Main work carrying on at a reasonable pace with various welcome distractions and diversions. One of which was an interview of Eamon Gilmore, the Irish Foreign minister who was in Moscow a week or two ago to sign a trade agreement with Medvedev and which I recorded together with Estelle Winters of “The Voice of Russia” who conducted the interview . You can listen to the whole interview here.
Central House of Artists - Moscow
Tomorrow and Sunday the J-FEST of Japanese Contemporary culture is being held at the Central House of Artists in Moscow in central Moscow. Its a two day exhbition of all the elements of modern Japanese culture from fashion to manga and Anime to music with an accent on new directions in Japanese art and culture. Today we received press accreditation and I intend to film this event.
All the other work moving along step by step. Today there is another episode of the web documentary “Japan - Philosophical Landscapes” An ongoing film and internet project about Japanese landscape and its expression in Japanese art, culture and living. Watch below.
The theatre projects centred around a film adaptation of “The Fairground Booth” is still very much in a development stage of writing and research and at them moment is on the back burner as I clear my way through other projects.
This section of the film focuses on the Silver Pavilion of Ginkaku ji. It suits my purposes over the more popular Golden Pavilion in Kyoto as it describes more directly the phenomenon of Philosophical landscapes. Most people are concerned with the Golden pavilion because of its obvious beauty, a striking golden temple set in the middle of a pond, its still golden reflection a mirrored upturned version of itself creating an uncanny sensation of a floating vision in mid air.
However in some ways the Silver Pavilion, Ginkaku ji, is no less beautiful despite its subdued presence if compared to the Golden Pavilion. The addition of moss covered grounds and what I would call “sandscapes” – abstract images made with sand and grit give it a unique quality as a Zen temple. They do not represent the landscape or depict a particular landscape but communicate an essence or idea. The cone of sand in the garden resembles Mount Fuji however this is but a surface interpretation. A mountain is seemingly a solid thing ostensibly made of hard rock. However mountains can fall or increase in size with volcanic eruptions. A miniature mountain of sand conveys this state of flux or indeterminateness of things and life which Zen Buddhism teaches. The volume of sand shaped into a cone is held in a state of static but fluid tension which can change with a gust of wind or a heavy downpour of rain and then reconstituted anew. Similarly sand as waves convey the inter penetrability of things. This constant blurring of borders between materials conveys the solid but non materiality of an idea given expression in three dimensional space. The essence of Zen Buddhism.
This section of the film focuses on the Silver Pavilion of Ginkaku ji. It suits my purposes over the more popular Golden Pavilion in Kyoto as it describes more directly the phenomenon of Philosophical landscapes. Most people are concerned with the Golden pavilion because of its obvious beauty, a striking golden temple set in the middle of a pond, its still golden reflection a mirrored upturned version of itself creating an uncanny sensation of a floating vision in mid air.
However in some ways the Silver Pavilion, Ginkaku ji, is no less beautiful despite its subdued presence if compared to the Golden Pavilion. The addition of moss covered grounds and what I would call “sandscapes” – abstract images made with sand and grit give it a unique quality as a Zen temple. They do not represent the landscape or depict a particular landscape but communicate an essence or idea. The cone of sand in the garden resembles Mount Fuji however this is but a surface interpretation. A mountain is seemingly a solid thing ostensibly made of hard rock. However mountains can fall or increase in size with volcanic eruptions. A miniature mountain of sand conveys this state of flux or indeterminateness of things and life which Zen Buddhism teaches. The volume of sand shaped into a cone is held in a state of static but fluid tension which can change with a gust of wind or a heavy downpour of rain and then reconstituted anew. Similarly sand as waves covey the inter penetrability of things. This constant blurring of borders between materials shows the solid but non materiality of an idea given expression in three dimensional space. The essence of Zen Buddhism.
Moscow is still in the throes of a beautiful autumn. Crisp and cold with the sun shining through the autumn leaves as you walk about the streets of the city. Yesterday morning awoke to a stunning fiery Moscow dawn. Right across the far side of the city from our apartment, windows were ablaze with the reflection of the early morning sunrise. Several days of trying to complete numerous tasks all in one go and not succeeding. Trying to finish the book Journey to Ogasawara or at least trying to finish the art work and composing to get it ready for publication as an e-book and as a normal book as well. On top of this there has been the preparation of two of the films form the Russian Avant-garde series and also the film “Stanislavsky and the Russian Theatre”. Ran into some technical problems here and there but gradually they are sorting themselves out. Books have been arriving from far and wide as part of the research process into “The Fairground Booth” project but because of all the other things happening it has been almost impossible to pay it the attention it requires. As far as the project “Japan – Philosophical Landscapes” is concerned there is much material available, it simply needs to be reworked for the internet. I have to admit its taking longer than I expected to get this film ready but there is nothing can be done.
Work has been going ahead for the shooting script of the Fairground Booth and the other two documentary films associated with the project. Here in Moscow its been an interesting few days creatively. After attending an exhibition of Japanese micropop art in Moscow it made me look at a film project on which I was engaged before the completion of “Stanislavsky and the Russian Theatre” I set the project aside despite the first part of the two film project being completed and much of the 2nd film also in an advanced state of post production. The two films were about Japanese art and culture and somehow they didn’t feel complete so I decided to put them on one side. As it turns out this incompleteness may turn out to be a positive aspect and to the advantage of the project as a whole. The two films were the outcome of two 3 month journeys to Japan especially for filming at locations all over Japan. The project is in a process of re evaluation and to some extent reinterpretation and redefining. More later on this subject as I work out which is the best media for introducing this project. For more details about this project click here.
Autumn – Moscow. The dark evenings come earlier and earlier with
every passing day. Coming to the end of the edit on The Japanese Garden
- Landscape and Meaning. Still not entirely happy with the title.
However I don't want anything to prosaic which might be misleading.
Writing something which will introduce the film as a kind of
announcement of release. Work has piled up behind this film including
The Stanislavsky Documentary film "Stanislavsky and the Metamorphosis of Russian Theatre"
and some related writing projects which I am working on. There is no
other way however to make progress otherwise the quality of the film
suffers if you try and rush things. Today manged to get to grips with
and complete some computer graphics and effects which have been giving
me difficulties. I feel like I haven't been out for days although this
is not true. The feeling with this film is that I have been ensconced
in a long tunnel neither looking right or left and despite the pleasure
and experience I have derived from this film I really want to get it
finished and move forward with other projects.
Since I am starting a new blog on this format then its worthwhile starting with some new projects which are in the wind and progress so far. Its also by way of an introduction to those who may not be aware of the activities of Copernicus Films. Hopefully the information will gradually fill in the bigger picture as we go along with later posts. Copernicus Films has recently completed a 6 part series about the Russian Avant-garde called "The Russian Avant-garde – Revolution or Renaissance" which was shot on location in Russia, Germany and Japan. The films include titles about Alexander Rodchenko, Kandinsky, Meyerhold the great Russian theatre director and Mayakovsky the Russian and Soviet Poet.The next stage will involve a new film about Stanislavsky of which I will write more later, plus two films about Japanese art. The films about Japan are in post production at the moment. The main task to be completed is the voice over and some studio shoots. I will begin to post more information as time goes by. At the moment a trip to the UK will take place in April to record the voice over for the Stanislavsky film provisionally titled "Stanislavsky and his Legacy" plus some interviews. The other project which is almost at fruition is a small book about a visit to the island of Ogasawara, some thousand kilometres south east of Japan and situated in the Pacific ocean. It is an account of a journey I undertook whilst making the film "David Burliuk and the Japanese Avant-garde" which is about the Russian avant-garde painter and futurist David Burliuk's two year visit to Japan in 1920 before finally emigrating to America in 1922. He travelled to the island to paint and recuperate after a gruelling journey through Russia and Siberia . The first draft is almost completed.
David Burliuk and the Japanese Avant-garde "David Burliuk and the Japanese Avant-garde" was released on DVD in the autumn of 2007. The film charts the work of the Russian futurist David Burliuk in Japan. After he left Russia during the … Continue reading →
A long time has passed, or so it seems, since completeing the film "Stanislavsky and the Russian Theatre" and a process of reflection has replaced the frenetic rush to finish the film in time for the premiere and get it released at roughly the same time. The […]
The snow is starting to melt as the days become warmer here in Moscow. All day the "alpenists" have been noisly clearing snow and ice from the roof of our apartment block. […]
Michael Craig is a director and producer of independent films and lives and works in Moscow. He founded Copernicus Films which has produced the arts documentary series: "The Russian Avant-garde - Renaissance or Revolution", a series of six films about the Russian Avant-garde of the 1920s and 30s.
After a decade working in the film industry in the UK, mostly on the packaging of feature films for international prodcution companies and later in the financial and production aspects of feature films, he travelled to Moscow in 1995 to make films and write where he has lived and worked ever since. He started making his first documentary film about Alexander Rodchenko in 1998 and from this experience embarked on series of films about the Russian Avant-garde of the 1920s and 30s. Three more films in the series followed:"Architecture and the Russian Avant-garde and , "Meyerhold, Theatre and the Russian Avant-garde" and "Mayakovsky" . Two further films have now been completed "David Burliuk and the Japanese Avant-garde, with locations in Moscow Tokyo and Kyoto and a 6th film "Kandinsky and the Russian House" shot in Germany and Russia. Michael Craig returned to Japan for two 3 month periods to shoot a film about Japanese culture and art. The project is called Japan Philosophical Landscapes and is being released in short episodes on the internet-Click Here to Watch for Free.In 2011 a documentary about the Russian theatre director and founder of MXAT (The Moscow Art Theatre)
This section of the film focuses on the Silver Pavilion of Ginkaku ji. It suits my purposes over the more popular Golden Pavilion in Kyoto as it describes more directly the phenomenon of Philosophical landscapes. Most people are concerned with the Golden pavilion because of its obvious beauty, a striking golden temple set in the middle of a pond, its still golden reflection a mirrored upturned version of itself creating an uncanny sensation of a floating vision in mid air.
