Enchantment of cinema

In October 2016 the Grand reading room of the National Library of the Republic of Tatarstan opened its doors to all movie enthusiasts. The Department of Arts arranged an exposition of books dedicated to the Year of Russian Cinema. The chief motif of exposition is the development of cinematography that is known to be the enchantment, created by a human. It consists of 4 sections.

1. “Cinematography is a world full of wonders”

The section represents cinema as a form of art. Books on history, theory, aesthetics and cinematic techniques are displayed there. For instance, the encyclopedia “Perviy vek kino” (“Early age of cinematography”) reveals facts about masters and masterpieces of world and soviet cinematic art; the album “Iz kinoletopisi Velikoy Otechestvennoy” (“The chronicle about the Great Patriotic War”) depicts archive data elicited from the works of frontline cameramen as well as USSR documentary photographs. Books about films that constitute the gold reserve of soviet cinematography are also available at the exposition. These works tell about the creativity of film-makers: the cast, directors and screenwriters. “Velikiy Kinemo” (“Great silent films”) is a catalogue of Russian feature films that were produced within the period of 1908-1919. It enlists nearly 300 silent movies, that are nowadays kept in various film vaults all over the world. In the works titled “Nashe lyubimoe kino… o voine” (“Our favourite movies about…war”), “Nashe lyubimoe kino …o lyubvi” (“Our favourite movies about…love”) the film critic F. Razzakov narrates about the best and talented films of the ХХ century. “Krilatiye frazi otechestvennogo kino” (“Catch phrases in Russian films”) includes nearly 15,000 famous catch phrases, quotations and terse sayings, extracted from Russian feature films.

2. “Kazan cinematography”

The section is dedicated to the development of cinema in Tatarstan from the end of the XIX century until modern times. Visitors might be attracted by monographs “Razvitie i stanovlenie kinematografa v Kazani i Kazanskoy guberniyi. 1897-1917 gg.” (“Rise and development of cinematography in Kazan and  Kazan Governorate in 1897-1917-s”) and “Kazan’. Kinematograf. Iz veka v vek. 1897-2014 gg.” (“Kazan. Cinematography. From century to century. 1897-2014.”), compiled by E. Alekseeva. These books contain archive data and illustrations covering the long period from the first films to modern movies.  This section also provides various documents on the appearance and development of picture theatres in Tatarstan as well as modern catalogues of Kazan International Muslim Film Festival.

3. ''Russian idols. Film actors”.

This section is devoted to famous film actors, who were sincerely loved by Russian audience and  well known worldwide:  Lyubov Orlova, Vladimir Zeldin, Mikhail Ulyanov, Tatiana Samoilova, Andrei Mironov, Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Lyudmila Gurchenko and many others. Books about actors, celebrating a jubilee in 2016 (Faina Ranevskaya- 120th anniversary of the birth,  Mark Bernes – 105th anniversary of the birth, Yevgeny Leonov – 90th anniversary of the birth, Lev Durov – 85th anniversary of the birth) are also available at the exposition.

4. ''Acknowledged film directors”

This is a closing section, where the books about prominent film directors are exposed: Sergei Eisenstein, Ivan Pyryev, Mikhail Kalatozov, Sergei Bondarchuk, Andrei Tarkovsky. Literature on the biographies of Vasily Shukshin, Andrei Konchalovsky, Nikita Mikhalkov, Eldar Ryazanov are also available at the exposition. It is notable that films, created by the directors mentioned above, became classics of Soviet cinema.

Vintage cards with the images of actors and film directors are presented in the exposition as well.  

This exposition appeals to a wide range of readers and it will last until the end of December. Welcome!