May 13, 1986
The Fifth Congress of Cinematographers, dubbed "revolutionary," opened in the Kremlin: its delegates were democratically elected, and hundreds of films banned in the USSR were removed from the shelves. A "rehearsal" and a "director's cut" of perestroika.
Fronde in the heart of the communist citadel (congress delegate, film critic Andrei Plakhov)
Despite the fact that the Gorbachev In power for over a year, creative people continued to complain about "Soviet censorship," including the country's best directors.
The Fifth Congress of Filmmakers went awry from the very beginning: not only members of the nomenklatura, but also independent directors were elected as delegates from regional branches. "Overboard," despite the support Nikita Mikhalkov, turned out to be even popular Sergey Bondarchuk. Among those who were unable to become delegates were the rector of VGIK and the editors-in-chief of the magazines “Art of Cinema” and “Soviet Screen.”
From the very first minutes the congress turned into a riot.
First of all, the first secretary of the board of the Union of Cinematographers replaced the 62-year-old Lev Kulidzhanov A 52-year-old man nicknamed "The Sleeping Lion" was chosen Elem Klimov — the author of the satirical comedy “Welcome, or No Trespassing” and the war drama “Come and See.”
The voting for the new board members lasted almost the entire night.
The members of the counting commission, hiding the horror in their eyes, ran to their superiors, trying to conceal the terrible truth. But this was impossible, and soon the information reached the CPSU Central Committee. Everyone felt they had been participants in a fateful event. The next morning, those who had managed to sleep woke up in a different country. (Andrey Plakhov)
The routine speeches of the delegates of the “fraternal film unions” from the socialist countries, interrupting the dramatic plot of the congress, resembled a telephone call during sexual intercourse. (Hungarian director Laszlo Lugosi)
State television channels claimed the congress was "an undermining of national security" and subjected "great Soviet film directors to repression." It was called a "provocation" of the collapse of the USSR.
We want people to live in an atmosphere of honesty, justice, and transparency.
We, filmmakers, must make civic films that will address the most pressing, deepest, most fundamental, and root problems of our society and the world. (Elem Klimov)
All delegates were shown a banned film. Tengiz Abuladze "Repentance." And they declared that "problematic" cinema had replaced entertaining films.
After the congress, the Union of Cinematographers "pulled off the shelf" more than 250 films that had fallen victim to censorship. Among them were films Alexander Sokurov, Andrei Tarkovsky, Rolan Bykov and many other directors forgotten in the USSR.
Previously rejected scripts were also put into production: thus, in 1987, the film “Cold Summer of ’53” was released.
