The Modern Technology of Communication (The Humanitarian Aspects of Telecommunication)

man Democratic Republic, took place in November 1993 in the city of Dessau. The festival was produced under the ae­ gis of—and, in fact, in die building of— die Bauhaus (the art school founded by Gropius, now under restoration). The festival's initiators and organizers were Stephen Kovats and Inke Arns. The name Ost-ranenie"is derived from the Russian word "ostraneniye", which means "to make strange." I have participated in many interna­ tional video festivals, and was truly as­ tonished at how politicized this particu­ lar festival's program was. There were many interesting video installations, ex­ perimental videos and films analyzed through video documentaries, as well as a light-musical production (which I pre­ sented) . Given this variety, it was sur­ prising that all seemed to express the social and political cataclysms experi­ enced by Eastern countries and Russia during the past few years. To speak more precisely, this festival was a videorequiem for communism and for die Soviet Union as a great empire. Some films reminded me of "dances on the tombs," but, as a whole, the pa­ rade of visual documents seemed fixed on presenting an image of a communist monster with an inherendy evil, dead­ ening process. Though it was difficult for me, as a representative of Russia, to witness our former Soviet bloc neigh­ bors exulting about their liberation from Moscow's rule, I should acknowl­ edge that the works exhibiting the most talent were indeed presented by our neighbors: Hungary, Romania, Yugosla­ via and Poland, most notably. Russian films from Moscow and St. Petersburg seemed to feature Russia's masochistic character (though this is really only my personal opinion). These films were amusing, for die most part, transfixing die audience witfi fantastic stories about die total and consuming passion of Russians with various unor­ thodox diversions. I am happy to say diät diese depictions of Russian life struck me as entirely fictitious, though indeed our lives as a whole are not very joyful now, to say die least. I appreciated the films by M. Grzinic (of Slovenia), R. Robakowsky and G. Krolikevich (of Poland). Rather than using highly technical shifts in dieir work, these filmmakers employed el­ ementary techniques (shooting at slow speed, incorporating still photographs, and so on). However, each technique helped to emphasize very precise thoughts. I was impressed especially by one of Krolikevich's films, The Scythians. Its opening sequence is assembled from old Soviet newsreel scenes—tractors moving across a field, tanks on the Red Square, "Katyusha" multi-rail rocket launchers sparkling, and a rocket's grand salute blazing across the Moscow sky. In die second part of the film, tanks and tractors move forwards and backwards, and fiery missiles return back into die muzzles of cannons. In the last scene of the film, a fireworks sa­ lute sparkling in die sky unfolds slowly until it is drawn into the earth, and the audience faces a dark screen. Russia is kaput! This is a very sad picture. Russia is very much alive, in reality. The fact that tiiis film (and this review) was conceived and written in one of die distant Russian cities is certainly proof. The organizers of Ost-ranenie" prom­ ised to make this an annual festival. I hope that Russia will be presented more broadly and more fairly in future events. We have many "strange" and interesting artists in Russia. SEMINAR THE MODERN TECHNOLOGY OF COMMUNICATION (THE HUMANITARIAN ASPECTS OF TELECOMMUNICATION) Reviewed by Bulat M. Galeyev, "Prometei," Kazan State Technical University—Academy of Sciences ofTatarstan, K. Marks Str, 10, Kazan 420111, Russia. A seminar entitled 'The Modern Tech­ nology of Communication (The Hu­ manitarian Aspects of Telecommunica­ tion)" was held at the Central Cinema House in Moscow, 17-19 March 1994. The meeting was organized by die New Screen Technologies Association of the Russian Filmmakers' Union. The follow­ ing topics were discussed at die meeting: • Modern telecommunications: tele­ phone networks, video computer terminals, cable and interactive tele­ vision (what more? what next?) • Modern telecommunications as a "Gordian knot" of human culture and technology • The globalization of telecommuni­ cations: from communism to communalism ? • The communicative phenomena of die "global village" and "metaprehistoric culture": new val...