Discover European Cinema in the Hermitage
On September 24, 2016 the annual Discover Your Europe in the Hermitage Festival will take place in the Hermitage dedicated to the Year of Cinema in Russia and timed for European Languages Day.
The Festival Program this year offers visitors to walk along the fascinating routes of a quest and visit the Cultures Fair. Two routes of the game/journey will lead the Festival’s guests through the exhibitions of the General Staff Building and Winter Palace. The quest’s questions connect the masterpieces of fine art kept in the Hermitage with the history of European cinema, the nominations of famous film festivals, and European languages in an unexpected way. It will allow guests not only to encounter the works from the museum’s collection again, but also think about the wealth and multifaceted elements of the art of cinema, combining various kinds of work while simultaneously encountering famous facts from the history of cinema and the time before its birth.
The Cultures Fair will be held in the Eastern Wing of the General Staff Building, the entrance to which will be free for all. Diplomatic representatives and cultural institutes of European countries will take part in the Fair. They will introduce visitors to their countries’ history of cinema and best films. All those interested will have a unique opportunity on this day to walk along and be photographed on the red carpet, watch classic as well as new films, concert performances, and a play based on Homer’s The Iliad, and go to free lessons for 10 European languages. The festival will culminate in the opportunity to take part in an interactive set right in the courtyards of the General Staff Building, which the Hermitage volunteers will do for one day. All guests of the festival will be able to try themselves out as an actor, sound editor, lighting assistant, or camera operator. Film and theater professionals will share their secrets at a master class on makeup, acting, and choreography. A new imagining of Romeo and Juliet will be filmed as a result of the one-day express filming.
The State Hermitage Volunteer Service, the School Center Scientific Methodical Department of the Hermitage, the Representation of the EU in Russia, and the general consulates and cultural institutes of the EU member-states are taking part in the Festival’s organization.
More information about the festival can be found on the State Hermitage site.