Of course cinema is not as interesting for me as literature. I am very interested in the musical theater. Now we are discussing the possibility of my staging the opera "Evgeny Onegin" in the ABDT. The theater came to me with this proposal and it was a big honor for me. There are projects under discussion with Gergiev, also for staging an opera. There are proposals from some European theaters. I am very interested in what are called installations. It is interesting to work with a large space, with large lighting, with sound. Our group has experience with this type of work from the organization of a presentation on Palace Square for the 60th anniversary of the lifting of the siege. I wish to pay my respects once again to the Hermitage, which creates for me such unbelievably convenient working conditions. It was very complicated to organize work in below-zero conditions, in the very center of a northern city, applying a huge number of modern technologies. This involved energetic artistic measures from the side of staff and it was all made possible only by the personal support of Mikhail Piotrovsky.

Alexander Nikolaevich, which new actors do you want to develop and discover in your new films?
This is a very difficult question. Yet at the same time very easy. My favorite actors, to be sure. These are the people who are near and dear. Only with such people is it possible to bring about an artistic form, artistic life. I do not repeat life. Rather I create something new and different on the screen. To do this I need new and different people. Very often they are not actors.

Alexander Nikolaevich, your film "The Russian Ark" has become a unique event in cinema. Will it remain so or are you planning to further use this technique in a sequel?
Yes, of course. There is an intention which you can achieve using the instrument of single frame shooting. This generally is not a question of some exceptional choice; it is a professional issue having to do with professional consistency.

In what way can you combine the notion of an original, 'authorial' film, which is what you make, with film production as a process that requires a lot of people, meaning that many personalities are influencing the final result? If you could make a film all by yourself, would that be a plus or a negative for you?
It is quite possible to shoot a film all by yourself. And it is not difficult. What is difficult is to achieve a high professional level, high quality from the technologies used. The conditions hardly bear on the direction chosen by the author. All that is needed is the will. It is unfortunate but for the creation of cinema you need a lot of will power. Cinema is a field of strong persons with great force of character and colossal responsibility. Art is always original, the work of one author. It cannot be otherwise if it is art.

You are now shooting a film about the Japanese Emperor. Who will be the main character in your next 'historical' film if you already have one in mind?
Yes, we are now shooting a film in which the key person is Hirohito. It is set in 1945. The film is being made in Japanese and English with the participation of some remarkable Japanese and American actors. My next film should be the final one in the trilogy that began with "Moloch". This will be a film around motifs from the "Faust" of Goethe and also Thomas Mann. This will not be a very cheap film from the point of view of expenses.

What do you dream about most often?
I have no dreams. Haven't had them since I was 30.

What gives you pleasure in life?
Summer and my mother's voice.

What do you regret most of all in life?
I regret that I learned man is mortal. It was a great mistake on the part of our Creator to let us know we are mortal.

Alexander Nikolaevich, are you planning to do any further filming in the Hermitage? If so what could be the subject of your new film in this remarkable museum?
Thanks for this question. Yes, I have discussed with Mikhail Piotrovsky the idea for a new film, a playful film. If we write the scenario in the coming year then this work will be done. It has a modern subject, a love story.

What do you think, can an artist also be a politician? A merchant? A businessman?
I think so. Genius and wrongdoing are compatible.

Alexander Nikolaevich, why were you yourself the cameraman in your film "Taurus"? Was it that none of your cameramen was suitable?
Good question. The reason is that it was very important for me to pass through all the stages of this artistic and social formation in the practice sense. I always enter into my work with an image. I test the composition, the movement of the frame, the arranging of the light. "Taurus" was designed to be a very complex work from the technological standpoint. In this film we used a new objective which has nothing like it in the world. It is an objective without any lens. Instead we used a great number of complex optical effects and devices. We also used an original system for presenting light which was achieved with help from Anatoly Rodionov. The film was unprecedented in terms of technological complexity. In this experiment I could not put anyone at risk, could not expose any other cameraman to the dangers. Moreover, we had a very limited budget.

Can you list the films which amazed you, which exerted an influence on your creativity..
This would be Eisenstein's "Strike" or Robert Flaherty's "Man of Aran", films of the 1930's. And the film by Japanese film director Fumio Kamei, "The Fighting Soldiers", made in 1946. A figure who predetermined and defined everything that happens, happened and will happen in cinema is Dovzhenko. Everything artistic that we see in cinematographic practice today was theoretically formulated and practically achieved on the screen by Dovzhenko. You can find there the sources for Tarkovsky, something that is in Bergman and also in many other modern directors.

Alexander Nikolaevich, please tell us whether you have meetings with viewers in some other format?
Meetings with viewers do take place when we finish up our films or when we arrange retrospectives. I was very pleased by my meeting with visitors to the Hermitage exhibition in Irkutsk. It was an enormous honor for me to take part in this Hermitage work. I liked how they viewed "Russian Ark" there. I like the way people await their encounter with cinema art and with art in general. It is a great pleasure for me to be in Petersburg and in the Hermitage. This is a sacred grotto for me. It is a great pleasure to be recognized by the Hermitage.

Are our questions and answers helpful to you in your work or in some other areas?
They are helpful. They confirm that my voice is heard. This is all part of my sojourn in my homeland. You cannot live in Russia and fail to converse openly with people. This conversation is our "sacred duty".

The full internet conference is available on the site www.starchat.ru.