#belarusian film

[schlock-luster-video]

On September 3, 1985, Come and See was screened at the Venice Film Festival.

Here's some new art to mark the occasion!

[folditdouble]

Women in Film Challenge 2024: [65/52] Crystal Swan, dir. Darya Zhuk (Belarus/USA/Germany/Russia, 2018)

There are no jobs anymore, even for those with experience. We didn't have these problems in the Soviet Union. Now we got what we fought for. She parties, sleeps all day, dances all night. Whatever's left of her brains is lost. What a waste, all I sacrificed for her. What do you mean, “love her”? She steals money from me, sells my things. What love? She's just like her father… a waste. She’s a DJ, you know?

[hyodyton]

I love the belarusian short film about Dante and Beatrice (Dante. Beatrice 2019) , I rarely see it mentioned anywhere, but it's worth it. It's the most charming thing

[snovyda]

Every time I see people highly praising the film "Come and See" as an anti-war masterpiece, I can't help but recall that its lead actor Aleksei Kravchenko enthusiastically supports russia's annexation of Crimea and has actively taken part in russian militaristic propaganda, including a movie filmed in the occupied Crimea that depicts Wagner mercenaries as heroes. The movie was co-sponsored by Prigozhin himself. (Wikipedia link for the movie, in russian).

That anti-war masterpiece movie means nothing to its own lead actor. Probably did mean a lot to its (Belarusian) writer, who had been an anti-Nazi resistance fighter during WW2 and wrote a lot of it from his own experience. But the lead actor's stance makes everything ring hollow still...

Just a short summary of russian art, I suppose.

[hel-the-growl]

Nezha Reborn annotations - Part 1

Since New Gods: Yang Jian is about to enter NA theaters this week, and before I do a huge information dump about that movie, I wanted to write about its prequel - Nezha Reborn.

I've already seen Yang Jian twice in cinemas here in Australia, and the animation has markedly improved in the one year since Nezha came out - it's definitely worth seeing on the big screen. You don’t need to watch Nezha before Yang Jian but if you’re interested in the lore, then you should lol. It's on netflix.

My original thread on twitter.

Background

Nezha is one of the most well-known characters from the 16th Century Chinese Novel Investiture of the Gods (IOTG), with countless adaptations based on his legend.

New Gods: Nezha Reborn is one of the latest portrayals of the character, and is the first move in Light Chaser Animation Studios' attempt at establishing a New Gods cinematic universe.

Nezha’s origin story

Nezha was born as a round ball of flesh after his mother Lady Yin was pregnant for three years. His dad Li Jing thought he was demon spawn, so tried to kill him but was spared by the immortal Taiyi Zhenren who became his master. At seven years old, he caused a lot of trouble like accidentally killing a demon from 1000 miles away and killing the dragon king Ao Guang’s third son Ao Bing as well as his right hand man the Yaksa Li Gen. When Ao Guang demanded retribution from Li Jing, Nezha chose to sacrifice himself instead. His master later resurrected him using lotus roots to construct a human body, and he came back more powerful than ever. 3000 years later...

Breakdown

Donghai (East Sea). It was the mythical underwater city that Nezha once conquered, now depleted of all its water resources. Set design is inspired by Republican-era Shanghai and Manhattan in the 1920s and 1930s. The poor Chinese style backdrop is contrasted against the glitz of the Western style architecture in the rich area. Rickshaws were commonplace on the streets.

Fashion is also blend of east and west, like the guy wearing kung fu shoes with a denim jacket.

The qipao was a favored dress among women at the time, popularized by Chinese socialites and high society women in Shanghai. Flapper fashion also influenced Kasha’s outfit, blending eastern and western styles.

Li Yunxiang shares the same surname as the original Nezha. His brother Jinxiang’s name is also similar to Nezha’s eldest brother Jinzha. Jinxiang’s look is very typical of the republican era - complete with his center-parted hair and round glasses.

Old Li has the same temperament as Nezha’s dad, The Pagoda Bearing Heavenly King Li Jing.

Who is Yunxiang’s adoptive sister Kasha? She’s an orphan of Belarusian descent, however not much else is known about her past. Her name means porridge in Belarusian. It might be a corruption of Katyusha (喀秋莎) with middle character removed in order to follow Chinese naming conventions idk.

If you know the history of the Republic of China, there were many girls like Kasha in that era. Her father was a soldier and left Kasha and her mother after the war.

✨Princess✨ Ao Bing～～ and the Yaksa Li Gen. Ao Bing is the third son of the Dragon King of the East Sea. The Yaksa Li Gen is the dragon king’s right hand man.

The four big clans - De, Li, Shun, Song (德家、利家、顺家、松家) - actually corresponds to the titles of dragon kings of the four seas. King De, Dragon King of the East Sea; King Li, Dragon King of the South Sea; King Shun, Dragon King of the West Sea, King Song, Dragon King of the North Sea.

A netizen looked this up and really wanted to kneel to Light Chaser for their worldbuilding.

Fun fact: the white horse from Journey to the West is the third son from the Song family.

H*rley-D*vidson Darrley-Hudson product displacement on the arm of Kasha’s jacket:

Actually the film has left some hints about her past. There are some Soviet-style badges pinned to her jacket, along with some small badges that Kasha herself added as well. Since this jacket is huge, it can be assumed that it was left to Kasha by her biological father.

The giant buddha statue is reminiscent of the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang, Henan.

Daddy! Ao Guang, the dragon king of the East Sea.

Art deco details on the hood ornament, decals and invitation card.

Monkey’s suit is basically a hot pink version of the Zhongshan suit, a style of menswear introduced by Sun Yat-sen during the republican era, adapted from Japanese student wear. The four pockets are said to represent the Four Virtues of propriety, justice, honesty, and shame. He's blinged up his prayer beads too.

Does this mean Dr. Su is a descendent of Su Daji, the femme fatale of IOTG? Or could she actually be Daji’s reincarnation? Now I don’t know whether to trust her or not.

All these sea creature demons. Why? Chinese dragons are aquatic. They live underwater, and command water-based attacks, unlike western dragons who breathe fire. So it makes sense for them to control an army of demons that came from the deep.

So this is the crystal palace.

After Nezha’s death, Li Jing found out that Nezha’s mother had built a temple in his honor and burned it down because he was still angry at his son for all the trouble he caused to the family. The soul of Nezha was pissed and after his reincarnation, began to pursue his dad with the intent to kill. It took several parties to step in before matters were resolved.

Looks like monkey likes to listen to Peking Opera.

The Pukui fan, commonly known as the cattail fan, is a fan made from palm leaves and stalks. Lightweight and cheap, it is the most widely used fan in China.

Part 2｜Part 3

[jester-lover]

(i wanted to ask this on yr main but since there’s no askbox i’ll ask it here lol)

For the past ten min I’ve been struggling to find your pfp and where it’s from. Do you know + do you have the original image?

cheers :^]

IVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE.

My pfp is Pierro from the Soviet era Belarusian children’s musical film ‘the Adventures of Buratino’ which in itself is a retelling of Pinocchio. On his adventures, Buratino runs into a circus troupe, who include Pierro, the sad clown.

Pierro himself is a version of the centuries old Italian stock character Pierrot (which I’ve been fixated on for some time now) who is essentially constantly lonely and loveless, something the audience is meant to find funny. He is often found singing to the moon, who he is in love with, or being cheated on by his wife with Arlechinno.

This is his song in the movie (it’s adorable)

[ukrainenews]

Mutinous Russian mercenaries who surged most of the way to Moscow have agreed to turn back to avoid bloodshed, their leader said on Saturday, in a de-escalation of what had become a major challenge to President Vladimir Putin's grip on power.

The fighters of the Wagner private army were just 200 km (125 miles) from the capital, said the leader, former Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin. The rebels had captured the city of Rostov hundreds of miles to the south before racing across the country.

"They wanted to disband the Wagner military company. We embarked on a march of justice on June 23. In 24 hours we got to within 200 km of Moscow. In this time we did not spill a single drop of our fighters' blood," Prigozhin said in an audio message.

"Now the moment has come when blood could be spilled. Understanding … that Russian blood will be spilled on one side, we are turning our columns around and going back to field camps as planned."

The decision to halt further movement across Russia by the Wagner group was brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in return for guarantees for their safety, his office said. There was no immediate word on the deal from Putin.

Earlier, Prigozhin said that his "march for justice" was intended to remove corrupt and incompetent Russian commanders he blames for botching the war in Ukraine.

In a televised address from the Kremlin, Putin said Russia's very existence was under threat.

"We are fighting for the lives and security of our people, for our sovereignty and independence, for the right to remain Russia, a state with a thousand-year history," he said, vowing punishment for those who "who prepared an armed insurrection".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the Wagner revolt exposed complete chaos in Russia.

"Today the world can see that the masters of Russia control nothing. And that means nothing. Simply complete chaos. An absence of any predictability," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.

Video obtained by Reuters showed troop carriers and two flatbed trucks each carrying a tank driving 30 miles (50 km) beyond Voronezh, more than half way to Moscow. A helicopter fired on them near Voronezh.

More than 100 firefighters were in action at a fuel depot ablaze in Voronezh. Video footage obtained by Reuters showed it exploding in a fireball shortly after a helicopter flew by.

Further along the road, video showed, vehicles apparently placed as barricades to slow Wagner's advance had been tossed to one side.

Prigozhin, whose private army fought the bloodiest battles in Ukraine even as he feuded for months with the military top brass, said he had captured the headquarters of Russia's Southern Military District in the city of Rostov without firing a shot.

'WILL THERE BE CIVIL WAR?'

In Rostov, which serves as the main rear logistical hub for Russia's entire invasion force in Ukraine, residents milled about calmly, filming on mobile phones as Wagner fighters in armoured vehicles and battle tanks took up positions.

One tank was wedged between stucco buildings with posters advertising the circus. Another had "Siberia" daubed in red paint across the front, an apparent statement of intent to sweep across the breadth of Russia.

"Will there be civil war?" a woman in Rostov asked the mercenaries who took over the city. "No, everything will be fine," a fighter answered.

The region surrounding Rostov is an important oil, gas and grains hub.

In a series of hectic messages overnight, Prigozhin had demanded that Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and the chief of the general staff Valery Gerasimov should come to see him in Rostov.

'SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGE'

Western capitals said they were closely following the situation in nuclear-armed Russia. U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with the leaders of France, Germany and Britain, while Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to counterparts from G7 nations.

The top U.S. military officer, Army General Mark Milley, cancelled a scheduled trip to the Middle East because of the situation in Russia.

The insurrection risked leaving Russia's invasion force in Ukraine in disarray, just as Kyiv is launching its strongest counteroffensive since the war began in February last year.

"This represents the most significant challenge to the Russian state in recent times," Britain's defence ministry said.

[sammyhmph]

Like I am so proud of my slavic origin (to be clear I am polish with ukrainian and belarusian roots, but to explain it I would have to give you polish history lessons) and my peasant ancestors that I can't even find words to describe it.

That's why I am waiting impatiently for this film (based on polish literary source "Chłopi" ("The Peasants" in english) by Władysław Reymont (this novel got Nobel Prize) which I love, adore and admire)

Theatre realese will be on friday 13.10.2023 in Poland!! (unfortunately I don't know when it will be realesed in other countries)

[coulsons-fullmetal-cellist]

Operation Sleepy Hollow

(Dieter x horror loving female)

Words: 1, 789

Summary: you and Dieter go somewhere special for your two-year anniversary and Dieter has something extra special planned

Warnings: failed proposals but not what you think, body injury, crazy shenanigans, Dieter being Dieter and lots of adorable fluff and some fun history! I did lots of research but if I got anything wrong, please let me know!

Check out masterlist here

Dieter looked again at the small box made out to be the key from The Mummy. He’d lost count of how many times he’d sneak a look at it over the past year. He was hoping to go through Operation Sleepy Hollow: take girlfriend to a place she’d enjoy for anniversary, propose in romantic spot, spend the night making passionate love, best boyfriend award guaranteed.

For your second-year anniversary, you were going to a place you’d enjoy, somewhere you always wanted to go: Sleepy Hollow, New York. Originally called North Tarrytown, it changed its name to Sleepy Hollow in 1996. It came to popularity but Washington Irving’s ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ where the author now lays to rest in the cemetery.

Still having time before checking in, you went to Tarrytown in order to just wander around the picturesque town. The Tarrytown Music Hall wasn’t open, but it was still beautiful in its exterior and Dieter adored any historic exterior and so adored this town. After lunch, you went to the Sleepy Hollow Souvenir Store and tried to not buy so much.

Dieter insisted you splash out for accommodation, so you were spending two nights at the Castle Hotel and Spa. The room was lavish with a four-poster bed and fireplace. Wrapping his arms around you, Dieter insisted on immediately trying out the bed.

As you had planned a few nighttime festivities such as the Pumpkin Museum of Art, the Pumpkin Carousel, the Pumpkin Windmill, and the Pumpkin Planetarium, you saw no problem in this.

*****

The following morning, you had breakfast at the Headless Bagel, purely because of its name. After picking up some Halloween themed pastries from a bakery, came all the walking. Starting on Beekman Avenue, you made your way along the Hudson River to find the lighthouse which was built in 1883. You then made your way to the Sleepy Hollow, originally the Tarrytown cemetery which changed its name to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery to honour author Washington Irving. His monument was protected from picky tourists, but you went to honour him in passing. You found the Headless Horseman sculpture before making your way to the bridge. It wasn’t the bridge that was in the film or from the folktale as that was now a modern bridge commissioned by the Rockefeller family and now has a placard stating its historic location. This bridge was a beautiful wooden one and hauntingly romantic.

This was the perfect location for Dieter to propose. It didn’t want to do it on the bridge as he didn’t trust himself not to fall into the river. He waited until you both crossed the bridge. Your back was to him the moment he got down on one knee, he moved to get the ring out of his jacket pocket when something caught his eye.

“Ah! A snake!”

It was at this point you turned around to find your boyfriend running towards you in fear. He sort of glomped you but had enough sense to not fall to the ground. He pointed to where he thought he saw the supposed snake. You looked over to where he was pointing but only saw a stick.

He felt embarrassed at the blunder but was soon replaced by sadness that he missed out on the perfect opportunity to propose but he shook it off.

The next location the Union Church of Pocantico Hills held the last works by Henry Matisse. Dieter was mesmerised by the stained-glass windows, and he quietly explained the story of how Nelson Rockefeller commissioned the artwork for his late wife, Abby in 1948. He pointed out the Rose Window, Matisse’s last work and the nine windows which were designed by Marc Chagill, a Belarusian-French artist you hadn’t heard of, but you certainly found the windows beautiful.

It certainly cheered Dieter up and he thought of going to Plan B of Operation Sleepy Hollow: propose over a romantic candlelit dinner followed by a night of passionate lovemaking, bagging best boyfriend award in the process.

*****

After lunch, you went back to the hotel for a break before dinner. You had made your way to the bathroom, so Dieter knelt down to untie his shoelaces; he had the sudden thought of relocating the ring box, so he reached over to get it from his jacket but then something broke.

You heard a pained scream and rushed out of the bathroom. Dieter was on his knees unable to move with tears streaming out of his eyes. He was taking short breaths as moving any part of his body was causing immense pain.

“What happened?”

“My back!” he gasped. “My back!”

You put a hand to his chest, “Let’s try and get you up, okay?”

Putting hands under his armpits, you managed to get him sitting on the edge of the bed. You took his shoes off with no problem.

“I’m going to give you a painkiller, okay?”

He didn’t nod as he feared it would cause pain, but you gathered from his whimper that he consented, so you managed to administer it.

“Now I need to take your pants off.”

It was a gruelling experience for Dieter and the whole time he was whimpering in pain and mumbling how the removal of clothes should be sexy, but you managed to get him down to his boxers and lying face down on the bed. Leaving him for a few seconds, you came back from the bathroom with a hot towel and placed it on his back. He settled down after a few moans of pain. His back was very tense and twitched whenever you touched it.

The painkiller must have kicked in or the hot towel was working but Dieter was soon feeling less pain in his back. Soon after he felt a cooling sensation, the towel was removed from his back, and you were rubbing something in.

“What is that?” he asked.

“It’s Tiger Balm, it’s really good for muscle pain.”

He gave a groan of approval and soon you heard him snoring softly.

*****

Dieter woke up sometime later, he didn’t dare try moving and he worried that his back would flare up again, so he stayed where he was. He managed to follow you with his eyes as you came back into the room.

“How are you feeling?”

“A bit stiff,” he mumbled.

“Well, you are going to have a deep tissue massage tomorrow morning. I went down to the front desk and booked you in while I cancelled out dinner.”

“You did?” you nodded. “But what about the Farmers Market?”

“I can do that on my own. I don’t think you’d survive all that walking.”

He grumbled in agreement, “Unless there was lots of sitting.”

“Do you think you could handle sitting now?” He gave a mumble in place of a shrug, so you managed to slowly get him to stand up. After putting on his teddy bear coat, you moved him to a chair with good back support and placed an ottoman under his feet. He grumbled his thanks.

“I’m sorry I ruined our anniversary.”

“You didn’t ruin it, it’s not your fault your back died on you.”

“But we were going to have a romantic dinner and…” he couldn’t finish his sentence.

“Have a night of passionate lovemaking?”

Dieter almost started crying at the thought of all that was being missed out.

“We could try,” he shyly suggested.

“Sex won’t fix your sore back; it might make it worse.”

“It might. If I lie down the whole time and you can sit on my-“

“We’re not risking anything,” he pouted. “We can do gifts?”

He wiggled his toes in excitement, “Yes, let’s do presents!”

You moved over to where your bags were. Pulling out your present for Dieter, you moved over to his bag. He stopped you opening it, just letting you carry the whole bag over to him. Pulling out a wrapped gift, he handed it to you while you put his bag away and put your gift in his lap.

He gleefully but carefully unwrapped his present to reveal the glorious tie-die beneath.

“I’m Kenough?!” he held up the hoodie. “I love it!”

It was now time to unwrap your gift; it was a book.

“Making the Monster: The Science Behind Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.”

“I figured you might want to learn all the history science stuff behind your favourite book.”

You hugged the book close to you and made your way over to Dieter in order to plant a giant kiss on his cheek. You gently hugged him.

“I love it! I’ll not to read it all in one sitting.”

“You want to read it now, don’t you?”

“Yeah, but how about some room service?”

*****

“How was the massage?”

“Amazing! My back is still stiff, but it doesn’t hurt like hell anymore,” he was sitting in the armchair donned in his new favourite hoodie. “How was the Farmers Market?”

“Amazing! So much lovely produce! I could’ve bought one of everything, but I don’t know if I can bring back fresh produce.”

“We’re in the same country.”

“Yeah, but isn’t there a rule about bringing food across state lines?”

“I don’t think so.”

You hmphed, “I guess it’s just an Australian thing. But I got lots of other great things!”

You pulled things out of your tote to show your smiling boyfriend: jams, soaps, various baked goods as well as…

“Cheese?”

“You bet I got cheese! If I can’t bring it back with me, I’ll eat it all on the spot.”

“I think you can bring it with us.”

“I also got you a handmade heat pack. They told me that when it heats up, it smells like pancakes.”

“So I’ll smell like pancakes?”  he loved the thought.

You were surprised you still had room in your suitcase after all your purchases, but you managed to fit everything in. Thankfully, Dieter brought his trusty Crocs with him, so he didn’t have to endure the thought of how he was going to put his footwear on.

The hotel staff were very helpful in getting your luggage and Dieter into the car and soon, you were both on your way back to New York City.

As Dieter watched the trees go flying past, his mind began to wander; he was rethinking his proposal plan. Halloween was approaching and you were both heading to a fancy costumed ball. It would be the perfect opportunity to propose as it was your favourite time of the year so you would already be in a happy mood. So now it was Operation Halloween Proposal: dress up and go to romantic themed ball, propose in super romantic setting, spend the night making passionate love, best boyfriend award guaranteed.

Films referenced: The Mummy (1999), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Barbie (2023)

Book referenced:

Lovingly tagging @boliv-jenta @simpingcowboy @ellenmunn @o-sacra-virgo-laudes-tibi @brilliantopposite187 @chaithetics @myloveistoolittle @cevans-is-classic @glshmbl

[mariacallous]

It was around 5 pm on March 15, and the light was fading fast, when Constantin and Tatiana were attacked by the bear. The young couple, aged 29 and 31 and identified in local media reports only by their first names, were Belarusians living in Poland. But Constantin had been working for the winter as a ski instructor in Jasná, a popular resort in neighboring Slovakia. The winter season was coming to an end, and on a day off he’d decided to go hiking with his girlfriend beneath the 4,718 foot-high peak of Na Jame, in the Slovak national park surrounding the resort. What happened next is not exactly clear, but newspaper reports suggest that when the couple encountered the bear—a young male weighing about 265 pounds—they ran in different directions. Finding himself alone, Constantin tried calling Tatiana. When he failed to get a response, he called mountain rescue. It was dark when they eventually found Tatiana’s body, with the help of a search dog. She’d apparently fallen down a ravine, sustaining fatal injuries to her head.

As with previous bear-related fatalities, both in Slovakia and across Europe, the incident has sparked accusations that conservationists are protecting bears at the expense of people’s safety. In 2021, a 57-year-old man was killed by a bear in the same national park, stoking community tensions about their presence and leading to calls for a cull. As it stands, however, hunting the animals is banned under both Slovakian and European law, and experts argue vociferously that a lack of education—rather than a focus on conservation—is the primary cause of the problem.

“It’s really kicked off here, with the press and politicians I think making some unjustified statements,” says British-born zoologist Robin Rigg. A specialist in large carnivores, Rigg is the chair of the Slovak Wildlife Society, which he set up in 1998, two years after moving to the country. Initial reports suggested that Tatiana might have been killed by the bear itself rather than by her fall, Rigg explains. “And it’s been said in public—actually by someone from the Ministry of the Environment—that it was a predatory attack. But I don’t see the evidence for that.”

Although the animal was near the body when rescuers found Tatiana, “that doesn’t mean the bear was intending to kill and consume her,” Rigg says. He stresses that he hasn’t seen all the evidence, so any conclusions are provisional. But he has seen some of the grisly photos that were leaked to the media, “and none of them show signs of consumption.” Puncture marks found in the young woman’s leg, he says, “look like claw marks—they’re not signs of feeding.” “It's extremely rare in Europe to have predatory attacks, and it’s not a common thing anywhere in the world,” Riggs says. This incident occurred in an area where bears are known to hibernate, at a time of year when they are just waking up. “And what can sometimes happen is that the bear reacts aggressively in defending itself, which is what I think is most likely to have happened in this case—that it was startled by these two people appearing,” Rigg says. Unfortunately, this kind of nuance doesn’t often feature in coverage of bear attacks. “You’re actually more likely, statistically, to get hit by lightning or have an allergic reaction to a bee sting,” Rigg says, “but people don’t worry as much about that as they do about a big animal with sharp teeth and claws. It goes back to an instinctive fear that’s been with us since prehistoric times.” The argument that Slovakia’s bears are nothing to be afraid of was further undermined when footage emerged of an animal galloping down a main street in Liptovský Mikuláš just two days after Tatiana’s death. The animal was filmed lunging aggressively at pedestrians, who jumped over fences to escape. No one was seriously hurt, but the video went viral. “And now,” Rigg says, “we’ve had these two incidents within 48 hours of each other, within a few kilometers of each other. So the tendency is to look at them together and ask, ‘What should we do about bears?’” It’s a question that’s become increasingly pressing in recent years—not just in Slovakia but throughout Europe. Having been hunted to the point of extinction in many countries, brown bears had their “strictly protected” status enshrined in EU law in 1992. In most areas where they’re present, bear populations are increasing, and there are now an estimated 17,000 brown bears living in rural areas across the continent. The recovery of this keystone species has been celebrated as a huge win by biologists and biodiversity experts—but it’s not been without its problems.

In the Pyrenees, the mountains that straddle the border between France and Spain, French and Spanish farmers’ unions, sick of dealing with damage to crops, beehives, and livestock, have called for bear numbers to be cut. In the northern Italian province of Trentino, where bears were reintroduced as part of an EU-funded rewilding project, the tragic death of trail runner Andrea Papi in April 2023 brought simmering resentments bubbling up to the surface. To the horror of local scientists, Trentino’s right-wing populist president, Maurizio Fugatti, proposed killing half of the carefully nurtured population of around 120 bears overnight.

Yet, experts say, culling bears is far from the best way to prevent future tragedies. In the wake of Andrea Papi’s death, the local natural history museum invited Tom Smith, a bear management specialist from Utah’s Brigham Young University, to give a talk about how such issues are dealt with in North America. In a sign of how high community tensions were running, the museum took the unusual step of posting an armed guard at the entrance. In his talk, Smith suggested that the solutions were relatively simple: “What you have here isn’t necessarily a bear problem, it’s a people problem,” he said. Unlike in North America, where people in bear areas have grown up with the animals, Europeans living near recently recovered populations don’t necessarily know how to behave. But with some basic bear-awareness training—of the kind that’s taught “in kindergarten” in some Canadian provinces—the number of dangerous or fatal encounters could be vastly reduced. Smith runs the North American Human-Bear Conflict Database, which contains detailed information on 2,175 historic attacks, with “a quarter-million data points.” “What I’ve learned by studying these events,” he told the crowd, “is that 60 percent of them were totally unnecessary—and could have been avoided if people had behaved differently.” In an interview a few days later, Smith talked specifically about Papi’s death, telling WIRED, “I can go through the details and say, ‘You should never do that, or that, or that,’ and it’s not victim blaming, it’s trying to say, look, this was fully preventable.” Tragically, this also appears to have been the case in Slovakia. “Unfortunately, the route that they chose was a very risky one,” Rigg says. “It’s not a recognized hiking route, and it’s a part of the park that’s strictly protected, so they shouldn’t have been there. Added to that, it’s a limestone area, and that’s an area I’d expect there would be denning bears.” The encounter happened around dusk, when crepuscular creatures like brown bears tend to be more active.

And by running away from the animal—particularly by running away in different directions—the couple inadvertently made the situation a whole lot worse. “It would have been better if they’d stayed together and tried to stay calm if possible,” Rigg says, because bears almost never attack people in groups. In the entire North American Human-Bear Conflict Database, Tom Smith said, there’s not “a single case where two people stood their ground and the bear attacked.”

While the human tragedy of Constantin and Tatiana made headlines, the incident may prove damaging to bears too, affecting conservation efforts across Europe. Slovakia’s government (which, like Trentino’s, is right-wing populist) has called for the EU to strip bears of their “strictly protected” status. Adalbert Jahnz, a European Commission environment spokesperson, said he couldn’t comment on these specific calls.

But the decision in December to downgrade wolves from “strictly protected” to “protected,” a status that would allow hunting, has biologists and biodiversity experts worried. “It’s partly political posturing,” says Rigg of the Slovak government’s recent statements, “but I think they really want to try to make that happen—and they probably feel that there’s a bit of an open door now because of what happened with the wolf recently.”

[collapsedsquid]

The Ukrainska Pravda film crew asked a man to call a Polish company and pretend to be the manager of an actual Belarusian company. He explicitly offered to sell Russian rapeseed meal accompanied by Belarusian documents. The manager of the Polish company asked him to email the terms and conditions. Yet Poland banned the import of rapeseed meal from Ukraine in September 2023, following protests by farmers. Since then, the volume of products that have continued to arrive from Belarus has been steadily increasing.

Managed to find another piece about Poles attacking rapeseed shipments from Ukraine

[sloshed-cinema]

Disco Boy (2023)

What a terrible path to citizenship. After breaking away from their football club during a trip into Poland, Aleksei and his friend Mikhail plan to travel to Paris to find a new life. Unfortunately for Mikhail, the journey is a fatal one, as he is struck and killed by a police boat while the pair cross a river. Alone, Aleksei joins the French Foreign Legion in order to secure eventual citizenship. On another river in another continent, Jomo and fellow freedom fighters in the Movement for the Empancipation of the Niger Delta resist the effects of colonialist and government-backed oil drilling which leaves the local people with a polluted river and ever diminishing farmland. The future is bleak for both of these young men. Fate forces the two together after Aleksei is deployed to enforce French interests by recovering French hostages captured by MEND. Jomo and Aleksei fight in a skirmish, and Jomo is eventually killed by the Belarusian. This trauma leaves Aleksei feeling bereft and vacant, especially after he finds Jomo’s sister Udoka, now living illegally as well in Paris, in a nightclub. The cruelty and callous nature of this means of gaining citizenship, giving dangerous and dirty jobs to foreigners as a way to carrot-and-stick them to the passport they so desire, smacks of indifference toward the lives of others. Citizenship is earned in the spilled blood of others in the name of the French Republic.

Especially in its final nocturnal Parisian act, Giacomo Abbruzzese’s film vocabulary takes on a neon-soaked hallucinatory feel as Aleksei loses himself first to dance and then to grief. The pivotal skirmish is filmed in infrared thermal imaging, the two men just body heat struggling for survival. This returns in the closing moments after a sort of transference has happened between Jomo, Aleksei, and Udoka. After meeting her in her apartment, Aleksei takes on one of Jomo and her’s defining features, a striking single brown eye. In a way, he has taken on Jomo’s spirit, and the two finally get to enact his desire to be a dancer in a nightclub.

Featured throughout is a throbbing, bassy, nocturnal house score by Vitalic. It’s really striking work, suffusing the film with passion and danger.

THE RULES

SIP

The film switches from one storyline to the other.

Someone name-drops the French Foreign Legion.

The score kicks in

BIG DRINK

A country or nationality is named.

[folditdouble]

Women in Film Challenge 2023: [24/52] Ivan & Abraham, dir. Yolande Zauberman (France/Belarus, 1993)

Where would God feel more at home than in Poland?

[weimarhaus]

Anita Berber in a still image from the 1922 period drama Die Drei Marien und der Herr von Marana (The Three Marys and the Lord of Marana) directed by and starring Reinhold Schunzel. This film which also co-stars Hungarian star Lya de Putti and Belarusian actress Olga Belajeff was rediscovered in 2009 with Italian intertitles and restored.

[moviesandmania]

SILENCE OF THE PREY A flesh-eating family! Trailer and release news

‘You’re not welcome here’ Silence of the Prey is a 2024 horror film about an immigrant mother who takes a caretaking job and soon regrets it. The movie was written and directed by Karyna Kudzina and Michael Vaynberg. The former stars alongside Monte Bezell, Chris LaPanta, Michael Doyle, Lorianna Izrailova, Rebecca Packer and Tim Shelburne. Plot: Nina (Karyna Kudzina), an undocumented Belarusian…

[ironwoodatl01]

John Wick 4: 'But why though?'

John Wick isn't 'back'. He never left. He merely bided his time till the world needed him, needed the Baba Yaga to remind the world about the necessity of doing things with Style.

The importance of Style in John Wick 4 is inversely proportional to John's regard for the generally accepted rules of a firefight. The word Style was the running theme of John Wick 4, and the film's director managed to find a dozen ways to manifest Style on the big screen and crammed them all into a 2-hour-plus action movie.

Truth be told, he shouldn't have. Truth be told? He shouldn't have.

John Wick 4 starts with John making his move against the High Table after the events of Parabellum. John's strategy in this case is to make as big a mess as he can with his first move, then pop the heads of whoever comes to clean up the mess like a macabre game of Whack-a-mole.

In response to this, the High Table empowers the Marquis De Grammont with carte blanche access to the Table's resources and unleashes their new hunting dog against the infamous Baba Yaga. The High Table's new Hound wastes no time in drawing blood wherever it can by destroying the continental hotels, starting with New York, and the deaths that result becomes one death too many in John Wick's already full ledger of souls he has dealt the Ruska Roma haircut.

John, therefore, decides to cut off the head of the snake and goes to challenge the Marquis to single combat. According to the old laws of the High Table which governs the relationships between the members who sit at the table.

Along the way, John meets up with old friends at the Continental Hotel in Osaka, duels a blind man brilliantly played by Donnie Yen, and deals with a Man-Hunter who is saving John for when John's bounty gathers the requisite number of digits and zeroes to make him worth the killing.

John also beats up Scott Adkins wearing a fat suit.

Why though?

That question, that 'why though?' That was what struck me halfway through John Wick 4. The Osaka Continental was a gorgeously designed, Japanese-Themed Hotel for Assassins. Seeing Donnie Yen fight like a blind man was a creative exercise in character design, and Scott Adkins turning a single hand of cards into a work of art was a testament to the amount of work he had put in to prepare for his rather short, but impactful role.

However, none of these new characters and locations were really interesting.

Every new character and location had a point in John Wick 2 and John Wick 3; Parabellum. The D'Antonio siblings in John Wick 2 gave us an insight into the High Table and the conflicts among the table's members.

Cassian and Ares served by introducing the concept of Bodyguards as a counterpart and a countermeasure against Assassins.

In Parabellum, the Adjudicator and the Ninjas introduce the methods the High Table relies on to enforce their rules and rule over their subjects 'Under the Table'.

Even the Ruska Roma were poignantly important as the organization gave the audience insight into John Wick's childhood as a Belarusian orphan raised to serve the High Table.

Every character and location in John Wick 2 and 3 had a purpose as they answered questions about the John Wick universe and deepened the immersion of the audience into the story of John Wick's journey through the world under the High Table.

John Wick 2 and 3 interested me. John Wick 4, however, was a mind-numbing ride through willy wonka's chocolate factory with rivers of blood instead of chocolate, and trees that bore as its fruits lead and death. It's really cool, but why? What is the point of it all?

In John Wick 4, John goes to Osaka to meet an old friend, who is also the concierge of the Osaka Continental. A fusion of neon lights and Japanese tradition that is heavily inspired by the Yakuza motif. Japan's efficient modernity, clean steel edges lit up with gaudy neon, a monolithic testament to the present day beneath which lay the rigid adherence to the traditions that underscored the 'extreme way' of the Yakuza of old.

But why did John Wick need to go to Japan? As exquisitely thought out as the Osaka Continental was, what purpose did John Wick's detour to Japan serve?

That is the issue that underlies John Wick 4, what is the purpose of the Osaka Continental? What is the purpose of the Marquis, or Caine, or the Harbinger? All of their roles in the narrative could be replaced by characters already introduced in previous movies. The Harbinger could be the Adjudicator from Parabellum, Caine could be played by Cassian from JW2, and having John resolve his differences with these characters from the previous movies may have given John Wick 4 greater impact. According to the theme that the movie had about the end of John Wick.

Ultimately, John Wick 4 was a stylish movie that introduced new, cool things that pushed the story of John Wick to a new level.

But why though? When the story of John Wick was supposed to end?