At the center of Khamdamov’s artistic world there is always a woman. The female figures in his graphic works evoke the laconic whimsicality and ornamentation of Art Deco. However, in cinema, Khamdamov approaches actresses as a sculptor, optically reshaping them into new faces and forms. Like Pabst and Sternberg, who once transformed angles, silhouettes, and shadows into new goddesses—Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich—he reimagines his muses on screen.
A special screening of Khamdamov’s film The Bottomless Bag will feature three remarkable actresses: Anna Mikhalkova, Svetlana Nemolyaeva, and Elena Morozova.
The screening will be preceded by a conversation about their experience with the master: what does work with Khamdamov demand from an actress, and what it offers in return.
МЕШОК БЕЗ ДНА
2017, Russia, 105 min., b/w, o.v.— Russian
Director and Scriptwriter Rustam Khamdamov
DoP Pyotr Dukhovskoy, Timophey Lobov
Cast Svetlana Nemolyaeva, Sergei Koltakov, Anna Mikhalkova, Elena Morozova
Based on Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s “In a Grove”, story takes place during the times of Tsar Alexander II. A lady-in-waiting tells the Emperor in his bedroom a metaphysical story about a 13th century prince who is killed in the woods under mysterious circumstances. Fairy tale characters who have witnessed the terrible death, all share their version of the events, gradually shedding light on what really happened.