The Cinematheque

In Person: Christos Dikeakos

“One of the most staggering technical achievements in the history of cinema … Part pageant and museum tour, part theme-park ride and historical meditation.”

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

A manifest miracle of the cinema, Russian master Alexander Sokurov’s astonishing film offers dreamy passage on the ark of Russian history, in the form of a single, spellbinding, time-travelling tracking shot—the longest uninterrupted Steadicam shot in cinema history—through Saint Petersburg’s famed Hermitage museum. The fantastic voyage begins with the film’s unseen narrator (Sokurov) finding himself inexplicably transported to the museum, where he meets another mystified arrival, the 19th-century French diplomat Marquis de Custine (Sergey Dreiden). Together, the two new companions set out to wander through dozens of grand rooms, miles of corridors, and hundreds of years of history, encountering a parade of historical personages—including still-current Hermitage director Mikhail Piotrovsky— along the way. Over twenty years later, the technical virtuosity of Sokurov’s magnum opus remains breathtaking, as does its feast-for-the-senses tour of one of the world’s preeminent art collections.

In Russian with English subtitles

Introduced by artist Christos Dikeakos, whose Griffin Art Projects exhibition The Collectors coincides with this film series.

“One of the most astonishing films ever made … If cinema is sometimes dreamlike, then every edit is an awakening. Russian Ark spins a daydream made of centuries.”

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

“The sense of exuberance, of human harmony, of cultural achievement, is electrifying.”

Julian Graffy, Sight and Sound