Of all the masters of Soviet cinema-most notably Sergei Eisenstein, Lev Kuleshov, Vsevolod Pudovkin, and Grigori Aleksandrov-Dziga Vertov (né Denis Arkadievitch Kaufman, 1896-1954) is arguably the one whose still-radical experiments in image and sound and enduring influence among an astonishing range of contemporary filmmakers and artists, from Jean-Luc Godard to Richard Serra to Steve McQueen, have yet to be fully appreciated or celebrated. MoMA's retrospective, the most comprehensive ever assembled in the United States, seeks to redress this with an extensive selection of Vertov's silent films, sound features, and related work by collaborators and rivals in what he called his "factory of facts." International Vertov scholars, artists, and filmmakers including William Kentridge, Peter Kubelka, Guy Maddin, and Michael Nyman will offer a contemporary perspective on Vertov's work and legacy by introducing screenings and participating in a panel discussion on May 7. The exhibition opens on April 15 with the U.S. premiere of Man With a Movie Camera (1929), newly restored in its original full-frame version by the EYE Institute Netherlands and with live musical accompaniment by Dennis James & Filmharmonia Ensemble. Also featured are 11 programs of Vertov's silent films, drawn primarily from the Austrian Film Museum's unparalleled collection, including the premieres of 14 Kino-Week films from 1918-19, and, for the first time together, all of his extant Kino-Pravda films from 1922-25. The exhibition continues with such masterworks as Stride, Soviet! (1926), A Sixth Part of the World (1926), The Eleventh Year (1928), Enthusiasm: Symphony of the Donbass (1930), Three Songs of Lenin (1935-38), and other sound films. Vertov's exhilarating body of work must be seen not as a succession of individual films, but as one continuously evolving movie; "free of the limits of time and space," he wrote, it would lead to "a fresh perception of the world" and a revolutionary passage from the Old to the New. All films directed by Vertov, except where noted, and with simultaneous English translation or electronic subtitles. Screening descriptions adapted from texts by Yuri Tsivian and others, principally from the 23rd Pordenone Silent Film Festival catalogue.

Featured Works:

Kinonedelja (Kino-Week) nos. 1, 3, 4, 5, 21-25 (Dziga Vertov, 1918); Kinonedelja (Kino-Week) nos. 31-35 (Dziga Vertov, 1919); Kino-Pravda, nos. 1-8 (Dziga Vertov, 1922); Kino-Pravda nos. 9-11, 13 ("Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow": A Film Poem Dedicated to the October Celebrations, Dziga Vertov, 1922); Kino-Pravda nos. 14-17 (Dziga Vertov, 1922-1923); Segodnia (Today, Dziga Vertov, 1923); Kino-Eye (Life Off-Guard, Dziga Vertov, 1924); Kino-Pravda nos. 18, 20-22 (Dziga Vertov, 1924-25); Sovetskie Igrushki (Soviet Toys, Dziga Vertov, 1924); Kino-Pravda No. 23 (Radio Pravda, Dziga Vertov, 1925); Stride, Soviet! (The Moscow Soviet in the Present, Past, and Future, Dziga Vertov, 1926); Padeniye Dinasti Romanovikh (The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty, Esfir Shub, 1927); Man With a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929); Enthusiasm: Symphony of the Donbass (Dziga Vertov, 1930, pictured); Kino-Pravda ([excerpts], Dziga Vertov, 1930s); Tri pesni o Lenine (Three Songs of Lenin, Dziga Vertov 1934-38); Heart of the World (Guy Maddin, 2000)

Program information:

MoMA

Dziga Vertov

April 15-June 4, 2011

Pacific Film Archive

Kino-Eye: The Revolutionary Cinema of Dziga Vertov

September 21-November 29, 2011

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Celluloid Manifesto by Yuri Tsivian posted Apr. 12, 2011