Round table “Critic of tomorrow. Today ”at the V International Scientific and Practical Conference“ Problems and Prospects for the Training of Employees for Film and Television ”

November 14, 2019, on the opening day of the XIX International Student Film Festival “PeterKiT”, which takes place during the St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum, an urgent round table was held on the territory of St. Petersburg State University of Film and Television. He brought together film critics, film festival selectors and cinema teachers from Russia, Slovakia, India and Israel.

The meeting was opened by the rector of St. Petersburg State University of Cinema and Television, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, member of the Union of Cinematographers of Russia, Professor Alexander Evmenov. He greeted foreign guests and participants of the round table, noting the importance and timeliness of such an event.

The main topic of the dialogue was the role of the critic in the film industry, in the Internet space, its influence on the formation of the actual film process and the criteria for selecting films in the programs of new film festivals. The moderator of the round table from the XVIII International St. Petersburg Cultural Forum, during which this event is also held, was Victoria Meisel, a well-known film critic, assistant professor of drama and film studies at our university.

Film critic, teacher and program director of Israeli film festivals Albert Gabay, who watched a dozen Russian films, noted their high level and was grieved over how few of them reach foreign audiences. In particular, to Israeli film festivals, including 2 million Russian-speaking viewers. The reason for this is the difficult issues of distribution, ownership and many others that are not related to art. Albert Gabay named the names of Elem Klimov and Andrei Tarkovsky, Nikita Mikhalkov and Gleb Panfilov, Andrei Zvyagintsev and Boris Khlebnikov, many others who were included in the register of the best films created by mankind.

Vera Langerova from Slovakia, who spoke excellent Russian, pay attention to the problem of critic, turned  into a PR specialist and marketer by the film industry and the market. A whole squad of such critics serves large and small production companies, bringing to the market primarily American cinema. "And we want to write and talk about national cinema", said Vera Langerova, critic, jury member and teacher.

Indian program director Joynes Vidyashankar representing one of the world's largest cinemas (more than 1000 films in hundreds of languages are released in Bollywood every year!) has picked up the idea that the role of the critic in the 21st century is significantly different from that which prevailed in the last century. Changes in society will inevitably affect changes in art. The speaker expressed several productive thoughts on the festival movement, film selection for festivals and on the problem of distribution.

The meeting moderator Victoria Sergeyevna Maisel also gave the floor to her colleagues in the department of drama and film studies, who are well-known Russian film critics. Professor Angelica Artyukh, program director of the Moscow International Film Festival (“Women’s Time” program), suggested that professional criticism today has to compete with audience criticism in numerous blogs on the Internet.

Associate Professor Alexei Gusev, coordinator of the Russian section of FIPRESCI, said that the critical gesture of protest today is ignoring the market and its laws, preserving the "old-fashioned" laws and rules that allow film critics to deal with the aesthetics of cinema, its history and development, its self-awareness.

At the end of the meeting, the head of the Department of Drama and Film Studies, Professor Svetlana Melnikova summed up:

– We are located on the territory of St. Petersburg State University of Cinema and Television, which turned 100 last year. The country's oldest film school, it not only preserves, but also develops the best traditions of the science of cinema and film criticism. At our meeting there are young teachers of the department, students - future film experts of all courses, as well as future screenwriters. Participation in such an event gives them great food for mind and development. And staying in the same space with the representatives of the largest cinematography and film criticism of the world creates a feeling of consonance of the thoughts of people who have devoted their lives to the art of cinema.

In parting, all the speakers turned to students who tomorrow will write about the cinema and select festival films. They wished the guys to become cinephiles, who endlessly watch a movie and absorb a huge film culture. And also reminded that the film critic, who upon leaving the university seems useless to anyone, is an illusion.

At the end of the meeting, Vera Langerova emphasized the importance of the profession:

– You are very needed, trust us! It also once seemed to us that we were superfluous at this film celebration. But this is not at all!

 

Head of the Department of Drama and Film Studies,
Professor Svetlana Melnikova