Sergei Loznitsa, a filmmaker Media City has had the pleasure of working with for nearly a decade, will be in NYC to present an in-person screening at Anthology Film Archives this Monday, November 3 at 7pm. The three films chosen for the screening are incredible works, we highly recommend that you attend: https://facebook/events/1518863188358701/ On a somewhat related note, we append a dispatch from former staff at the Moscow Cinema Museum detailing the possibility of its imminent demise. We recommend you read the letter. • • • • • • • • An Open Letter to Our Colleagues – Film and Museum Professionals in Russia and Abroad On 27 October 2014, the entire professional staff of the Moscow Cinema Museum – 22 employees, including all curators, archivists and film programmers – delivered to the Minister for Culture of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Medinsky, a letter informing him they have been forced to resign their posts because of the impossibility of continuing their work under the new leadership of the Museum. The same day, they delivered their letters of resignation to the new director. The prehistory of this dramatic decision is the following. On 1 July 2014, the Ministry for Culture chose not to extend the contract of Naum Kleiman, one of the founders of the Moscow Cinema Museum and its director for over 25 years. Instead, a new director was appointed, without any competition or probationary period: Larisa Solonitsyna, editor in chief of the newspaper SK News, the official publication of the Association of Filmmakers of the Russian Federation. Transferred to the post of the president of the Cinema Museum, a position specially created for this occasion, Naum Kleiman at first welcomed this young and seemingly energetic new leader, who has a degree in film history. However, after three months - and after continuous efforts on the part of the staff to introduce the newly appointed head to the specific issues of museum work and to the standards built up over a quarter of a century – the entire professional staff of the Cinema Museum felt obliged to openly express their distrust to Larisa Solonitsyna. We did so in the most forceful terms on 14 October 2014 in a letter to the head of the Department for Cultural Heritage at the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Bryzgalov, and to the Presidential Advisor, Vladimir Tolstoy. Mistrust in the new director grew as she began to display her incompetence, combined with unquestioning self-confidence, and to reveal an authoritarian style of leadership. Decisions were taken in a non-transparent manner, accompanied by the utter unwillingness to listen to the staff members. The new director, who has no former experience in museum work and has made little effort to acquaint herself with our collections and with the methods of their acquisition and cataloguing, has on numerous occasions expressed offensive and unfounded doubts over the scholarly merit of the staff’s work. Under the pretext of “making order”, Ms. Solonitsyna began to fire employees in opposition to her without any professional grounds, offering them the alternative to “leave their employment for personal reasons.” But reprimands (for disciplinary grounds) have been applied selectively, with the obvious intention of splitting the staff. Recently we have been getting more and more convinced that all efforts of the new direction are aimed at discrediting the previous activity of the Museum. Nobody had ever denied or placed into doubt our work carrying out the mission of the Cinema Museum, the mission for which the Museum was created and which is reflected in its very structure and its charter. For the scholarly staff, representatives of three generations, this museum is not just a job - it is our vocation and life-work. As a result of the “activity” of the new direction, it is no longer possible to work productively and, even more, it is just impossible to remain in the atmosphere of hostility, offensive suspicion and disrespect towards people. The work of the Museum is practically paralyzed, current matters are not being solved, traditional partners are renouncing further cooperation. The professional staff have remained unheard. Furthermore, the Ministry has sent a lawyer as an assistant to the new director (we have not received any explanation of this lawyer’s “work with the documents”, and he has not even been introduced to the staff). As we ascertained, he is an expert in the liquidation of enterprises. We understood that they are preparing the closing of the Museum. In these conditions, we have declared the impossibility to work with Larisa Solonitsyna as a director and informed that the scholarly staff of the Cinema Museum is forced to file letters of resignation - that is, to leave our beloved jobs. The letter with this declaration, addressed to Minister Medinsky, was transmitted on October 27, in the morning. As an answer, the same day the director began to fire people: among the first five employees, fired without any attempt of conversation, was Naum Kleiman. The director has attempted to make other employees recall their letters of resignation, but has not succeeded. On the evening of 27 October, the Ministry of Culture, through Interfax Agency, disseminated a text about alleged infractions in the Cinema Museum’s activity, including financial ones, but as far as we know, such infractions were not reflected in the conclusion of the recent ministerial inspection, during which, we responded to all queries (and the explanations were accepted). Why then are these matters, which have already been solved in proper order, are being broadcast in media? The purpose is obvious: to discredit the former director of the Museum and his staff. For the third time in its history, the Cinema Museum is in danger of elimination. Those, who are not indifferent to the destiny of our cinematographic heritage, must help to prevent such cultural vandalism. We believe in the solidarity of our colleagues from the museums and from the world of cinema. 27 October 2014 Naum Kleiman, dismissed president of the Cinema Museum Maxim Pavlov, dismissed deputy director Kristina Yuryeva, chief curator of collections Anna Kukes, academic secretary Yelena Dolgopyat, curator of the manuscript collection Marina Rychalovskaya, collection of manuscripts Darya Kruzhkova, dismissed, collection of manuscripts Svetlana Kim, curator of the collection of animation materials Georgy Borodin, dismissed archivist for the collections Pavel Shvedov, curator of the collection of diafilm strips Emma Malaya, curator of the collections of memorial objects, film equipment and costumes Marianna Kushnerova, curator of the collection of photographic materials Aleksey Tremasov, department of collections Anna Bulgakova, dismissed curator of book collection Yekaterina Maksimova, collection of graphic and paintings for film Anastasiya Krylova, collection of film posters Vera Rumyantseva, dismissed, Scientific Memorial Cabinet of S.M.Eisenstein Artyom Sopin, dismissed, Scientific Memorial Cabinet of S.M.Eisenstein Olga Ulybysheva, chief of the department of film programs Ivan Ulybyshev, film collection Mikhail Zraychenko, collection of video materials Aleksey Artamonov, public relations specialist
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 18:44:03 +0000
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