Rusyn Film and Rusyn Filmmakers

Unfortunately, it is impossible to speak of a Rusyn national cinema. What can be discussed, however, are films which have featured Rusyns, beginning with Czech director Karel Just’s 1923 silent film Korjatovič. Czechs have filmed several feature films which include Rusyns or Rusyn-related themes. These include: Hordubolove (The Hordubals, Martin Frič, Czechoslovakia, 1937); Jakub (Jana Ševičikova, Czech Republic, 1992); Golet v udoli (Golet in the Valley, Zdeno Dostal, Czech Republic, 1996); and Diky za každé nové rano (Something Strange Happens Every New Morn, Milan Steindler, Czech Republic, 1997).

Hanele (Karel Kachyna, Czech Republic, 1999) is a rare feature film with Rusyn content. The film is a dramatization of the novel The Sorrowful Eyes of Hana Karadžićova by Ivan Olbracht, a Czech novelist of the inter-war period whose works were preoccupied with Podkarpatska Rus’. Other films based on the works of Ivan Olbracht include: Marijka-Nevernice (The Unfaithful Maria, Vladislav Vančura, Czechoslovakia, 1934); Nikola Šukaj loupežnik (Nikola Šuhaj the Robber Bandit, Miroslav Krnanský, Czechoslovakia, 1947); and Balada pro Banditu (Ballad about a Bandit, Vladimir Sis, Czechoslovakia, 1978).

Perhaps the most popular and well-known film featuring Rusyns is Soviet Armenian director Sergej Paradjanov’s Tini Zabutykh Predkiv (Shadows of the Forgotten Ancestors) from 1964. (which is readily available most places for rent).

Rusyn-related documentaries have a long history, beginning with Do horách, po dolách (Through the Hills and Valleys, Karel Plicka, Czechoslovakia, 1929) and Zem spieva (The Land is Singing, Karel Plicka, Czechoslovakia, 1933). In the early 1990s, Tam, kde Beskidy (Over there in the Beskids, Miroslav Smolak and M. Kučera, Czechoslovakia, 1990) was released. In the late 1990s, several more appeared, including Carpati: 50 Miles, 50 Years (Yale Strom, US, 1996), a documentary about Jews and Gypsies in Subcarpathian Rus; and Ladomírské morytáty a legendy (The Legends and Murderous Deeds of Ladomirova, Peter Kerekes, Slovakia 1998), a documentary about the memories of the inhabitants of the village of Ladomirova in Slovakia.

Krakow television in Poland produced a series of documentaries all directed by Krzystof Krzyzanowski in the late 1990s as well, which took on the subject of the Lemkos. Vatra ’86 – Bortne was a documentary about this famous Lemko folk festival; the second concentrated on the Ždynja Vatra festival and focused on the question of who the Lemkos are; the third was presented the history of the Lemko Rusyn People’s Republic, which briefly existed in the village of Florynka, Grybov county at the end of WWI; and the fourth dealt with pilgrimages to Javir hill, located outside the village of Vysova, Gorlyci County, where the Virgin Mary supposedly appeared in 1925.

Czech Television, Slovak TV Košice, Zakarpattia Oblast Television and Radio Užhorod produced a documentary on Rusyn music in 2001, Pisne Polonyn (Songs of the Mountain Pasture, Zdenek Flider, Czech Republic, 2001). The film bears the subtitle “With the music of the Transcarpathian Oblast of Ukraine.” The film charts the musical life of Transcarpathia, from chamber orchestras to folk groups to Greek Catholic and Orthodox spiritual music.

Yet another documentary is Grzegorz Siedlecki’s Czlowiek zwany Nikiforem (The Man Known as Nikifor, Poland, 2001) which delves into the biography of the Lemko naïve artist Nikifor.

It is possible to speak of films actually made by Rusyns as well. Although Andy Warhol himself made films, they are experimental and often difficult to watch. However, his presence in Rusyn cinema is felt in an intense way. More important than his own films are the numerous documentaries which have delved into his influence on Rusyn culture, among them: 15 Minút slávy Andy Warhola (Andy Warhol's 15 Minutes of Fame, Joe Keselica, Slovakia, 1994); The Warhol Nation (Tom Trier, Denmark, 1999); Absolut Warhola (Stanislaw Mucha, Germany, 2001); and I am from Nowhere (Georg Misch, UK/Slovakia, 2002).

Many of these films, Absolut Warhola in particular, highlight Rusyn cultural schizophrenia. Warhola features interviews with several local Rusyns who revel in Warhol’s celebrity. But not only is the topic of his homosexuality not ever mentioned by the locals, one even goes so far as to say that Warhol was married – a total fabrication.

Another strand in Rusyn cinema stems from Hollywood movies with Rusyn-related content. A prime example is The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino, US, 1978), which tells the tale of first- and second-generation Rusyn Americans living near Pittsburgh against the backdrop of the Vietnam War. One of the central scenes of the film is a typical Orthodox wedding, presented in the Rusyn tradition. Another such film is All the Right Moves (Michael Chapman, US, 1983), filmed in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Again the focus is on descendents of Eastern European immigrants, with the Russian (Rusyn) Orthodox church of St. John the Baptist featured in the opening sequences; the main characters hang out at the Carpatho, a Carpatho-Rusyn social club in the East Conemaugh section of Johnstown (located, incidentally, next door to a video store called “All the Right Movies”).

Elvira’s Haunted Hills (Sam Irvin, US, 2001) is the latest film with Rusyn references. The film is a prime example of pop culture, having already attracted a cult following even though it was only recently released. The film is a campy satire of the horror film genre, and is set in Carpathia in 1851. The Hollywood blockbuster Spiderman (Sam Raimi, US, 2002) might also be mentioned here, as the character was created and the screenplay co-written by a Rusyn, Steve Ditko.

Juraj Jakubisko

Perhaps the only, and, if nothing else, the most important, Rusyn director working today is Juraj Jakubisko. A 2001 a poll declared him the most popular Slovak director of all time. His most important film is Tisíčročná včela (A Thousand-year-old Bee, 1983), voted the favorite Slovak film of all time in a national poll in 2002. However, Jakubisko has recently made public the fact that he is ethnically a Rusyn.

Jakubisko began his career in 1960 at the renowned Prague Film and Television Academy of the Performing Arts (FAMU). His first film, Kristove roky (Crucial Years, 1967), won an award at a German festival, but was banned by the Communist Czechoslovak authorities. His next three features were also banned, and he was then restricted from working in features for nearly ten years, until 1979. During that time, he concentrated on short films and commercials.

Jakubisko’s latest work, a twenty-minute documentary called Farebné kamienky (Painted Pebbles), premiered on Slovak television on 12 August 2002. It is one of ten short documentary films commissioned by the European Union for a series called "Tolerancia—Cudzie Slovo?" (Tolerance—A Foreign Word?). Six of the films dealt with minority issues within Slovakia; the remaining four presented minority and tolerance issues in parts of the European Union including Spain, Belgium and Italy. There are plans to broadcast the films in EU countries in the near future.

Farebné kamienky is special for the simple fact that it takes on such an obscure subject, but it is actually of immense significance to Rusyn culture: it is the first major film to deal with the Rusyns which was also directed by a Rusyn. Significantly, in both the Slovak- and Rusyn-language press, Jakubisko confirmed his ethnicity again and again in interviews conducted when the film premiered. He said that Farebné kamienky is an attempt to connect with his roots, and at the same time to raise awareness of minority issues and to promote tolerance within Slovakia.

Farebné kamienky is an exploration of Rusyn national identity, the things that set them apart from their neighbors. Kamienky presents Rusyn traditions, such as songs and superstitions, and concentrates on the Rusyns' connection to religion. While most of the Rusyns Jakubisko met were common villagers, he also saw more modern facets of the nation, such as the Alexander Duchnovyč Theatre of Prešov and the Medzilaborce Andy Warhol Museum.

But as the Slovak daily Sme pointed out, "Young Rusyns and their views on the future in the framework of Slovakia and of Europe, however, are virtually absent from Jakubisko's documentary." Add to that the fact that many of the most pressing problems facing Rusyns in Slovakia – high unemployment, few opportunities, ongoing rivalries with the local Ukrainians – are also absent from Farebné kamienky, and it becomes clear that the image presented in the film is highly idealized.

Regardless, the film is significant in that it not only contributes to the creation of a national cinema, but also has raised awareness of the Rusyn issue within the European Union. As described above, Jakubisko is certainly part of Slovak pop culture. However, he must now be adopted into Rusyn pop culture. Building on the success of Farebné kamienky, Jakubisko’s past and future films should be reconsidered in the Rusyn context. Further study is necessary, but a prominent place for Jakubisko must be reserved in the Rusyn-language press in order for him to truly enter the pantheon of Rusyn cultural figures. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be taking place: though Narodny Novynky did interview Jakubisko while he was filming Farebné kamienky, the film’s premiere on Slovak television went unnoticed, as did the critical reception – and Rusyn perspective – of the film. Jakubisko is another figure who is clearly deserving a place in Rusyn pop culture, but for this to happen, much more attention must be paid to this very important filmmaker.

Andrej Kopcza

The next step in the creation of a Rusyn national cinema may be the work of another Rusyn director – not as renowned as Jakubisko, but valuable nevertheless: Andrzej Kopcza, a Lemko from Poland. Kopcza is currently raising funds to finish a low-budget independent feature film about Akcija Wisla in Poland which features an all-Lemko cast, from the amateur Lemko theatre in Legnica. The film will be significant in that it is virtually an all-Rusyn production, and that it is a feature film and not a documentary. It is also significant insofar as it is a Rusyn perspective on the nation’s own history.

Kopcza planned to have the film done for the 50^th anniversary of Akcija Wisla in 1997. Although everything was set, massive flooding in southern Poland hit and filming became impossible. Around the 55th anniversary the idea returned, but there was not enough funding available. The Lemko Association lent him a portion of the budget for their annual Vatra festival to help expedite the film’s completion.

Filming started up again on 1 July 2002 at the Zyndranowa Museum. As of 13 July, about 80 percent of the film was in the can, but the scenes of the resettlement are unfinished, along with several other scenes which require numerous extras. By September 2003, the film was still unfinished, but at least in post-production. It is expected to premier in May 2004, and when that takes place, it must be awarded the Rusyns’ attention. The media must feature it, cultural groups must screen it. It represents a major step towards creating a Rusyn pop culture.