Igor MAYBORODA
Игорь МАЙБОРОДА
Igor MAIBORODA
Russia, 2008, 140mn 
documentary
Rerberg and Tarkovsky. The Reverse Side of 'Stalker'
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Рерберг и Тарковский. Обратная сторона 'Сталкера'

 

 Rerberg et Tarkovski. L'autre face de 'Stalker'

 Reberg i Tarkovkiy. Obratnaya storona

 
Directed by : Igor MAYBORODA (Игорь МАЙБОРОДА)
Writing credits : Igor MAYBORODA (Игорь МАЙБОРОДА)
 
Cast
Viktor ASTAFYEV (Виктор АСТАФЬЕВ)
Natalya GUTMAN (Наталия ГУТМАН)
Andrey KONCHALOVSKY (Андрей КОНЧАЛОВСКИЙ)
Nikita MIKHALKOV (Никита МИХАЛКОВ)
Mtislav ROSTROPOVICH (Мстислав РОСТРОПОВИЧ)
 
Cinematography : Vadim ALISOV (Вадим АЛИСОВ), Radik ASKAROV (Радик АСКАРОВ), Igor KLEBANOV (Игорь КЛЕБАНОВ), Yuri KLIMENKO (Юрий КЛИМЕНКО), Sergey KOZLOV (Сергей КОЗЛОВ), Pavel LEBESHEV (Павел ЛЕБЕШЕВ), Yuri LIUBSHIN (Юрий ЛЮБШИН), Sergey MACHILSKY (Сергей МАЧИЛЬСКИЙ), Aleksandr NEGOVSKY (Александр НЕГОВСКИЙ), Valentin PIGANOV (Валентин ПИГАНОВ), Yuri RAISKY (Юрий РАЙСКИЙ)
Produced by : Igor MAYBORODA (Игорь МАЙБОРОДА)
Production : MD Project Ltd.
 

Awards :
Best documentary Golden Eagle awards, Moscow (Russia), 2010
Best documentary "NIKA" Prizes, Moscow (Russia), 2009

Plot synopsis
The movie «Rerberg and Tarkovsky. The Reverse Side of «Stalker» is part of the documentary sequence «Rerberg», which tells the dramatic story of life and work of one of the most striking national cameraman, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation Georgi Ivanovich Rerberg. In the first 10 years of his work in cinema he shot his best movies: «The First Teacher», «The Story of Asia Kliachina», «The Nobility Nest» with the director Andrei Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky and also «Mirror» with Andrei Tarkovsky, without whom it is impossible to imagine the story of world cinema. Rerberg the cameraman was the last in the family of Russian painters, architects and musicians Rerbergs, whose destinies throughout different generations reflected the crisis of human relations in a totalitarian state. This crisis had an especially striking and devastating effect on G.Rerberg himself, when during the shooting of «Stalker» the director Andrei Tarkovsky provoked a «spiritual Chernobyl» against him and other members of the crew. Rerberg’s death severed the link to the true story of the creation of «Stalker», the story which became a legend and concerning which he never made any public statements, although certain existing versions of these events affected his honor, dignity, professionalism and seriously influenced his career. This is a private story, reflecting the future catastrophe of our society. It could become a warning to people, but the documentary facts have been collected only now in this movie.
Source : www.moscowfilmfestival.ru
 

Commentaries and bibliography
Igor’ Maiboroda : Rerberg and Tarkovsky : The Reverse Side of Stalker (Rerberg i Tarkovskii: Obratnaia storona Stalkera, 2009), Robert BIRD, kinokultura.com, 2010
 
The following people took part in the making of the film :
Mstislav ROSTROPOVICH, Natalia GUTMAN, Andrei MIKHALKOV-KONCHALOVSKY, Nikita MIKHALKOV, Viktor ASTAFIEV, Irina ANTONOVA, Marina TARKOVSKAYA, Evgeni TSIMBAL, Marianna CHUGUNOVA, Olga SURKOVA, Vadim YUSOV, Pavel LEBESHEV, Ezhi VUICHEK (Poland), Shavkat ABDUSALAMOV, Mikhail ROMADIN, Alexander BOIM, Ali KHAMRAEV, Viktor KOSSAKOVSKY, Vadim ALISOV, Yuri ILIENKO (Ukraine), Sergei KOZLOV, Evgeni GUSLINSKY, Oleg GEDROVICH, Andrei VASILIEV, Leonid MILOSLAVSKY, Igor KORSHICH (Slovenia) , Iyya SAVVINA
with
Georgi RERBERG, Andrei TARKOVSKY, Alexei LOSEV, Evgeni MRAVINSKY, Sven NYKVIST (Sweden) and Larisa TARKOVSKAYA.

Commentary of the Director :
For many years, the story of how “Stalker” came into being remained a blank page in the history of Russian cinema.
Only one side of the story had been voiced – Andrei Tarkovsky’s side. In his diaries published outside Russia after his death he blamed his friends and colleagues for the mishaps that took place during the shooting of “Stalker”. The film “Rerberg and Tarkovsky. The Reverse Side of “Stalker” gives everyone he blamed a chance to tell their side of the story. In the end, it turns out everything isn’t as simple as it seemed according to Tarkovsky’s diaries. A true human tragedy took place on the shooting set of “Stalker”. The film ruined the future of some who took part in creating it, and cut short the lives of others.
Andrei Tarkovsky wrote that he considers “Stalker” his best film. He began shooting it with director of photography Georgi Rerberg, whom he had worked with on his previous film, “The Mirror”.
IMAGO, the European Federation of Cinematographers, has placed “The Mirror” on its list of 100 finest European films in terms of pictures, noting that the film introduced a new kind of images for Tarkovsky, which became characteristic of his later films, including “Stalker”.
However, Rerberg isn’t mentioned in “Stalker’s” credits. The humanist film director Tarkovsky crossed out his name, in the manner that repressed people were crossed out during the Stalin era. By blaming Rerberg for the flaws that took place during the film’s shooting, Tarkovsky received an opportunity to remake the film according to a new script and with a new director of photography. However, this placed Rerberg’s high artistic reputation under doubt, thereby depriving him of a worthy future in the profession. The paradox of this entire story is that Rerberg, who insisted on revising the script during the film’s shooting, was the one who guided Andrei Tarkovsky back to track. Yet the film director never mentioned this fact…
The original footage of the first version of “Stalker” shot by Georgi Rerberg perished in a fire.
The originals burn up in Russia, but honor, dignity and spiritual nobility do not burn.
They remain as memories…
This is not a scandalous, but rather a tragic story for everyone who was involved in it.
After watching “Rerberg and Tarkovsky. The Reverse Side of “Stalker”, film critics noted: “It’s surprising that both Tarkovsky and Rerberg have passed away some time ago, yet the emotional gravity invoked by the mere mention of their names is as strong as ever”.
The detective story of “Rerberg and Tarkovsky. The Reverce Side of “Stalker” is based on previously unknown factual material discovered during the making of the film, so the viewer will be in for many surprises. However, the real point of the film is not to uncover the story of dramatic conflict which took place between Georgi Rerberg and Andrei Tarkovsky, but to call the viewer’s attention to a great “passed personalities” of Andrei Tarkovsky, Georgi Rerberg, Victor Astafiev, Pavel Lebeshev, Sven Nykvist… A great illustration of the “time collapse” of the film is the images shot by Rerberg of the last philosopher of the “silver age” Alexei Losev, great conductor Evgeni Mravinski, famous musician Mstislav Rostropovich.
The cinema novels from the film “Rerberg and Tarkovsky. The Reverse Side of Stalker” are a part of the film “Rerberg”, which tells the story of the artistic journey and dramatic fate of one of the brightest Russian directors of photography, people’s artist of Russia Georgi Rerberg. During the course of his first 10 years of work in the cinema, he shot his wonderful films entitled “The First Teacher”, “The Story of Asia Klyachina”, “The Nobles’ Nest” – with film director Andrei Konchalovsky, and “The Mirror” with film director Andrei Tarkovsky, without whom it is impossible to imagine the history of the world cinema.
Director of photography Rerberg was the last in a dynasty of Russian painters, architects and musicians, every generation of which reflected the crisis of human relations in a totalitarian society. This crisis came down especially hard on Georgi Rerberg himself during the filming of Tarkovsky’s “Stalker”.


Selected in the following festivals or events :
- Days of Russian cinema in Limoges, Limoges (France), 2012
- Europe around Europe, Paris (France), 2011
- Mostra Internazionale del Nuovo Cinema, Pesaro (Italy), 2011
- Seville European Film Festival : SEFF, Seville (Spain), 2011
- The Cinema Week in Washington, D.C, Washington (USA), 2011
- Honfleur Russian Film Festival, Honfleur (France), 2010
- International Film Festival : Pacific Meridians, Vladivostok (Russia), 2010
- International Art Documentary Film Festival "Artdocfest", Moscow (Russia), 2010
- Golden Eagle awards, Moscow (Russia), 2010
- Jerusalem International Film Festival, Jerusalem (Israel), 2009
- Rotterdam International Film Festival, Rotterdam (Netherlands), 2009
- Sputnik nad Polska, Warsaw (Poland), 2009
- National Documentary Awards : Laurel, Moscow (Russia), 2009
- International Film Festival of the Commonwealth Countries "Moscow Premiere", Moscow (Russia), 2009
- "NIKA" Prizes, Moscow (Russia), 2009
- Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), Moscow (Russia), 2008
- Kyiv International Film Festival 'Molodist', Kiev (Ukraine), 2008

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