In recent years, units of domestic directors have managed to enter the elite of world documentary. Among the few, Russian documentary director Viktor Kosakovsky, born in Leningrad in 1961.
Under the strict guidance of
Currently, the winner of the prestigious Triumph and Nika awards has come to the cinema, when all the exciting perestroika themes have been repeatedly touched and irrevocably exhausted. After graduating from the Leningrad Institute of Film Engineers and working at a documentary film studio, Victor accidentally falls into the care of the outstanding Alexander Sokurov. Under his strict guidance, the future master of documentary studies at the Higher Courses of scriptwriters and directors, and after making his debut with the project "Losev", dedicated to the last period of the life of the philosopher A. Losev. The cinema community expected the debutant to continue the “existential documentary” of the mentor A. Sokurov, however, Viktor Kosakovsky did not blindly copy the manner of his teacher. The similarity with the parables of Sokurov is observed only in his debut film. Subsequent work of the director was shot in a genre called by critics as a “philosophical hit”.
Hint of secrecy
Viktor Kosakovsky, whose filmography includes ten works (Losev, The Other Day, Belov, Wednesday 19.07.61, Pavel and Lyalya, I Loved You, Hush!, Russia from Mine windows ”,“ Holy ”,“ Long live the antipodes! ”) talentedly directing, exposes the circumstances underlying the narrative of each tape. Using technologies close to the “hidden camera”, the director penetrates into the most sacred spheres of human being and everyday life. Revealing the character of each character, demonstrates to the viewer a voluntary spiritual striptease, not eschewing provocations as an artistic device. In this case, the author remains extremely delicate, and the camera is moderately insinuating. It seems that Viktor Kosakovsky consciously walks along the razor's edge, skillfully balancing on the edges of the permissible.
Not a fiction movie
The ubiquitous critics often criticize the director for the fact that his projects were shot like feature films. At the same time, everyone knows for certain that the main generators and structural frames of each tape are documentary. His characters behave naturally in front of the camera and say what they see fit. The installation process is another matter. According to the director, his documentary tape is born during the installation, he is trying to put together the footage like a narrative in an art picture. Each time, Victor Kosakovsky, folding a new story, is trying by all means to express what he doubts. When editing the film, the director puts together all the shots so that they become links in one chain, a whole story, which was perceived by the beholder as a dramatically single piece: with the beginning, middle and final climax. The author deliberately creates the illusion that everything was thought out initially and filmed according to the script. This is a distinctive feature of his creative style. He is his own operator and editor.
Special place
According to the director, the film "Belova", which collected a lot of awards at the Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam, occupies a special place in his filmography. Victor Kosakovsky calls the picture the story of his family, in which the characters are his relatives. For the director, the filming process became an opportunity to express everything that was intended. Perhaps the majority may find such a bold act unethical, but it’s much harder for the author to tell everyone something hidden about an extraneous individual than about himself and his family. And in this project, the director boldly disposed of the innermost, perfectly illustrating and demonstrating his life. At the same time, the master still did not cross the almost elusive facet of the sacred. Thus, Viktor Kosakovsky did not fully reveal his biography, frankly as part of the permissible.
Visual and semantic feast
The last masterpiece of the master is the picture “Long live the antipodes!”, Which was released in 2011. The film opened the Venice International Film Festival, and then continued its triumphal procession to various European countries, including Holland, France, Germany, Switzerland. The film did not go unnoticed in the United States. The heroes of the tape were "earthlings" who live on opposite sides of the center of the planet. As a result, individual frames, like honed hockey, during the editing process have developed into an amazing rhymed epic.
World film critics tirelessly praised the breathtaking documentary filming, resulting in a real visual feast. The viewer who looked at the picture did not hide the enthusiasm from the sight seen. It is not surprising that in 2016 the director received an invitation to join the ranks of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts. And the film "Antipodes" received at the international and Russian film festivals about a hundred various prestigious nominations and awards.