September 16th-25th, 2011, Perm
The second edition of the Texture International Film and Theatre Festival, held September 16th through 25th, 2011, has come to an end. Over the course of ten days, festival guests and audience members had a chance to see eight plays, 12 films and 13 screenplay readings. There was also a special program of over 40 events including Anton Adasinsky’s master class and a DEREVO Theatre show (Mephisto Waltz), five music-related documentaries (Beat Film Festival), a non-fiction project called Human.doc (Praktika Theatre and Masterskaya club), and numerous discussions with experts from Russia and Europe. Russian writer Vladimir Sorokin and Swedish filmmaker Lukas Moodysson, both recipients of the Texture: Name special award, were the pivotal figures of the fest. The tribute to the former consisted of Sorokin-penned movie screenings, two readings with Andrei Smolyakov, Ingeborga Dapkunaite and the author himself among the participants, and a special conference The Universe of Vladimir Sorokin that brought together celebrated philologists from Russia and abroad. Film producer Jesper Kurlandsky, Moodysson’s frequent collaborator, lectured to art-school students from Moscow and Perm; Fucking Amal, a performance based on the eponymous movie, was also shown. Whereas Vladimir Sorokin accepted the award in person, Lukas Moodysson, regrettably, couldn’t make it to the festival due to his illness.
Wim Wenders’ Pina had been selected as the opening-night film, followed by 12 screenings of both documentaries and narrative features. A lot of filmmakers, including Sergei Loban (Chapiteau Show), Alexander Rastorguev (I Love You), Christine Bottomley (Arbor), and Vitaliy Mansky (Patria o Muerte), attended the festival.
The Theatre Program featured eight plays from Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Perm, Novosibirsk and Nizhnevartovsk. About 700 people saw The Celebs, an opus by Praktika Theatre, at the Perm Academic Theatre-Theatre, while The Coffeeshop Owner and Gods Are Fallen and All Safety Gone transcended theatrical limitations and were performed in a café and a clothing store, respectively.
Plays and scripts of the Dramaturgy Program were presented in readings; a special theatre lab was working to prepare the readings. Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Alexander Rastorguev, Ruslan Malikov, Yuri Muravitsky, Dmitri Volkostrelov were among the directors.
Texture was aided by the Festival Art Council of writers, directors, actors, producers, artists, journalists, art critics and musicians. Pavel Lungin, filmmaker; Veniamin Smekhov, Andrei Smolyakov, Alisa Hazanova, all actors; Vera Polozkova, poet; Julia Idlis, journalist and playwright; Klim, theatre director; Anton Nosik, blogger, and Alexander Tcheparukhin, producer, assisted Ingeborga Dapkunaite who is the Head of the Council.
Texture International Film and Theatre Festival is focused on the cinema and theatre that speaks about contemporary life. We see its aim in grasping the moment of "here and now", looking into the "texture" of reality.
The idea of creating the Festival belongs to Edward Boyakov, theatre and film producer, Artistic Director of Praktika Theatre, (Moscow) and Art Director of the Molot Stage Theatre (Perm) and actress Ingeborga Dapkunaite.
Perm was chosen as a city where the cultural policy, especially in the sphere of contemporary art, is becoming the key factor for regional growth.
The first festival took place between 18 - 28 September 2010. In 11 days the audience and guests of the festival had a chance to see 17 productions, 39 films, 14 readings, to participate in 22 discussions. Over 17 countries were represented. The Festival was attended by over 12000 people.
In 2011 Texture Festival will be held in Perm from 16 to 25 September for the second time.
