2017 Art Film Festival

2017 Art Films FestivalPresented by Russian American Cultural Center, in collaboration with the Russian and Slavic Studies Program, Hunter College, CUNY. Event Venue: IDA K. LANG RECITAL HALL AT HUNTER COLLEGE 695 Park Ave, New York, NY 10065 Event Date: Sunday, March 26, 2:00 PM – 9:00 PM In the spirit of the Centennial of the Suffragist Movement in the U.S., the Russian Revolutions, and the historical Balfour Declaration, the Festival's program explores the turmoil of the 20th century and is dedicated to women's role in society, history and art.  2:00 PM USA Premiere _Russian Avant-garde - A century on Revolution. New Art for a New World_ by Margy Kinmonth [https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/margy_kinmonth] UK 2016 | 85 min  |  Feature Documentary | Foxtrot Films| English Drawing on the collections of major Russian institutions, contributions from contemporary artists, curators, and performers and personal testimony from the descendants of those involved, the film brings the artists of the Russian Avant-Garde to life. It tells the stories of artists like Chagall, Kandinsky, Malevich and others – pioneers who flourished in response to the Utopian challenge of building a New Art for a New World, only to be broken by implacable authority after 15 short years. Director Margy Kinmonth, a creator of highly acclaimed documentary _Hermitage Revealed,_ says: “I was inspired, as an artist, to discover how many of the descendants of Russian Avant-Garde artists are themselves working as artists today. Access to their intensely moving stories brings to life this extraordinary period of artistic innovation, which continues to exert such a powerful legacy a hundred years on.” Q&A with Regina Khidekel 3:45 PM _Miss _Bluwstein__ _by _Sivan Arbel Biography of Hebrew poet, known simply as _Rachel the Poetess_ Israel 2015|55 min|Documentary|Hebrew with English subtitles The Bank of Israel recently announced [http://www.boi.org.il/en/NewsAndPublications/PressReleases/Pages/31-1-17-20-100.aspx] that two Israeli banknotes, which are part of a new series highlighting renowned 20th century Israeli poets whose life and work parallel the birth of the State of Israel, will be dedicated to two women: Rachel Bluwstein and Leah Goldberg [http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/72426/coming-of-age].  Rachel Bluwstein (1890 – 1931), the matriarch of modern Hebrew poetry, will grace the new oft-used bill 20-Shekel that includes vistas of her beloved Sea of Galilee shoreline, palm trees, and verses from her signature poem “Kinneret.” The documentary to mark the 125th Birthday of Rachel, strengthens the image of the first Hebrew poet, the immigrant from Russia, who managed to express the emotional life of an entire generation in a language which lives and breathes to this day. Dana Olmert, Anat Weisman, Efrat Mishori, Muki Tsur, Uri Milstein, Yehudit Ravitz, Karni Postel and others, speak, and sing along with animations and previously unknown letters by Rachel re-paint her extraordinary character. Q&A with Yakov Klots 5:00 PM The Babushkas of Chernobyl: A story of three unlikely heroines  in the most toxic place on earth by Holly Morris USA 2015 | 70 min  |  Documentary |   Russian, Ukrainian with English subtitles    In the radioactive Dead Zone surrounding Chernobyl's Reactor a community of old women cling to their ancestral homeland. While their neighbors have long since fled and their husbands gradually died off, this sisterhood of women labour to cultivate land deemed uninhabitable. Ignoring government orders and health warnings, the Babushkas of Chernobyl continue to forge an existence in one of the most toxic environments on earth. Q&A with Regina Khidekel 6:20 PM _Mirrors_ by Marina Migunova Russia 2013 [http://www.imdb.com/year/2014/?ref_=tt_ov_inf] | 119 min | Feature film | Russian with English subtitles  A feature _Mirrors_ is the first historical-biographical feature film that focuses on the tragic fate of the poet Marina Tsvetaeva, one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. The authors follow her in Russia, then in emigration in Prague and Paris, and then upon her return to Russia, where she committed suicide a few months after she came back. Q&A with Yakov Klots http://www.russianamericanculture.com/events/film-events/2017-art-film-festival/ [http://www.russianamericanculture.com/events/film-events/2017-art-film-festival/] Hunter College students free More information: The Russian American Cultural Center: www.russianamericanculture.com [http://www.russianamericanculture.com/], russculture@aol.com; 212-744-5168, 646-831-0554, _RACC’s programs and events are made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Guomo and the New York State Legislature, and __Cojeco._