American Cinematographer - March 1989 - 94

G/asnost For

Cinematographers?
released. After 15 years in the can, it
received the award of the Soviet Film Critics

organization

as

"The Best Soviet Film of

the Year."
A year later it was shown in the
United States to great acclaim. There was,

however,

one

odd thing: it seemed to have

been made without the benefit of

a

director

of

photography. At least there was no such
listing in the credit titles, despite the fact
that its magnificent black and white photog¬
raphy was a major reason for the enthusi¬
of American critics and filmmakers.
The cinematographer is, in fact,
Yascha Sklansky, now an American citizen
asm

Sklansky and his

camera

Glasnost is a word few of us knew until very

recently. Now this Russian word fills the
hearts of the world with hope. Many be¬
lieve it will usher in a new age in which the
world's two most powerful nations, at log¬
gerheads for so many years, will work
together toward a less jittery future. One
gesture in the right direction is a process
of moral reevaluation of past events, includ¬
ing the admission of errors made during
the regimes of Stalin and some of his
successors.

Until recently it was the custom
in the Soviet Union to consider as disloyal
any

writers and artists who emigrated to

other countries. For this reason, books and

paintings by persons who later chose to live
elsewhere

were

removed from libraries and

galleries. Motion pictures were shown
without accrediting the names of any actors
or production personnel who had left the
USSR.
The Soviet film Trial on the Road,

92

powerful movie was dusted off and

American

Cinematographer

chairman of the Council of Ministers of
the USSR.

Sklansky says that the announce¬
for him, "both happy news and

ment was,

people. We were able to
empathy for the innocent victims our pain for their fate, our tears. Our feelings
are on their side, and we tried to express it
in every frame.
"I am glad that our work gained
success and acclaim and I congratulate
wholeheartedly my colleagues - now the

remains

a

non-person.

On November 7 last the Kremlin
issued "A resolution of the Central Commit¬
tee of the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union and the Council of Ministers of the
USSR on awarding of the State Awards for
1988 in Literature, Performing Arts, and
Architecture." The document states that
"The Central Committee of the Communist

Party and the Council of Ministers of the
USSR, after having discussed the recom¬
mendations made by the Review Commit¬
and State Prizes of the
USSR in literature, fine arts, and architec¬
ture, has decreed to award the following
State Prizes for 1988:
"Alexei Gherman, director,
"Edward Volodarsky, script writer,

tee for Lenin Orders

"Valery Yurkevitch, art director,
"Tigran Silayev (post mortem),
soundman,
"Vladimir Zamansky, lead actor,
"for the motion picture Trial on the Road."

to the

new

by M.

Gorbachev, general secretary of the Central
Committee of the USSR, and N. Ryzhkov,

country for this picture, but in Moscow he

have

this

The Chronicle of Difficult Weeks.
The document is signed

sad news. I was happy because it is a
victory. We put into this picture our heart

Obviously, forgiveness was ex¬
tended to other key personnel of the picture
17 years after it was condemned - but not

fought to the death. In 1986, with the
openness of the Gorbachev regime,

matographer of a documentary, Is It Easy To
Young?, and for the writer-directorcinematographer and two other cinematog¬
raphers of another documentary, Chernobyl,

Be

living in California and working as a studio
electrician. His name was eliminated from
the film because of his "desertion." Now he
has received recognition in his adopted

produced by Lenfilm Studio in 1970-71, was
by government order because it
took a sympathetic view towards Russian
soldiers taken prisoner during World War II,
the hard-line view being that they were
traitors to their country because they should
shelved

from a glance at the list of awards. The only
other 1988 awards relating to motion pic¬
tures are for the director, writers and cine¬

cinematographer. That cinematogra¬
phers in general are not persona non grata
in the Soviet government may be deduced

March 1989

and soul, and our labor was not wasted. Our
film speaks bitter truth about the tragedy of

millions of Soviet

create

laureates of the State Award. I am also
thankful to all of those who believed in our
film and supported us in this difficult time.

However, the

news was

because in the

era

also sad for me
of glasnost there was not

single voice raised in defense of the
question
on why the name of the director of photog¬
raphy was not included either in the film
a

director of photography, not even a

credits

or

in the State Award. Glasnost lost

its voice.
"Where is

perestroika if artists'
being erased from film credits as
they were erased before and where is
glasnost if people are silent as they were
names are

silent before?"
Good questions, Mr. Sklansky,
and American Cinematographer joins you in

asking. Come

on, Mr. Gorbachev and Mr.
Ryzhkov, we're all for glasnost and pere¬
stroika, too, but we want cinematographers
to be included.

-

GT
American Cinematographer - March 1989

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