GRADUATES 2023. COORDINATES OF CREATIVITY
The current work of BGAI graduates mainly focuses on television activities. General impression: understanding the television format as native in all its coordinates – temporal, visual-graphic, verbal-contextual. Not for the first time, as the chairman of a state commission, I have observed an increase in student orientation towards creating a television product. This is not least due to the fact that the dean of the Faculty of Screen Arts, Pavel Vladimirovich Ivanov, is himself a television person and is responsible for the distribution of graduates. No one is left without a job!
The core of the specialists produced by the faculty are directors – as the intellectual and creative center of film and television production. This year, 10 people received diplomas (full-time study). Most of them will work on TV, determining the modern appearance of Belarusian television channels.
The triumph of the television format is manifested in the form of the presented programs “Good morning, Belarus” with Svetlana Borovskaya”, “How to watch”, “One day”. Regarding these established broadcast projects, the question always arises about the degree of participation of young directors in them. It is clear that rating programs are a good professional school for debutants.
Thus, Valeria Khlan filmed a Christmas special in Nesvizh Castle, in the interiors of which the charismatic presenter Svetlana Borovskaya presented a variety of traditions and artifacts – from preparing salad to playing an ensemble of spooners. True, within the walls of an ancient Belarusian castle, spoons look like something exotic. Leonid Markevich’s work “How to Look” is dedicated to events of a republican and global scale – from a portrait of the director of the Vitebsk gymnasium to a report from Sudan. Lev Dudnik in the program “One Day in the Life of the St. Elisabeth Monastery” was lucky with the main character. The essence of the screen narrative becomes the confessional story of the nun Olga about the monastery, where “monotonous life sparkles with an internal battle with oneself.” Some works, shot quite professionally, do not give a complete picture of the direction, for example, the essay “The History of Mobile Communications of Belarus” by Maria Radyuk resembles an extended commercial.
Works with at least a minimal presence of personality aroused interest. An experienced guide, Veronica Chernoshtan, in her essay “The Life of the Kozell-Poklevsky Estate,” tells the dramatic story of the estate and its owners. The documentary film “Pause” by Konstantin Trusov is dedicated to the anniversary of the Belarusian Union of Cinematographers. Portraits of Belarusian directors, cameramen, and actors appear on the screen. It’s interesting to listen to them, but the fate of such a bright phenomenon as BSK remains not fully revealed. The feature film “Shadow of Chernobyl” by Leonid Vaida presented a metaphorical audiovisual language. It is important for the author to carefully recreate the natural atmosphere and authentic texture. At some point, the material environment begins to obscure the drama of human destinies. The study of the fate of a person – this time a specific one – was also undertaken in the historical essay “An American from Minsk” by Alexandra Borovik. At its center is the personality of Lee Harvey Oswald. However, turning to numerous archival materials did not help the young author to show his attitude to one of the great mysteries of the twentieth century.
Among the few fiction works, the film “On the Road” by Alisa Milentey, based on the story by Alexander Kuprin, stands out. Shot in a sparse visual style, the film conveys the feeling of a “sunstroke” that overtakes the characters, and expands the traditional framework of a love triangle.
The professional documentary film “Bolshoi Theatre, 90 years old” was presented by Vadim Larchenko. Here are a wide variety of slices of behind-the-scenes life. This is truly a holiday film!
In general, the directors showed mastery of a wide genre and thematic range and a variety of stylistic means. This also applies to animated film directors. Their works outlined a variety of vectors of creative activity: such as the hand-drawn film “New Year’s Adventures” by Yana Aristova-Galinovskaya and the film in mixed media and complex metaphorical style “Exit” by Yana Pavlova. Particularly notable is the film “Arinarium” by Vasily Pimenov, where a striking visual move is found from the famous “Vitruvian Man” Leonardo da Vinci to the image of a web, which the author interprets as a metaphor for creativity.
The work of the operators convinces with a professional look at real events and game constructions, an understanding of improvisational and constructed angles and plans. Sound engineers have traditionally focused on recording music—sometimes even their own performance. Only the work of Alexandra Shaituro (the only one out of six!) was associated with the sound design of the documentary film, which was due to her studies at the Faculty of Screen Arts.
Young people are cautiously searching, but quite open to the world, and the world, hopefully, is open to young people. Hence the best wishes, among which the main thing is to stay in the profession!