Tonino Guerra is a famous Italian poet, artist, writer and screenwriter. The films of Michelangelo Antonioni, Federico Fellini, Andrei Tarkovsky, Vittorio de Sica and the Taviani brothers were shot according to his script. He was an incredibly versatile person: Guerra composed fairy tales and poems, designed fountains, poetic palaces and birdhouses, was engaged in ceramics and sculpture, and was even head of the Marecchia River. He visited Suzdal many times as he was “Russian” by his wife, Laura Guerra. It was here that he discovered that “Russian sadness can be cut with a knife.” The Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery today has an exhibition dedicated to his life and work.
Laura Guerra, the author’s wife: “I am very glad that the Tonino Festival will be held in Suzdal, because she, like no one else, knew how to create places where you could slow down, contemplate, return to yourself. In the small town of Pennabilli, Tonino found many “fantastic places” where people frequented. He called them “places for the soul” – luoghi dell’anima.
Ekaterina Pronicheva, Director General of the Vladimir-Suzdal Museum-Reserve: “The festival was born with the partnership of various individuals and organizations. It is both a tribute to the great man Tonino Guerra and an ardent desire to develop and sustain the creative process born of the synthesis of the arts, to show the world of culture in all its diversity. This is a very interesting start and we plan to hold the festival every year. The figure of Tonino Guerra is symbolic for this: he went to Suzdal more than once, understood its essence, knew and loved this city, this is the place of the soul of all creative people.”
Guests of the festival are invited to see Suzdal through the eyes of Guerra – listen to the silence, stop and look at its meadows, the bends of the Kamenka River, clean wooden houses and find wisdom and harmony in the simplest things. “Places for the soul” is the most poetic thing in Suzdal. For this reason, the program of the festival is full of events that are far from the usual “fair concerts” and “fair performances”.
The festival will feature screenings of films based on Guerra’s screenplay and two exhibitions dedicated to Tonino. Curator Nina Gomiashvili’s project intervention “The Air is Full of Lost Voices” will take place in the Kremlin, the Posad House and the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery. Tonino’s personal belongings, flags with his poems translated by Bella Akhmadulina, will be displayed in the permanent exhibition of the museum. “For me, participation in the festival dedicated to Tonino Guerra is undoubtedly a personal story. About 20 years ago, I was lucky enough to visit Laura and Tonino during a trip to Italy as part of work on the book Gourmaniada. Tonino spoke enthusiastically about winemaking in Italy, not forgetting to mention the wine from Sangiovese, which locals consider the best in the world. About the diversity of regional cuisine and the fact that each of us ate our childhood. And in the Kremlin, in the Spaso-Evfimiev Monastery and in the Posad House there will be exhibitions, installations and an audio performance about childhood, about fireflies, the smell of baked apples, the noise of dry leaves and almond blossoms. ” says Nina Gomiashvili.
The 1+1=1 project by Nastya Grigoryan and Anya Petrova in Mira Center and elsewhere will unite the Russian avant-garde, modern art objects and memories of friends – Natalia Dabizha, Nina Popova, Valery Sirovsky, Yuri Rost – Tonino, Guerra. “The Tonino Guerra figure became a magnet for this project. – says Anya Petrova, the curator of the exhibition, – a man who survived the Second World War at a very young age, a careful observer and a master of paradox. Such a carrier of a constant miracle in him. Trademark aphorisms, simple drawings, some insanity and nonsense – all this turned out to be characteristic of Russian contemporary risk.
A magnificent cabinet will appear in the courtyard of the Earth Center: as soon as the viewer opens the door, they will find themselves for 24 minutes in a poetic world inspired by Tonino’s work. Full of music, sounds, thoughts, poems and emotions, the audio performance was created by Irina Mikheyshina and Marina Shibaeva.
The lead actor of “Places for the Soul” will be Petr Nalich: he will perform important songs about the soul, and not only. 10 installations will spawn in unexpected, sometimes even hidden, places of the city. Kirill Lebedev (Kim), Blue Pencil, Svetlana Rastebina, Misha Rubankov, Margo Trushina, Olga Bozhko, Vladimir Marin, Ulyana Podkorytova, Dmitry Barbanel’s Workshop will participate in this project. To see his work, it will be possible to use a special map on the days of the festival or after the end of the festival: the works of art will remain in their places, and with their help, the audience will be able to create new stories about the city.
In the flooded Ilyinsky Meadow, there will be a full theatrical stage: festival guests will take their place in the audience and examine the birds from wintering, watch the flight of kites with butterfly images from Tonino Guerra’s drawings, and watch short shows that attract attention. simple earthly joys – singing birds and the onset of evening, a gust of wind and the chirping of crickets.
Tonino Guerra wrote that there is a day in every person’s life, especially when you feel and discover all the beauty of the world. The “Places for the Soul” festival will allow viewers to see new aspects of the beautiful and unique Suzdal.
More details https://myra.ru/toninofestival