In June 2009, the satellite museum of the Hermitage Museum will open its first exhibition in Amsterdam. Russian Ball in Amsterdam is the last part of the television series, A Passion for the Hermitage (episode 6: Metamorphosis), in which Aliona van der Horst explores the story behind the objects on display at the opening exhibition: a supposedly unplayable grand piano, a dazzling ball gown and the costume of an African Court lackey. This episode is all is about change, transformation, and lost memories. In several humorous and passionate scenes, the Hermitage Dwellers meet new and older visitors in search of their own very special fulfillments. The visitors include an ingenious pianist and the great-granddaughter of the African lackey in search of her secret past….
Special event: Live music before the film by composer Harry de Wit |
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Introductory film: Les Enfants du Musée (Children at the Museum)
By Agnès Varda
France 1964, 7min.
French. Subtitles: English
In Paris, in the halls of the Palais de Louvre, in the shadow of the grand masterpieces of paintings and sculptures, children get together. They are there to learn how to draw, paint and sculpt. But this is not a school like any other…
Linked to The Hermitage Dwellers and Russian Ball in Amsterdam, Aleksandr Sokurov’s 2002 tour de force Russian Ark is programmed in DOKU.ARTS. |
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Passie voor de Hermitage: Metamorfose
The Netherlands, 2009, 25min. Video
Crew
Cinematography: Maasja Ooms
Sound: Rik Meier, Maria Mok, Ludo Keeris, Bouwe Mulder
Editing: Teun Pfeil
Original music composed by: Harry de Wit
Production: Lotte Lever, Valérie Schuit for Viewpoint Productions & AVRO Television
Director
Dutch director Aliona van der Horst was born in 1970 in Moscow, Russia. She studied Russian Language and Literature at the University of Amsterdam and film at the Dutch Film and Television Academy. In 1997 she started work as a director and since then has won several awards, among them the Grand Prize at the International Festival of Films on Arts, Montréal (2006) and the Silver Wolf Award at IDFA (2008). |