“PARTY MARKET” – WITH PREFACE AND CONTINUATION
The animated film “Evening Market” became one of the most memorable films of “Listapad”. Without in any way detracting from the “artistic” component of “Vecharynka”, we emphasize that it was this small-scale work that literally became the champion of the festival in terms of the incredible amount of positive emotions presented to the audience and participants. And she deservedly received a special diploma from the jury with a wonderful wording – “For the greatness and culture of Belarus.” The film was shot by the talented twins Elina and Alena Abyzov, young filmmakers from Tatarstan. The beautiful sisters were inspired to create this film by the famous poem by Yanka Kupala. A real surprise for everyone was that the girls speak the Belarusian language perfectly. And they learned our language not at all because they planned to participate in the Minsk International Film Forum… They have known the language of Yanka Kupala since childhood!
“We are asking for Sardechna!”
Not everyone knows that there is a Yanka Kupala Museum in Russia. To be more precise, in Tatarstan, in the village of Pechischi, very close to Kazan. At one time, this museum was visited by members of the jury of the Kazan International Muslim Film Festival, which included the author of these lines. The red brick house, built in 1895, in which the museum is located, once belonged to the wealthy miller Ivan Okonishnikov. It was here that the great poet spent the last period of his life.
How he got into this house is a bit of a legend, but is a true historical fact. Chance helped! Academicians of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences were asked to evacuate by special train to Kazan, but Yanka Kupala refused: together with his wife Vladislava Lutsevich, he went to Kazan in his Chevrolet. On November 11, 1941, the poet almost reached Kazan under his own power; all that remained was to move from the village of Pechischi along the freight crossing across the Volga. During the war, many enterprises, institutions, and universities were evacuated to Kazan. The queue was huge. The documents of those crossing were checked by the military commandant. Seeing the deputy mandate in the name of Ivan Dominikovich Lutsevich, the well-read officer recognized him as the poet Yanka Kupala. He offered the living classic to skip the line, but the poet refused. But he did not refuse the invitation to visit the director of the bakery plant, Ivan Noyakshin. He, having learned that Yanka Kupala had arrived for evacuation, offered him to occupy the empty apartment of the chief engineer, who had gone to the front. In Kazan itself, for obvious reasons, housing was difficult. And Ivan Dominikovich agreed.
This is how Belarusian speech began to sound in Tatarstan. And today, every excursion in the museum begins with the words “We ask for Sardechna!” And the guide tells visitors how the poet came out to the high bank of the river and admired the truly poetic beauty of these places… From the bank where Yanka Kupala loved to stand, Kazan is clearly visible. The guides say that in the winter of Kupala he crossed the frozen river on skis and participated in meetings of the Academy of Sciences, made recordings on the radio…
The Yanka Kupala Museum is headed by Rimma Abyzova. She instilled her love for Belarusian culture in her daughters, Elina and Alena. The language and poetry of Yanka Kupala are not alien to girls.
History in rhyme
This story has another “rhyming” continuation.
Quite a lot of our compatriots live in Kazan. Members of the Belarusian diaspora maintain contact with their homeland by regularly organizing cultural events to which guests from Belarus are invited. When Honored Artist of the Republic of Belarus Svetlana Ivanovna Sukhovey participated in the Days of Belarusian Culture in Kazan, “Tatar Belarusians” turned to her with a request for assistance. To create a historical television project, Belarusian newsreels were needed. Of course, Svetlana Ivanovna responded to the request and fulfilled it – as always, responsibly and scrupulously.
And after some time, they turned to Svetlana Ivanovna again, this time with a professional request: to give feedback on the diploma works of two young graduates of the Kazan State Institute of Culture (faculty of theater, cinema and television), Elina and Alena Abyzov… Not knowing the girls, especially not being personally acquainted with their mother, Svetlana Ivanovna looked at their diploma works and wrote about her impressions.
…The approval of the famous Belarusian actress and simply a person with extensive creative experience and what is called “artistic flair” could not but inspire the girls. They defended themselves brilliantly and… began their journey in art. Apparently, the Abyzov sisters chose their path in life correctly: their animated film “Evening Market” was selected for the animation competition of the Moscow International Film Festival “Listapad”-2023.
“I harmonic play, play… ”
Why did I want to talk in such detail about events that are quite distant from the everyday life of the festival? After all, there is no direct connection between all these events…
Probably because a film festival, which brings together under its peaceful banners people from different countries, but of the same cinematic “nationality,” always carries a powerful charge of goodness, friendship, and hope. After all, we are connected by thousands of the finest threads of love, memory, history. They don’t break, these threads. They just need to be taken care of very much, passed on as an inheritance, from generation to generation.
…The Belarusian Poet entered the Tatar land and fell in love with it.
Tatar girls learned the Belarusian language and made a film based on the Poet’s poem.
And then the girls grew up, came to the homeland of the Poet and passed on their baton of memory, love and kindness.
I wrote about it – in words. And they made a movie about it. And this beautiful story continued…
…Svetlana Ivanovna Sukhovey, by the way, first personally met with the sisters from Tatarstan last November, during the “Listapad” film forum. The girls were glad to meet Svetlana Ivanovna: the photo shows how happy they are to meet their Belarusian “godmother”.
(Full version – in “NE” No. 1, 2024).
