At the Berlinale – the premiere of Viktor Kosakovsky’s film

Viktor Kosakovsky’s documentary “Architekton” premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. The film participates in the main competition of the 74th Berlinale. Producers from France, Germany and the USA participated in its production.

In the prologue, we see war-torn residential buildings and an Orthodox church in Ukraine. On one building, there is a poster with an appeal to exclude Russia from the UN.

“Architekton” can be called a cinema symphony (composer Yevgeny Halperin) about stone, about how man builds and destroys, about buildings that last forever and those that are doomed to live for several decades. We see the temple ensemble in Baalbek with grandiose stone blocks destroyed by last year’s earthquake in the city in Turkey, landslides in the mountains and stone quarries, ruins of ancient cities, the work of a stone crusher, and a dump where the remains of demolished houses rest.

The Milanese architect Michele De Lucchi, who is building a circle of life in his garden from cobblestones, into which a person is forbidden to enter, becomes a guide through this world of stone. De Lukki believes that “a new idea of ​​beauty is necessary.” The film ends with his dialogue with Viktor Kosakovsky about the possibilities and banality of architecture, about the vulgar concrete that disfigures the living environment.

One of the main themes of Viktor Kosakovsky’s cinematography is the barbaric attitude of man to the planet Earth, its inhabitants and resources. The film “Watercolor” (2018) is dedicated to the greatness of the water element, which often takes revenge on people for short-sightedness and recklessness. Stones in “Architect” are akin to water, they have a soul and a vengeful nature.

Viktor Kosakovsky says that when Russia attacked Ukraine, he decided to abandon filming a film about architecture. But then he changed his mind, because the film is also devoted to the war, “which we are all waging against nature.”

The film received high marks from critics. Reviewers Variety and Hollywood Reporter called his images mesmerizing.

• Documentary director Viktor Kosakovsky was born in 1961 in Leningrad. Among his films: “Losev” (1989), “Belovy” (1993), “I loved you” (2000), “Tyshe!” (2002), “Long live the Antipodes!” (2011), “Gunda” (2020). Winner of the “Triumph” (1997) and “Nika” (1998) awards, awards of international film festivals. In recent years, he lives in Europe.

In February 2022, he spoke out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

• The word “architect” was invented in 1925 by Kazimir Malevich, who called Suprematist architectural models that way.