On February 14 the Shchusev State Museum of Architecture will host the premiere of the documentary film “The Treasure of William Brumfield”. Director and script author – Irma Komladze. Producer – Arkady Levin. Length: 52 minutes
The travels of Professor William Brumfield have filled his main treasury – a unique photographic collection of over 150,000 images that he has taken of Russian architectural monuments, including Orthodox churches. This treasure is archived and systematized; methods of preservation and a cataloging system have been created for it. The treasure encompasses fifty years of study and love, thousands of kilometers of travel. Hundreds of hours in the skies above the ocean.
Professor at Tulane University in New Orleans, Slavicist, author of numerous volumes on the history of Russian culture, photographer, Fellow of the Russian Academy of Fine Arts, specialist on the Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky Collection at the Library of Congress – like an industrious bee, he brings valuable imagesto his hive. The portrait of William Brumfield is of an inspired moment when the midday sun grants him a singular source of light needed for architectural photography, of giving a lecture about digital photography and electronic educational resources -- the portrait of an inspired enlightener. The merger of faith, the enlightenment idea, and a talent for research are evident in the cycle of publications on places that he and Prokudin-Gorsky have photographed.
People are yet another treasure of William Brumfield. William has many friends in Russia – art historians, scholars, priests of the Russian Orthodox Church, publishers. The theme of interaction among people of culture, not influenced by political tendencies and united by the goal of enlightenment, by the cause of cultural preservation, finds expression in the enormous map of sites in the film. These are not only shrines and monasteries, but also hospitable homes in Vologda as well as St. Petersburg, Cherepovets and Moscow. Professor Brumfield knows how to make friends; a worn packet of business cards, barely held in his hand, is also his treasure. Movement, traveling from town to town, getting acquainted with people, the thrill of research work, the incredible tempo of work peculiar only to him. His portrait is a film-journey, the propulsive dance of a happy person.
“We made this film about a person who gained his treasure in Russian culture and who has given all his life to the service of enlightenment, to the ‘propaganda’, in a literal sense, of Russian culture in the West,” said Irma Komladze in an interview, “and a reply resonated over time, both in the West and in Russia. Right before the film’s appearance, Brumfield was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples by proclamation of the President of the Russian Federation. This was very important both for William and for us: over the course of Russian-American relations there are very few who have received this honor. I am very glad that the premiere of the film ‘The Treasure of William Brumfield’ will occur this February in Moscow – in a remarkable place so dear to us and to our hero, the Shchusev State Museum of Architecture. I am also delighted that a Russian audience will see the film.”
Author of the film script and director – Irma Komladze. Composer – Anton Viskov. Camera work: Artyom Ignatov, Oleg Kochubey. Editing – Alisa Abakumov. The film contains excerpts from works of Russian composers in performance by the pianist Alexander Gindin. Producer – Arkady Levin. The film was created by the Center of Cultural Initiatives “Sretenie”, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and financial support from the Phosagro Company.
The American premiere of the film “The Treasure of William Brumfield” will take place in March 2021.
The film will be presented in the program of the Architecture Design Art Film Festival, which takes place in California.
In February 2021 the film will be presented in Bulgaria at the International Festival of documentary art cinema, “Master of Art Film Festival”.
Due to current pandemic conditions, admission to the event is limited and is available strictly by preliminary registration.
Теги: William Brumfield