Der wahre Oktober

October 1917 in Petrograd, Russia: A turbulent year reaches its provisional climax when armed Bolsheviks overthrow the current government. What brought about this revolution? And how did the population experience the preceding events? “Der wahre Oktober” portrays the Russian Revolution in 1917 from the perspective of five artists from St. Petersburg. Sinaida Hippius is a lyricist and lives opposite the parliament building. Alexander Benois and Maxim Gorki, one a painter and critic, the other an author, fear the Revolution will crush creativity. The soldier Kasimir Malevich publishes manifests. And the poet Vladimir Mayakovsky invariably remains in the midst of the revolutionary turmoil. As animated cut-out figures, these five people oscillate between euphoria and disappointment as they move through the uprisings and salons in St. Petersburg. The film tracks the main characters’ reports, from the tsar’s abdication to the take-over of power by the Bolsheviks. For a change, the city’s creative artists are the focal point of the narrative. Director Katrin Rothe used diaries, reports and literary works by her protagonists as the source of her narrative. In keeping with the Revolution as her subject matter, the film is largely crafted in black and red. In addition, Katrin Rothe implemented the texture of the different materials she used to bring her main characters to life. She fuses various techniques such as paper cuts and silk-screen printing with historical film footage. This interplay of the techniques, colours and materials results in a style that succeeds in carrying the audience back to the time of the Russian Revolution. “Der wahre Oktober” was screened in Annecy and at the Moscow International Film Festival, among others. (dm)