At the end of August, the XIX Gumilyov Festival took place in the city of Bezhetsk in the Tver region. The Gumilyov readings were held with great success, organized and moderated by Olga Medvedko, Chairman of the Gumilyov Society. Poets and writers made reports on the life and work of Nikolai Gumilev and shared the results of their research. Poets from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tver, Bezhetsk and other cities held poetry readings, as well as master classes. All these events have attracted a lot of attention from many poetry lovers.
The main event of the XIX Gumilyov Festival was the premiere of a new film about the great Russian poet Nikolai Gumilyov, who was accused of participating in a counterrevolutionary conspiracy and shot in 1921. The poet was 35 years old.
The film “Gumilyov Mysteries” is one of the projects of the creative figurative cinema. It was made by a team of young filmmakers: director Alexey Yurgaitis, producer Violetta Gunina. The main roles were played by young actors:
Nikolai Gumilev – Konstantin Talan, Anna Akhmatova – Alyona Shmonina , their son Lev- Kirill Dylev. The film was shot at the Gumilev House Museum in Bezhetsk. This is an authentic house where the family of poet Nikolai Gumilev lived after the 1917 revolution: his mother, sister, son Lev, and the poet himself often came here with his wife, also a famous poet Anna Akhmatova.
As the founders of the Gumilyov Museum, Juri Schegolkov and I were very pleased to recognize the familiar artifacts of our collection – a small crocodile and musical instruments from the African exposition, personal belongings of Gumilyov and Akhmatova. The film “Gumilyov Mysteries” is based on the poetry of Nikolai Gumilyov. The last days of the sentenced poet, who reads the Homer epic in his cell, rhyme with the ancient tragedy. His memories are woven into a vivid canvas of images of the people most dear to his heart: his wife Anna Akhmatova and his son Lev, whom he could not protect from the impending catastrophe.
We, the participants of the festival, watched the premiere of the film in the city of Bezhetsk, where the events of this documentary drama unfold. The film lasted only 25 minutes. The audience sat as if spellbound, not moving.
I sometimes got goosebumps. At the end of the movie, someone was crying. I was very impressed by the film. The young director and the actors did not follow the story of the poet’s biography, but rather the emotional impact of Gumilev’s poems on the viewer. And the young performer of the role of little Lev Gumilev is a living reincarnation of the poet’s son. Excited viewers shared their impressions and left feedback about the film on social media networks. Poet and teacher Olga Efimova wrote:
“I watched the film “Gumilyov Mysteries” at the premiere in Bezhetsk. The authors managed to convey the inner spiritual complexity and depth that distinguished Nikolai Gumilev. The director and cameraman found an artistic language that could convey the tragic sound of that era, which was called Silver Age. From a technical point of view (editing, animation, sound design), the film is very interesting and dynamic. The most important thing is that an artistic image has been created that affects the viewer. The pictures of the destroyed temples, which are still in ruins, hurt the heart. And these are vivid images as metaphores of ruined destinies and lives. And one more thing that amazed everybody: the incredible resemblance of the young actor Kirill from Bezhetsk to Lev Gumilev, whose role he played in the film. Such a non-accidental accident. Thank you to the authors for making such an amazing film in memory of the Poet!”
Andrey Smirnov, a student from Tver, wrote:
“The film cannot leave anyone indifferent, it touches the soul from the very first shots, when Nikolai Gumilev’s poems are heard against the background of the destroyed Temple in the village of Gradnitsa, where the poet’s parents were married and around which his maternal ancestors were buried. The fate of the Russian Poet, who was shot at the prime of his life at the peak of his talent , right on the threshold of his Glory. This is all indicated by talking symbols…”
In the last week of August, I was invited to the premiere of the film “Gumilyov Mysteries” in Moscow at the Third Documentary Content Festival ORIGINAL+DOC. As part of the “Cinema at First Sight” debut film program, this film was one of five selected and produced with the support of the Internet Development Institute. At the premiere the audience and the jury members were overwhelmed by the emotional impact of the film. I have no doubt that a great success awaits this movie. The authors were able to convey their message to us – true poetry is eternal. You can kill a poet, but you cannot kill his imperishable poems. It is especially important for us to understand this, because next year we will celebrate the 140th anniversary of the poet Nikolai Gumilev, whose poetry comes back to us in poems, songs, plays and now in films.
By Olga Medvedko,
Chairman of the Gumilyov Society, poet, writer, journalist
