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Svalbard hosts Russian film festival
Week of movies, discussions, tours coming to Barentsburg, Pyramiden

Visitors take a break from movies and discussions during an outdoor tour at the 2008 Northern Traveling Film Festival. This year's weeklong event includes natural and historical tours, plus an overnight boat journey to the abandoned mining community of Pyramiden for an evening of screenings. Photo courtesy of Norfest.

When coming all the way to Barentsburg for a film festival it makes little sense to spend the whole time indoors.

History, art and nature tours, plus an overnight boat trip to Pyramiden, are part of this year's Northern Traveling Film Festival scheduled Aug. 14-20. The Russian event, featuring the theme "Arctic Sea Nomads, Heroes and Legends," includes cinematographers, historians and scientists from eight nations.

(Festival site: Russian | English by Google Translate)

The festival, which began touring Northern Eurasia and North America in 2002, made its first stop in Barentsburg in 2008. Marina Yuzhaninova, the festival's director, said in an e-mail interview the Russian mining community "is a comfortable place for us because of rich history, nice nature, interesting persons."

"For me Spitsbergen is crossroad of times, cultures, traditions, folks, tragedies, fate," she wrote. "All of us are specialists in traditional cultures of different Arctic people so the idea 'Barents-film-panorama' is such research: ethno-psychology (and) ethno-philosophy."

"Besides, there our friends and colleagues from the Russian academy of sciences work in that settlement," she added.

The festival program is being incorporated into "International Polar Year: Results and Prospects" conference organized by the Russian Academy of Sciences. Roundtable discussions, book presentations, visits to archeological sites, a meeting with mine workers, ecological tours and other activities will be lead by the sciences and historians attending. Art exhibits, film club meetings and other recreational activities are also scheduled.

Historical ties are also being highlighted, including the 40th anniversary of "Red Tent," Michael Kalatozov's film about the Umberto Nobile expedition. It will be shown as part of a multinational lineup, with some titles including:

• "Gods of Yamal," Andrei Golovnev's 1994 Siberian film about Nenet reindeer herders on the Arctic Coast.

• "The Post Horse," a 2008 film by Golovnev about a 7-year-old boy in a remote coastal village.

• "Four Weeks In June," Swedish filmmaker Henry Meyer's 2005 feature about a troubled young woman who develops an unexpected friendship with a secretive Holocaust survivor who lives in the same apartment building in an unnamed Swedish town.

• "Kautokeino-Opprøret,” Norwegian director Nils Gaup's 2008 film about how a religious and cultural reawakening inspires rebellion in a 19th century Norwegian village.

• "Pathfinder," Gaup's 2007 film about a Viking boy left behind after his clan battles a Native American tribe, who raises him and sets the stage for a battle with the Norsemen.

Most of the films have English subtitles and there will be Russian voice translations. Discussions will also be translated into English and Norwegian. The theater hall has a 500-person capacity but, alas, no popcorn, Yuzhaninova noted.

Participants from outside Longyearbyen are scheduled to arrive from Oslo at 11:30 p.m. Aug. 14, after which the flight to Barentsburg will depart. Daily schedules in Barentsburg generally include a family screening in the morning, tours and discussions on various topics during the day, and evening film programs.

The festival travels to Pyramiden by boat Aug. 17-18, with on-board history and science presentations, a film marathon in the abandoned mining town, and a morning nature tour. The return flight to Longyearbyen is scheduled at 9 a.m. Aug. 20, with a final day of activities before visitors depart in the early morning hours of Aug. 21.

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