"Could Russia remain Russia without vodka or without bears?"

[Larry1]

That is one of the questions asked by one of the filmmakers who is making a series of documentary films that will focus on stereotypes about Russia.

The Cinetrain international documentary film project has arrived in Russia. Twenty-four young filmmakers from 15 countries are making a round-trip rail journey from Moscow to Irkutsk, taking in St. Petersburg, Murmansk, Kotlas in Arkhangelsk Region and Tomsk along the way. During their trip, they will be filming short documentary pieces about Russian stereotypes – snow, ice, vodka, colossal landscapes, Russian women and Lada cars.

 The project has been set up by Russian producers Tatiana Petrik and Ekaterina Okhonko, in collaboration with their French colleague Guillaume Protsenko. Participants will be making films entitled “Russian Women,” “Russian Sauna,” “Russian Winter,” “The Riddle of the Lada,” “Let’s drink!” and “Bears.” All of the filmmakers have to make a short movie about their allotted topic, but they will also work together on a joint film.
This is the third time around for the Cinetrain project. In 2008, the filmmakers took the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok, and, in 2010, they made a railway journey around Central Asia.

“This time we realized that the final frontier is winter – the cold. We’re taking a huge swing across Russia by rail, from Moscow to Lake Baikal and back, taking in Murmansk, St. Petersburg and Tomsk while we’re at it,” the French producer Protsenko wrote of the project on the DOC website.

“There are just hundreds of stereotypical images of Russia, and this year our filmmakers are setting out to investigate those stereotypes. The most widespread are that people in Russia drink vodka all the time and drive Ladas; that bears wander through city centers; that Russian women all dream of marrying foreigners and are all astoundingly beautiful; and that Russians jump into ice-holes after winter saunas.

“Why are we filming about stereotypes? One reason is that it would be stupid to deny them, because they are a genuine part of the national psyche," Protsenko said. "But, on the other hand, it would be ridiculous to base our perception of a nation’s identity on stereotypes, such as the Germans liking order. But there’s far more to Germans than that, or the French eating frogs and carrying baguettes, even though a Frenchman without his baguette is still a Frenchman."

"Could Russia remain Russia without vodka or without bears? This is the question that interests us,” Protsenko added.

The Cinetrain participants were selected in open competition on the Internet. They were required to have both a degree in filmmaking and past experience at international film festivals. This year, the project had to select 25 individuals from more than 300 applicants.

“I imagine that, during the trip, I’ll meet people who might seem cold at first, but who are humane, sympathetic, wise and patient. Well, that’s what experience leads me to expect. When Russians gather around a table and lift their glasses in a toast, these are words of deep and sincere feeling. It’s actually what I lack sometimes in Switzerland – real emotions. I hope I’ll find them in Russia, as well as a great sense of humor,” Swiss director Benni Jaberg told Moskovskie Novosti.

http://rbth.ru/articles/2013/01/15/foreign_cinematographers_will_film_russia_stereotypes_21899.html

[tfcrew]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_Russian_Empire_and_the_Soviet_Union

[Shadow]

As much as the USAwould be the USa without McDonalds and guns for all...

[Eduard]

I'm so disgusted to where the US is heading under the currant administration that Russia is starting to look better and better... even with Vodka, bears and all...

[BBC]

I guess it will be interesting film, and quite a challenge for the shooting team as it’s not easy to destroy stereotypes even if many facts do prove their groundlessness. Especially, when stereotypes were cultivated for many decades.

The mentioning of Russian bears reminded me one nice warm evening last summer, when we were invited for dinner by my husbands’ friends in West Vancouver. We were sitting on the deck and at some point my peripheral vision caught the movement of something dark on the left. I turned my head just right to see a black bear climbing over the fence (fortunately to the other side). “He goes to the cherry tree of our neighbors”,  explained my husbands’ friend with a smile. The calm tone of his voice and moderately laughing reaction of everybody else on the deck suggested me that nothing extraordinary happened. I must admit that that evening I saw the bear outside zoo and circus for the first time in my life, which caused me to loose appetite (temporarily  ).
Perhaps, it’s right time to change geographical belonging of the “bear in the city” stereotype.

[mendeleyev]

Excuse us but while you are watching this video I must chase a bear out of the kitchen. Seems that he/she is hungry and wandered in uninvited. Damn bears eat and leave without washing their dishes!  Unacceptable.

[ghost of moon goddess]

[mendeleyev]

I'm thinking that someone was having fun with photoshop. 

Or looking at the feet, are those shoes?