Larissa Shepitko season
Poem of the Sea
Aleksandr Dovzhenko, Yuliva Solntseva | Russia | 1959 | 95 mins
Shepitko completed Dovzhenko's swansong after his death, in collaboration with his widow. The film is a fittingly elegiac tale of the collective mourning for a Ukranian village to be flooded for the construction of an artificial sea.
Heat
Larissa Shepitko | Russia | 1963 | 85 mins
An idealistic high school graduate goes to work on a state farm, only to clash with its authoritarian, Stalinist leader.
Wings
Larissa Shepitko | Russia | 1966 | 90 mins
Shepitko's controversial second feature boasts an outstanding performance by Maya Bulgakova as a once-famous fighter pilot and loyal Stalinist, now a 41-year-old provincial schoolmistress whose authoritarian values are detested by both her pupils and her daughter.
Beginning of an Unknown Era (second segment)
Larissa Shepitko | Russia | 1967 | 45 mins
Shepitko's entry in a powerful omnibus film made to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution.
You and Me
Larissa Shepitko | Russia | 1971 | 97 mins
A tale of two surgeons who betray early promise to pursue comfortable lives and false values in later life.
The Ascent
Larissa Shepitko | Russia | 1976 | 111 mins
A loose retelling of the crucifixion, witness to the suffering and sacrifice of ordinary people during wartime hostilities.
Larissa
Elem Klimov | Russia | 1980 | 25 mins
A loving and moving tribute to Larisa Shepitko made by her widower, Elem Klimov.
Farewell
Elem Klimov | Russia | 1983 | 108 mins
The tale of a Siberian peasant community, displaced when their village is destroyed and relocated to a development of faceless apartment blocks, Shepitko's last project was completed by her husband, Elem Klimov.
