A great Russian comedy from the 20s
Zina is a cigarette seller at Mosselprom, a state enterprise based in Moscow. Although he does not smoke, the accountant Mitiouchine buys her cigarettes every day because he is very much in love with her. One day, a shooting takes place in the street where Zina works. The cameraman Latouguine then falls in love with Zina and offers her to become an actress...
Presented on its release as the first true Soviet comedy, The Mosselprom Cigarette Vendor was one of the greatest popular successes of 1924 and was widely distributed in the Soviet Union, including among workers and in the countryside. Mainly shot in natural settings, this work, which has remained invisible, is also a testimony to an exceptional urban landscape, which has now disappeared. An astonishing work, digitally restored by the Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in Bologna and accompanied by an original score by Charlotte Castellat and David Lefebvre.
IN CO-RELEASE WITH CARLOTTA FILMS, THE TOULOUSE CINEMATHEQUE IS DEVELOPING A COLLECTION OF DVDS THAT ENABLES IT TO SHARE THE WEALTH OF ITS ARCHIVES WITH THE GENERAL PUBLIC. La Vendeuse de Cigarettes du Mosselprom IS, AFTER VERDUN, VISIONS D'HISTOIRE , THE SECOND TITLE OF THIS ONE AND HAS BEEN RESTORED THANKS TO THE SPONSORSHIP OF THE GAN FOUNDATION FOR CINEMA.
THE MOSELPROM CIGARETTE SELLER
(1924 – B&W – 112 mins)
SUPPLEMENTS
. FORTUNE AND MISFORTUNE OF A PRESERVED FILM (36 mn)
Or how The Mosselprom Cigarette Vendor ended up in the archives of La Cinémathèque de Toulouse. An unpublished document produced on the occasion of the screening of the film in Piazza Maggiore in Bologna in 2007, where the interviews of the main actors in the restoration of the film intersect.
. 2 ANIMATED SHORTS
Introductions by Natacha Laurent, General Delegate of La Cinémathèque de Toulouse.
- THE ICE RINK (7 mins – 1927), a film by Iouri Jeliaboujski
Yuri Jeliaboujski signs one of the first animated films of the Mejrabpom-Rus studio. A caricature of 1920s Russian society with a minimalist aesthetic.
- VAVILA THE TERRIBLE AND AUNT ARINA (7 mn – B&W – 1928), a film by Nicholas Khodotaev
Produced by the Mejrabpom-Rus studio, a short film on the liberation of women in the Russian countryside and on the political awareness of the time.
Edition with scabbard
Released November 7, 2007
