Clownery (, translit. Klounada) is a black-and-white and colour 1989 Soviet independent film directed by Dmitrii Frolov. It is based on Daniil Kharms novel Situations.
Plot
Various works of Daniil Kharms are connected by means of a character dressed in a sailor's pea coat, which roams from the "case" to the "occasion", getting into various stories and leaving unscathed from the most incredible situations. The character is a nice embodiment of the revolutionary sailor in reserve, what was filled with Russian society in the early 30-ies. He is quite a good-natured "lumpen", not devoid of features of his class: impudence, self-will and unceremoniousness. In the film the works of Harms are screened: "Noise", "Victory of Myshin", "Grigoriev and Semyonov", etc.
Cast
Dmitrii Frolov as Daniil Kharms
Dmitri Shibanov as Myshin
Natalya Surkova as Marya Ivanovna
Mark Nahamkin as Pushkin
Details
The intimate scene in "Clownery" was one of the first in the domestic cinema (a little earlier the sensational film "Little Faith" was filmed). In September 1989, when the first screening of "Clownery" for friends took place, this moment produced the effect of a bomb exploding. The film was looking for a long way to the viewer, and was officially released in February 2005. Counting from September 1989, the picture material was waiting for this hour for about 16 years. For as many years they waited on the mezzanines of the publication of Kharms's manuscript after his death in 1942, while Yakov Druskin did not start publishing them. The premiere of the film was held at the 11th Russian Film Festival "Literature and Cinema" on February 26, 2005, on the eve of the director's birthday.
Festivals
XI Russian Film Festival "Literature and Cinema", Gatchina, February–March 2005; IX International Festival of Arts "Sergey Oskolkov and his friends", St. Petersburg, Peterhof, Oranienbaum, June 2005; International St. Petersburg "HARMS-Festival-5", St. Petersburg, Russia, June–July 2005; Vll International Biennale "DIALOGI", CEH Manege, St. Petersburg, August 2005; Club "SINEFANT", Moscow, August 17, 2005; 8th International Festival of Independent Cinema "Clear Dreams", St. Petersburg, November 2005; X International Art Festival "Sergey Oskolkov and his friends", St. Petersburg, Peterhof, Oranienbaum, June 2006; "ARTKONCEPT 2006" - 3rd International Festival of Tendentious Art, St. Petersburg, August 2006; INTERZONE, St. Petersburg, July 2008 The Flight Deck Film Festival, New York City, NY, United States, July 2020 Global Monthly Online Film Competition, Canada, September, 2020 Madras Independent Film Festival, Chennai, India, November, 2020 Best Director Award, London, United Kingdom, November, 2020 Kosice International Monthly Film Festival, Košice, Slovakia, December, 2020 Aurora Film Festival, Caserta, Italy, November, 2020 Cinemaking International Film Festival, Bangladesh, December, 2020 Standalone Film Festival & Awards, Rancho Cucamonga, United States, February, 2021 Oasis Inter Continental Film Festival, Mumbai, India, February, 2021 Gralha International Monthly Film Awards, Curitiba, Brazil, February, 2021 Accord Cine Fest, Mumbai, India, April, 2021 Gutterbliss Temporary Testival, United States, May, 2021 Continental Film Awards, India, May, 2021 SonderBlu Film Festival, New York, United States, September, 2021 The World's Best Self Funded Films - CPFF Qualifying Film Festival, October, 2021 CINEMA OF NATIONS, Potsdam, Germany, December, 2021 Paradise Film Festival, Budapest, Hungary, December, 2021 Hamburg Film Awards, Hamburg, Germany, January, 2022 Shiny Sparkle Independent Online Film Festival, January, 2022 Art Gallery Film Festival, Chennai, India, February, 2022 Hallucinea Film Festival, Paris, France, February, 2022