Six films by one of Russia's foremost directors appeared at the Moon theatre within last week on a national Filmostrada programme. There were old well-loved movies: "The Story of Assya Klyachina", "A Nest of the Gentry", "Uncle Vanya", "Siberiad" and "Little Hen". Konchalovsky appeared in the theatre as his "Fools' House" was on. The film won Grand Prix, second to Golden Lion, in Venice, September 2002.
The film is about madhouse inmates. Konchalovsky motto'ed it with a wise phrase by Fazil Iskander, popular Soviet prose-writer: "He of the scanty brain may have opulent treasures in his heart." The film was shot in a Moscow asylum, with inmates on the cast. Doctors said the patients showed ample improvement with the adventure that broke their drab routine.
Konchalovsky meant his film to be "Flying Over Cuckoo's Nest" upside down-the American cult movie is about a jail to escape from at all cost, the Russian about freedom from which one takes refuge in a psychiatric ward.
The film bases on a real-life story that happened in Chechnya, 1996. Julia Vysotskaya, the director's wife, was starring side by side with Evgeni Mironov and Sultan Islamov.
The organisers named the programme Russian Movie Night as the three films were shown one by one, starting at eleven, Saturday night, to finish early Sunday morning.
Andrei Konchalovsky finds Polish audiences much more advanced than American, he said to Novosti. Regrettably, the cinema has lost their importance-"football matters much more than the movies now," he sighed.
Konchalovsky rerun tickets were all booked long beforehand. "People want to understand us Russians, and that is good. Russian culture ought to be held in respect here. That really matters to me as film director," he said.
