Elegy of the Land - Maria/Last Day of a Rainy Summer

Synopsis: Two shorts by Alexander Sokurov about the significance of the land to Russia, where it has an almost spiritual meaning. Both films are embued with the director’s signature moody melancholy. MARIA, made in memory of Russian peasant Maria Semionovna Voinova, serves as not only a requiem for a hard-working woman but also for a way of life. Maria grew flax, and after her death, her secrets and methods of working in the fields were lost as so much had changed. THE LAST DAY OF A RAINY SUMMER was shot in 1978 on a Russian collective farm called a kolkhoze, which was responsible for supplying agricultural products for other parts of the country. The hard-working people love their work because they are brought up to do so, with almost no rewards from life, and in an atmostphere contaminated with official rhetoric. The film captures the daily routines of this farming community, a lifestyle fading even as it was being chronicled.

Additional DVD-ROM section includes editor’s notes, biography and filmography
Language: English
Country: Russian Federation
Year of release: 2007
Year of production: 1978-1988
Subjects: Agriculture; History
Keywords: communism; farming; peasants; Soviet Union

Name: Quantum Leap
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British Universities Film & Video Council