THIS year sees the centenary of the birth of Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein, right, one of the great figures of cinema and of 20th-century art. Long regarded as one of the founders of film language, and the examplar of modernist practice in the intellectual ferment of early Soviet Russia, Eisenstein's films such as Strike, Battleship Potemkin and October, with their bold use of movement and of montage, were deeply influential for generations of film-makers. Yet how often are his films seen today, and how are they viewed?
The director's life itself seems a downward curve, from the dynamism and experimentation of the 1920s films through the abortive trips to Hollywood and to Mexico, and the return to a Stalinist Russia increasingly and brutally intolerant of formalist experimentation. The later films - Alexander Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible, Parts 1 and 2 - are monumentally impressive and visually powerful, but their mystic nationalism reflects the fundamental shifts in Soviet political direction in the 1930s. As with Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will, it is possible to be awed by the potency of Ivan the Terrible, but appalled by the ideology which it is serving. These are some of the issues likely to be addressed at a fourday event to be held at UCD at Earlsfort Terrace next week to commemorate Eisenstein's centenary. Comprising screenings, discussions and lectures, the event is designed, say its organisers, "to create awareness of Eisenstein's artistry, and to re-examine the relevance of his films as we prepare to enter a new millennium".
Among the contributors are film academics Geoffrey Nowell-Smith, Richard Taylor, and Paul Willemen.
There will be screenings of Ivan the Terrible Parts 1 and 2 and of October at the Irish Film Centre next weekend.
The events have been organised with the assistance of UCD, DCU, the Keough-Notre Dame Centre, the Film Institute of Ireland and the British Council. The fee for attending the event is £25 (although screenings at the IFC are open to the general public). For further information ring 01 7068664 or 01 7068604
