Archival Print!

Preceded by shorts: Evening Sacrifice and Simple Elegy

(Dni zatmenia). Shot in the lunar plains of Central Asia, Days of the Eclipse was chosen by Russian critics as one of the ten most important films of the glasnost period. Tarkovsky's influence is readily apparent in this enigmatic science fiction allegory based on a work by the authors of Tarkovsky's classic Stalker. Eclipse follows a young doctor who is sent to a remote, unnamed village in the ancient land of eastern Russia. His research, which slowly takes on the nature of a spiritual quest, involves discovering the reasons for the town's low mortality rate. When unseen forces begin to pressure his friends into committing suicide, the film becomes a powerful microcosm of Stalinism and its legacy. Russian critic Victor Bozhovich best evokes the film's power: "This is a strange film, mysterious beyond all limits. I watch it again and again, wandering inside it as if through a labyrinth of ruins."

Written by Yuri Arabov, Petr Kadochnikov, based on the novel A Million Years Before the Apocalypse by Arkadi and Boris Strugatski. Photographed by Sergei Yurizditsky. With Alexei Ananishnov, Eskender Umarov, Vladimir Zamansky, Irina Sokolova. (133 mins, In Russian with English subtitles, Color, 35mm, PFA Collection)

Evening Sacrifice (Zhertva vechernyaya) (Alexander Sokurov, USSR, 1984-87). On Victory Day, fireworks burst over the Neva River and the Winter Palace. Slowly emerging from the noise of the dispersing crowd and pop music pouring out of windows is the voice of Bulgarian bass Boris Khristov, who sings an ancient Orthodox prayer of repentance as the camera tilts back to look at the now empty sky. Political statement, transcendental study, or mere notation? (20 mins, In Russian with English subtitles, Color, Video, From Ideale Audience)

Simple Elegy (Prostaya elegiya) (Alexander Sokurov, Russia, 1990). Consisting of five long takes, this portrait of Lithuanian president Vytautas Landsbergis during the Soviet blockade reveals deep admiration for a cultured leader (he plays M.K. Ciurlionis's nocturnes on the piano), but also renders him impotent by vacuum packing him in a silent space - an office full of telephones that do not ring. (20 mins, In Russian with English subtitles, B&W, Video, From Ideale Audience)