Moviegoing Memories is a series of short interviews with filmmakers about going to the movies. Victor Kossakovsky's Aquarela is MUBI GO's Film of the Week of December 13, 2019.
NOTEBOOK: How would you describe your movie in the least amount of words?
VICTOR KOSSAKOVSKY: What if we do not talk about water but just look to it! This is an example of how a film can show a story instead of telling a story.
NOTEBOOK: Where and what is your favorite movie theater? Why is it your favorite?
KOSSAKOVSKY: My favorite cinema theater is the Aurora on the main street of St.Petersburg - Nevsky Prospect. It is oldest cinema in Russia; it was opened in 1913. It is not a huge cinema theater—only 590 seats—but it has perfect proportions of the room and a 100 square meters screen. I loved to go there since my childhood. I saw many great films there, including my favorite films of Chaplin and Tarkovsky. And there I decided to became a filmmaker. I just wanted that one day my films will be there in the Aurora and on this big screen. And it happened. They screened all my films for a few months. Aquarela is already twos and half months at the Aurora as well!
NOTEBOOK: What is the most memorable movie screening of your life? Why is it memorable?
KOSSAKOVSKY: It was a screening of Fellini 8 1/2. I was about 12 years old. The cinema theater was full. But I was sure that Fellini is talking directly to me, as if this screening is happening just for me. When the film finished people went out and I was not able to stand up. I was alone in the empty cinema theater crying non-stop—with sadness and happiness.
NOTEBOOK: If you could choose one classic film to watch on the big screen, what would it be and why?
KOSSAKOVSKY: It is hard to chose just one film. My heard is broken on three films: Andrei Rublev, by Andrey Tarkovsky, Intolerance, by D. W. Griffith, and Faust, by Alexander Sokurov.