The cult program “Closed Door Screening” returns to the air: a scandal has already broken out around the program

Alexander Gordon

Channel One continues to develop a line of aesthetic projects, along with interesting documentaries about musicians and intelligent late-night conversations in “Podcast” format. Lab” will also air a forgotten but wildly cool show from the 2000s: “Closed Screening.”

If you don’t remember what it is, be sure to search the Internet for a parody of the movie “Big Difference”; You won’t be able to describe it better. But seriously, the project, which lulled some viewers, actually created a genre that is practically absent in today’s reality: a discussion on the topic of cinema and cultural studies. And he will try to revive it again.

The studio in which Alexander Gordon shined (obviously suffering as part of the trash talk show “Male/Female”) was divided into two parts: those who liked the premiere film and those who criticized it. All of this, as a general rule, in the presence of the film’s director. In an open debate, film critics, directors, artists, philosophers and film enthusiasts discussed and argued. This was a departure for Gordon, an intellectual and a quality director (!). Anyone who has not seen the films “The Cowherd” and “The Lights of the Brothel” does not know how well Alexander Garrievich feels about cinematographic language, which he does not stop ironizing.

Both venerable foreign directors (Krzysztof Zanussi, Jos Stelling and even Francis Ford Coppola, who directed the trilogy “The Godfather”), and the best domestic directors (Alexei Balabanov, Vladimir Khotinenko, Andrei Smirnov, Alexey Mizgirev, etc.) came to visit the presenter and prominent Russian thinkers (Alexander Sekatsky, Evgeny Zharinov, etc.), and also musicians (Vyacheslav Butusov, Agatha Christie, Alexander F. Sklyar). Sometimes masters went on air remotely: this was the case with Austrian classicist Michael Haneke during a discussion of his “White Ribbon.”

Now “Show Cerrado” will air again on Primera. Probably late afternoon.

And liberal-minded critics, who have been nurtured for so many decades in the Russian media (and also in the program “Evening Urgant”), have already expressed their protest.

Francis Ford Coppola

Photo: Canal Uno

“I refused to appear on this show and I know at least five colleagues who did the same,” Timur Aliyev, a certified psychologist who considers himself a film critic, proudly wrote on his Telegram channel. — It is very interesting who will be the on-air film critic and, of course, what type of films will be shown there.

While progressive Russian film critics, in love with the West and Western cinema, continue an imperceptible and pretentious boycott – instead of coming and smashing a film they don’t like – the public will meet other authors who are not promoted by the thick liberal magazines: truly talented and not shy own country and civic position (Alexei Kolensky, Denis Gorelov, Mikhail Trofimenkov, etc.). As they say, every cloud has a silver lining.

Michael Haneke

Photo: Canal Uno

The first issue of “Closed Show” was published in the spring of 2005. At first, the program was hosted by Varvara Vladimirova and Ekaterina Mtsituridze, and in 2007, a serious specialist took over the project, Alexander Gordon, who headed the project until 2013, when there was a long pause until 2021, then they discussed the premiere. by Lyubov Arkus “Who Defeated No One” (documentary about Alla Demidova) and the cult American drama “Sandpit Generals” by Hall Bartlett. The show has not aired since.

Photo: screenshot from the video

Channel One confirmed the return of “Closed Screening” but did not provide details. It is possible that not only movies will be discussed on air, but also television series, one of the most popular formats among viewers.