In Spring

In Solidarity with the People of Ukraine

(Navesni; Vesnoi, Mikhail Kaufmann, USSR [Ukraine] 1929, 65 min., 35mm)

Mikhail Kaufman is one of the pioneers of documentary film. Today, he is mostly known as the cinematographer who worked with the great experimental filmmaker Dziga Vertov, his older brother. Kaufman was the eye in Vertov’s Kino-Eye and the man with a movie camera in Man with a Movie Camera—more than enough to secure a place in film history. Yet, Kaufman’s perception of cinema was deeply personal and humane; he felt that Vertov was enraptured with the technical side of filming and editing. During the making of Man with a Movie Camera, the brothers had a falling out, and Kaufman created his own film, partially using the same footage. In Spring became one of the masterpieces of poetic cinema. “Kaufman’s snail is as beautiful as Greta Garbo and the ants battling for the cocoon is perceived as a tragedy,” wrote one of the critics. In Spring is not only a seminal work of Ukrainian cinema. It is also a hymn to the miracle of life. The fact that it was filmed in and around Kyiv makes it particularly topical today.

Live piano accompaniment by Dr. Philip C. Carli.

Admission is a pay as you will donation at the Dryden Theatre. All donations will go to support the people of Ukraine via ROC Maidan and to assist the Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Centre, the Ukrainian film archive in Kyiv, in protecting Ukrainian cultural heritage. 

Please note: Mask, proof of COVID-19 vaccination, and photo ID are required for all museum programs in the Dryden Theatre.