Cultural television: summing up the TV year

Well, this will be an ode to culture. Something that will never change you. Something worth holding on to and not letting go. True culture.

She is. In 1997, this was done on television, “Culture” as a channel. You could say this was done in reserve, just in case. Well, the state wanted to look at itself in the mirror: “Who in the world is the cutest, the most ruddy and the whitest?” Just to say: I’m also good for something.

“Culture” has been accused of everything: it sucks, it’s for retirement, but where is modernity? But she was with us, visibly, obviously, all these 26 years. And it will be, I have no doubt.

Yes, one percent. You are only one percent, “cultured” people. There are very few of you, and you cannot influence anything. So what! And to hell with him, and to hell with him, I will say uncivilly. We are a free country, right? Whoever wants to watch.

And now “Culture” is needed more than ever. From my point of view. Once again: there is no need to run into it, hide, or leave, as in internal emigration. Hiding like Yankovsky’s hero in a haystack in “Flying in Dreams and in Reality.” No, “Culture” sounds proud, you know? That’s where real life is, right there.

I want to report to you. Remember the movie “How I Spent This Summer”? I have another: how I spent Saturday and Shabbat. In a television sense. No, of course, I can make a molehill out of a molehill and make the cartoons “Mitten” and “The Adventures of Munchausen” an event. Why not? Want to? Okay, let’s get serious and for the long haul.

Here are “Stories from Russian History” by Vladimir Medinsky. No matter how you feel about it, it’s a must watch. I don’t know about his books, which are largely PR, but on television this man comes off in the best historical sense, that’s what’s important.

Next – “Nobel victories of Russian science”, academician Alexey Abrikosov. The man received the Nobel Prize 50 years after its creation, when he was still living in the USSR. Well, they presented it in America. And here he is, alive and real, leading reporters around his Americana, remembering his past life, talking about his present one. This is incredibly interesting.

Then – “Islands”. Sergei Urusevsky.” Our outstanding cinematographer, this has never happened and never will happen. And, of course, “The Cranes Are Flying.” Here is his “Unsent Letter,” a rarity film, and you look and understand, you don’t understand, how it was filmed. Further on the same topic – “The Long Road to Cannes. Mikhail Kalatozov.” A brilliant Soviet director and the same “The Cranes Are Flying.”

“Grand Opera 2023. Gala Concert”. Well, this is something beautiful, something special. And here is “Agora” by Mikhail Shvydkoy. Yes, the program is ambiguous, but the topic is Russian literature today, in process, in the moment. Oh, what was that! Next is “The Boys” by Dinara Asanova. And what a Priemykhov, and what a life, and those same “Boys”.

Just one day, one Saturday, but so much life and events! Well, for me, I don’t force anything. But this is where you get inspiration for life, aesthetic, cultural.

Well, Sunday – please. I spent it with Galina Borisovna Volchek. You see, two years before leaving, she spent the evening there, on the Yauza. In this chair, from which she never left, sitting on stage, she answered questions from the audience. Oh, how she answered! How beautiful she was! And then the Autumn Marathon, of course. Which I can talk about for hours. But I won’t, I’ll spare you.

That’s how many events there are on one purely specific channel called “Culture”. When after each one you want to live, sing, think. That’s why I put “Culture” above all others, in 1st place. I simply need it.

And now – a few portraits from life.

Best presenter/presenter. Fekla Tolstaya. Program “Observer”, “Culture”.

Well, yes, this is Thekla, light, natural, deep and smart. What a nice woman! Not engaged, not charged by anyone, she is on her own, that’s what she is. She is pleasant to look at and pleasant to listen to. She combines this brilliant program in herself, brings together people, personalities, and conducts the orchestra. Say what you want, but “great-great-great” Lev Nikolaevich would be very pleased with her, I’m sure.

Emotions of the year. Vladislav Flyarkovsky. “Culture News”, Channel “Culture”.

You know, I even somehow forgot about him at first. But a man with such a rich biography: “Vesti” is still the same, post-post-Soviet, progressive, free. Then – Israel, head of the bureau. Then – the Postscript program. Then he left (escaped) to the Kultura and managed to get into the last carriage. And there it seemed to become the background. But then I saw him by chance again about two months ago… God, what emotions, energy – fire! To talk about culture like that—I’ve never seen anything like it. At times it seemed that he was reflective, complex, feeling insecure and that’s why he was so loud, awkward… And I wanted to tell him after him: “Don’t worry, my dear, don’t be nervous, everything will be fine.” But no, not like that. Flyarkovsky seems to insist: this is the only way to talk about culture, and no other way. The culture forces you to give it your all, 200%. After all, this is life.

Hemingway of the Year. Igor Volgin. Program “Game of Beads”, “Culture”.

He is in love like a boy. As a wife, of course, as a wife, let us not sin against the sacred. Such a wife – once and for life. Yes, not the first, but here is the result. Of course, a student, of course, what a difference in age. But how he understands his beloved, how he stands with dignity in his shadow. No, that’s enough about the wife. Now about the hero.

He is in his ninth decade, the beginning. Already? Only? He is as handsome as a god: blue eyes, a Hemingway beard. And he loves… After his wife – literature, on a global scale. He bathes in it, dissolves, they understand each other perfectly. He knows everything about her, and above all, about his beloved Dostoevsky. He is a very cool poet, and read it. And this love will never pass.

Well, enough about “Culture” as much as possible, there are other channels. Which? Now.

Cinema-1. OTR.

They have a separate policy about cinema, completely their own. Yes, they can’t say a lot of things directly and then they communicate with you (in secret) in the language of the camera. In a good way. Look, you, the viewer, are respected here, they speak as equals, they make it clear how valuable you are to them. That’s why there are such films, such thematic programs. And just look and shake your mustache. And with my heart, with my heart…

Cinema-2. “Friday”.

Well, who is this great guy who launched a section at 12 at night, where they managed to show all the best, well, everything. Just don’t sleep, stay awake, drink coffee all day long and watch, watch. Here are Tarkovsky, Shukshin, Todorovsky (it doesn’t even matter whether he’s senior or junior), and Konchalovsky with Mikhalkov, and Bergman with Fellini, and Antonioni with Bertolucci… “Friday”, and so on! The authors of the idea received coupons for enhanced nutrition and milk for being harmful.

Sole of company. “Match TV”

This is despite the fact that an entire football team of commentators left there, no less. And its own orders, disorders, undercurrents. But still, when they get together (those who remain), listening to them is just a holiday. Analytics, irony (oh, what Arshavin is here!), and they can show something in terms of football technique, yes, right in the studio.

Documentary of the year. “TV Center. Moscow”.

Yes, it can be vulgar, but rarely. But mostly – by nerves, by heart, by soul. Yes, they can.

Latest nomination:

Badly.

I won’t even decipher it, bad is bad. After all, a long time ago, Vladimir Vladimirovich wrote a global philosophical poetic work “What is good and what is bad.” He had no secrets then. But I’ll explain a little bit. Good – everything where there is life, real life, without impurities. But the bad thing is where this life does not exist. And it is not expected. Again from Vladimir Vladimirovich: “I hate all kinds of dead things, I adore all kinds of life.”

This is all.