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Tell me: how did you get into this profession?

Oh!

It’s such a long story.

At first,

I wanted to go to the Maritime Academy.

Obviously - Odessa.

At least I thought this would be my path.

However, my older brother Arcadii

He was really fond of photography

and naturally he also involved me in this worthwhile activity.

In Odessa, where my grandad - cinematographer Leonid Burlaka - was born

cinema appeared two years before the Lumieres.

Motion picture inventor Iosip Timchenko used to live here

However, he didn't manage to patent his invention.

The first film studios were set here at the beginning of XX century.

They produced comedies and melodramas.

There were even local movie stars in Odessa.

The Bolsheviks seized all the private business in Odessa

and united studios into the 1st Ukrainian Film Factory.

Cinema was the top priority back then

New government saw it as a propaganda tool

Even closed churches and synagogues got transformed into cinemas.

Such cult films like "Battleship Potemkin"

and "Man with a Movie Camera" were shot then in Odessa

Back then Odessa Film Studio films were very popular

but now it's all in the past.

Igor!

Hi!

I'm here!

My grandpa shot this video.

It's me and my mom

оn the set of one of his last films.

Well done! Now walk that way.

Along the fence, to the head.

Let's walk to the crane, let's see what it is. Okay?

- Everything’s rеady here? - Yes

Now you see how a crane looks, got it? - Yes

- He says, "A crane, but it doesn't have a hook! Not a construction crane"

- Okay, mate, turn me to the fence now.

Grandpa was a superhero of my childhood.

He could make anything with his own hands.

He showed us some magic tricks.

We spent a lot of time at their summer house.

It was built as long as I remember myself.

There he taught us tons of interesting things.

For example, how to row a boat

or how to fix things,

or make a firecracker out of a bullet cartridge.

Also, he showed us how to stop time.

It seemed that he knew so much and could do everything

because he worked in the film industry.

It's because of him I decided to become a cinematographer myself.

Right at the nose...

Someone should always film.

You used to shoot us when we were kids. Now it’s our turn.

Where's the tea, grandpa?

- What did you...? - Where's the tea?

- I don't get it... - The tea. Where is it?

Where's the tea..?

What’s wrong with me?

The tea must be here, this must be it.

English Breakfast. Ahmad Tea.

This is certainly it. Yes.

The tea? Well, yes.

- Okay, we put it here. - Okay.

What did we want to take from here?

We need to find a lawnmower.

- A lawnmower? - Yes.

I forgot what it looks like.

Have you found the lawnmower?

No, we're still looking. I can't see it yet.

- What do you want to find here? - The lawnmower.

- The lawnmower? - Yes.

I forgot what it even looks like, not to mention where it is.

The lawnmower. How does it look?

It's kind of grey. I don't remember it either.

Maybe it's not here but in the wooden garage?

The lawnmower. What does it do?

It trims grass.

- Grass? - Yes.

Damn it, I can't remember anything.

Like a nightmare.

We'll find it. I think it was in that wooden garage...

- Be careful. - Yeah.

- I'm taking this jar, right? - Yes, take one.

Grandpa, as I had known him before, started fading away.

He started to lose memory.

In the garage, amidst piles of junk that nobody needed

but was sorry to throw away,

I found a plastic bag with very old photo films.

They were in a very poor condition.

The emulsion was literally falling off them.

I scanned them carefully

For the first time I saw grandpa so young.

It must be the early 1960s,

when grandpa studied in VGIK, the main Soviet film school.

In these pictures, he is as old as I am now.

Do you need glasses?

- For me? - Yes. - Okay then.

When we were at the summer house, while making the roof...

- Yes. - Do you remember, grandpa?

When we were making the roof for our summer house.

I found a bag in the garage.

With the film rolls.

- Yes, yes. - Black-and-white film rolls.

I have no idea how they got there but they were in a very...

There were about ten rolls of film in the bag.

But the strange thing was that something was poured all over them,

so the emulsion got melted.

- Wait.. - What a beauty.

Wait. Maybe it was grandpa’s experiment...

Do you remember, you had a picture with melted emulsion?

- I remember. - Maybe, you did it on purpose.

- No, probably not. - With those cosmic landscapes?

Well, not really.

They must've been damaged accidentally.

Of course, it was certainly an accident.

I took them to Kyiv without asking, scanned them, and...

- What's there? - I'll show you now.

- You'll show them? - I will.

Good.

These things are always interesting because they are unexpected.

- Wow! - Mamma mia.

And for scrolling up or down, use these two keys.

To go one image back?

Yes, here. That's how you scroll and look.

Where is it?

Vadim...

Where are those columns?

- Is it Vadim Avloshenko? - Yes.

- Is it really Vadim Avloshenko? - That's him.

- Who is she then? - It's you.

- Me? - Yes.

Who else can it be?

Well, I was thinking the same. Who else can that be?

Monica Vitti.

Ah, yes.

- And this is you. - It’s me.

Oh God.

- Wonderful... - It is.

- It's spring, you see? - Yeah.

Might be at the Greek Park, that is under reconstruction now.

What are those things?

Ah, so you used to smoke?

I thought it was just for fun.

And here you are with a pipe again.

How come?

Beautiful. This looks like open jaws.

After so many years, your secrets are revealed.

And where is this?

Look, a fence.

A primitive one.

And these handsome ones...

And you're looking at them with such a surprise.

Look, Lyonya, how much strength was in you.

Look at your arms, the shoulders you had...

Well, what do you want? - You looked so nice, Lyonya!

Oh, come on.

I want you to be like that now.

So do I.

This is a good shot too.

God, was that infrared?

Yes, most likely, it's an infra film. You see, everything is white.

- Beautiful leaves. - That's what I thought too.

For me, grandpa's archive is the only way

to see everyday life 50 years ago.

All I've seen before were the newsreels like these

featuring the big political events from the 60's

The Space Race

The Virgin Lands campaign

or Fidel Castro playing with snowballs

when the world was on the brink of nuclear war.

At that time my grandad was a student

Today it is hard to imagine how it feels like

to ride around Moscow in such a cabrio.

While only 4 people out of 1000 had a car in the USSR.

Only high-ranking officials or cameramen who were filming them

could ride in these cabrios.

So, what’s up?

It’s cold.

“The process of tire grinding”?

- Grinding? - Yes.

Wear out?

W-e-a-r o-u-t. Yes.

“The Ossetian writer — dot-dot-dot — Khetagurov”.

Kosta.

You've seen these, right?

Who's this?

Is it Mark? The director of the film?

Who is Mark? What's his full name? - Yes, it's Mark, right.

Who's he? Which film?

Huh?

Can I ask you something?

Can I ask you something?

- Ask what? - Give me a second.

Here, try to put this on.

Do you know how to use it?

- It's an amplifier, isn't it? - Yes.

Well, I know.

Do you know how to turn it on?

I don't know how to turn it on.

What? - It's squeaking.

- Squeaking? - Yes.

Not anymore.

Damn, why is it...?

One.

One, one.

One, one.

Well, that's how it hangs.

This side up.

You don't have to wear it all the time, only sometimes. Try it.

Hell with it. Can't I do without it?

Sometimes, I say something, and you may not hear it.

It's alright, you can repeat it.

- Do I need to insert it into my ear? - Yes.

Any better? - I don't know. Seems good.

- I can hear you well. - Alright then.

- So what? - That's it.

I just wanted to ask about that. Can you hear me well now?

One-two-three.

- Very good. - You can hear it well, right?

Cool. That’s the key to scroll down.

Well, this is Mark. The director.

The director of which film? Which one was it?

I cannot remember.

It's not the one about cranes?

Maybe.

Maybe.

It might be 'The Life of Cranes'.

I was filming it back then.

Was it your student film? - Yes, sort of.

Yes. It must be 'The Life of Cranes'.

Where did you film it?

I don't remember.

I mean, in Moscow or here?

Well, I guess, of course...

So was it in Moscow or here?

Here we are, together with Mark.

Where was it? When was it?

Mark with his pipe.

I'm lying on the top.

What could I shoot so close up? It's wide angle, isn't it?

- The lens? - Yes.

- It is. - 18 mm?

- Looks like it. A very big lens. - Yes, must be 18 mm.

Which port was it?

A seaport. Which one was it? Give me a second.

Illichivsk?

No.

I cannot recall, Igor. I just can’t.

But it was a seaport, right? Not a river one.

Nice shirt.

Same as grandpa's memories,

most of these film frames are faded and distorted.

I don't even know how many of these shots are lost forever.

However, since these are negatives,

there must be prints somewhere.

Maybe his friends had them.

This is mind-blowing. Look at that.

What a beautiful dissolution. Yeah...

You can pick random fragments and create whatever you want.

How does this happen?

How can I scroll forward?

Press the down key.

- This one? - Yes.

Such clarity. It's mind-blowing.

Look, especially here.

Hah! Pan - Bargiełowski.

Tell me about him. Who was he? - A director.

I worked with him.

Bargiełowski!

Did you study together?

- What are you saying? - Did you study together with him?

Well, we were in the same year.

He majored in film directing.

And I studied cinematography.

We had a collaboration.

The directors and cinematographers used to find working partners

among their fellow students.

That’s how we stuck together.

And we used to spend so much time together.

Unfortunately, his friends from the film school have passed away.

However, I managed to find Bargiełowski's daughter, Idalia

She lives with her husband in Warsaw.

Yes, with dad.

And he was smoking too. Look, so reckless.

Dad always tried to bring the Western world closer,

to show it to his friends in Moscow.

I remember he said they had an abstract painting hidden behind a wardrobe.

Because at the time in Russia you could go to prison for that.

So people showed it to each other only if they were sure that no one else could see.

'Quiet, I'll show you something.'

Abstract art. Can you imagine this? Those were the times.

Idalia, do you know anything about the movies

that they shot in VGIK film school?

I know that he shot a short 'Sketch in White', for example.

But where are those movies? Probably, they belong to VGIK.

It isn't Moscow. Probably, somewhere in Poland.

No.

Look, it says, "Moscow, summer, 1964."

- And here's grandpa! - Yes, there you go.

- And here is the whole letter? - This is dad's letter, yes.

Here, dad writes

it is very difficult for him not to talk about him staying in Russia

and that it is scary, he just says, "I can't stand it anymore"!

"I'm drowning. I am humiliated.

For the first time, I lose the mask of calmness,

so courageously worked out by the Moscow order.

I’m afraid of making irreversible movements.

I’m holding tight.

I despise them so terribly.

I hate them so much. I hate them with all my soul.

The only reason why I don't spit in their faces,

on all this scam called revolution is…

To be honest, I don't know why.

The witch-hunting began here.

The people of art are the victims of fear.

They are afraid of their own shadow.

Nobody knows where the thunder comes from the next time.

Who will be compromised next?

Grandpa, listen...

when you studied in VGIK, did it happen often

that someone's script was not allowed to be filmed

because it was ideologically inappropriate? Was it common?

Well, I don't remember now. But it was quite possible.

It's terrible.

It was in line, you know, with our stupid prohibitions.

It could happen, yes.

There were cases when it was simply forbidden

for a student

to shoot something that he wanted to.

And could they forbid you to shoot something?

When you were working with someone, did it happen to you?

- To me? - Yes.

Yes, I just don't remember with whom.

But something like this happened.

But it was not with Bargiełowski, with someone else?

Now, I don't remember exactly whether it was with him or not.

It's a nightmare, there's no such things now.

Right. - It sounds so insane.

It was unpleasant, but what could we do?

It was like that. It was normal.

In our country.

There are about 600 film distribution organizations in our country.

They supply films to over 230 000 cinemas.

A 'Movies' truck used to come even to the most remote villages.

Tickets were cheap and theatres were everywhere.

Almost all films in cinemas were made in the USSR.

To provide all the Soviet screens with content,

there were more than 30 film studios producting fiction and documentary films.

One of them was the Odessa Film Studio

that employed my grandpa after his graduation from the VGIK.

All the Soviet films have one trait.

Sometimes only briefly, but inevitably they mention communist ideology

the struggle against the enemies of the revolution

and the achievements of the Soviet rule.

Since 1965, a new topic appeared.

The victory of the USSR over Germany.

My grandpa's first feature film, 'Faithfulness',

was dedicated to the military topic.

He shot it together with two other cinematographers —

Vadym Avloshenko and Vadym Kostromenko.

Hitler is a son of a bitch.

We’re marching here because of him.

When you were filming 'Faithfulness', how did you divide who shot what?

I don't remember now.

Why would they divide? - Well, I don't know.

I just wonder how it works when you have a few cinematographers on set.

I found just a few words about the film.

About the shooting process and so on.

You shot in Saratov, right?

- Yes, we were in Saratov. - There was the young actress Galya Polskikh.

Yes, we were there.

And why there?

There was a military academy, probably.

A military academy?

They could use the students. A cheap solution.

The training yard, the barracks.

There were many interiors they didn't have to build.

Company!

The enemy is on our left!

Hurray!

It was the debut of Piotr Todorovsky as a director

and Bulat Okudzhava as a screenwriter and for the cinematographers.

The film was a good career start for all its authors.

In 1965, it was screened at the Venice Film Festival.

Incidentally, The Studio allowed the production to start only after this specific scene was added to the script.

...as a citizen of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

I join the ranks of the Red Army,

take the oath and solemnly swear to be an honest,

brave, disciplined, vigilant fighter.

I swear to strictly keep military and state secrets.

I swear to study military affairs in good faith.

Right before the festival screening,

Todorovsky cut out this scene and threw it into the canal.

The film won Best Debut award,

and Burlaka began working as a director of photography.

After 'Faithfulness', grandpa made one film per year.

Almost all of them were related to the Soviet-German war.

It seems that for 20 years the Soviets avoided mentioning the war

as it was a great mistake that cost millions of lives.

No celebrations were held

Wounded veterans were placed out of the big cities

The ending of war was not celebrated.

Just starting from 1965

the 9th of May became a new Soviet holiday, a Victory Day.

The scale of its celebration was increasing year by year.

They started holding parades, building monuments,

and, of course, making movies.

The army was involved in the production process providing any equipment and soldiers as extras.

That's how in 1971 grandpa made together with Vadym Lysenko

one of the most expensive films of the Odessa Film Studio, 'Train to Farewell August'.

Grandpa saw these events as a child,

he stayed with his parents in Odessa during the Romanian occupation.

I asked him about that time,

but the answer was "I don't even want to recall."

"The hostility that is sown"?

H — a gap — T — and three more letters.

“Hatred”, it will be 6 letters.

"The hostility that is sown"?

Which photos do you need?

The ones taken before the filmschool.

Before the film school?

Here they are - before the filmschool.

Hm, Igor this is...

Who’s that siting near him?

His camera assistant perhaps

Holy moly!

It's ok, no worries.

Did you manage to set up one more camera?

- Yes, I did. - It's okay then, never mind.

[ODESSA FILM STUDIO]

Where did they get the idea to film something in Sanzhiika?

- Do you know? - Yes, I do.

Actually, the filmscript of 'The Prosecutor Gives Testimony’ wasn’t very interesting.

And the shooting did't imply such a scale.

Yet Leonid Burlaka is a creative person. He's a seeker.

He kind of brought unusual photography into the film.

Such an interesting approach to filming.

Even in the beginning, when the actress runs along the shore and the camera flies.

He brought these poetic elements into the movie.

And it livened up the film. Immediately.

But actually...

There were mostly interiors at first.

And then, during the shooting,

they tried to come outside as much as possible.

He seemed to be self-contained.

He wasn't an extrovert back then.

He kept his distance.

On the cutting board.

- What do you want me to cut? - The cabbage stalk.

- All around? This one? - Yes, yes.

- But it will fall apart. - No, it won’t.

- This way? - Yes.

Maybe you should begin from the side? This one.

Oh, come on.

- Now you’ll chop the stalk. - Easy, I’m not there yet.

Open it, guys.

[The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed]

In 1979 the most famous film shot by my grandpa was released

'The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed'.

It was a TV-miniseries that he shot together

with a director Stanislav Govorukhin.

Show your documents, comrades.

Our documents are fine.

Toporkov is heavily wounded.

Luckily, Soloviov is still alive, but I don't know much more.

It was a new format for the Soviet audience.

The leading role was performed by an extremely

popular actor and singer Vladimir Vysotsky.

Damn you, bastard.

You betrayed all of us: those who survived

and those who died but weren’t afraid of the criminal bullet.

The script was quite unusual for the USSR.

It's a criminal drama with a star cast.

It shows complicated moral dilemmas and multidimensional characters.

The film became a massive hit.

Most of the people who were born in the USSR have seen it multiple times.

There are even statues of the main characters in some cities.

There’s a lot of behind the scenes photos from this film on the Internet.

The cameraman is visible there mostly from his back

If you can see him at all.

I was trying to find behind the scenes footage.

The film archives have catalogues that describe each stored shot.

By the tags 'Film shoots', 'Odessa',

I found the 'Soviet Ukraine' newsreel from May 1979,

There was footage of the Odessa Film Studio.

It documents the production process

and directors who worked with my grandpa.

There was also the backstage of 'The Meeting Place...’

including this one...

PAN: ‘The panoramic shot of the cameraman’.

In fact, this is the only known chronicle footage with my grandpa behind the camera.

Two seconds.

48 frames.

It shows that grandpa, unlike the others,

used to look into the camera with his left eye.

It was his habit.

Taste it, Igor.

I finally managed to persuade grandpa to see a doctor to check his eye.

It isn't good.

Nothing can be done at this stage,

the process is irreversible.

And now the eye is blind.

Yep.

How do you feel now?

- Can you watch TV? - With one eye.

Pardon? - But can you watch TV like that?

- Well, it's okay. - With one eye. This one is blind.

This is his left eye, he used to look into the camera with it.

He has been using it intensely all his life.

As soon as the eye hemorrhage happened, we should have acted right away.

"Oh, it's nothing", that's what he said.

And now it's a trouble.

Yeah.

I just brought a film for you to watch, a new one.

This year's Oscar winner for the best cinematography.

- Really? - For you to watch, yes.

- Okay, we'll watch. - That's why I'm asking...

- No, he is watching TV, he reads books to our granddaughter.

Film cameras used to have very dim viewfinders.

This was especially inconvenient when shooting daytime exteriors.

It took a lot of effort to adjust focus and keep track of the image.

Photo cameras had the same problem

and grandpa photographed a lot.

He didn't keep a diary.

But nearly all his life can be traced through his photo archive.

A half century in 450 film rolls.

More than 15,000 shots.

Here is his family, friends, travels,

holidays, shoots, location scouting.

But, more importantly, his daughters.

Their eldest - my mom Olga.

and the youngest, Nastia.

It seems to me that these photographs are much more valuable to him than his movies.

The private photographs back then weren't meant to be shown to everyone.

On the contrary, to keep something valuable just for yourself.

Something truly yours.

- Sit down here..

- Pardon? - Sit down, have a look.

- Do you want some? - What’s that?

- A pancake. - Cool.

Those photos that I found in the summer house,

those damaged films…

I showed them to my friends who work at the gallery.

They curate this gallery.

And they offered me to exhibit those pictures.

- Really? - Yes.

Well, I have been thinking...

To put it short, those photos of yours, from the damaged negatives,

they want to exhibit them in the gallery.

What do you think?

So...

What do you want from me?

I’m asking you: what do you think about this idea?

Remind me please. I don’t get it.

Do you remember the negatives from our summer house?

Yes, I do. - The ones with melted and damaged emulsion.

I showed them to my acquaintances.

They run this gallery that I’m showing you.

They run what?

This is their gallery.

- Oh, the gallery? - It’s in Kyiv, in downtown.

They offered to exhibit your photos there.

To make an exhibition.

- So what do I do? - I don’t know.

- Maybe, you should come to the opening. - I need to come?

Well, if you want to.

- Where is it again? - In Kyiv.

Oh, Igor…

It’s fast now. There’s a high speed train.

No, my dear.

There will be an opening, a sort of event.

No, perhaps it’s not an option anymore.

You think so?

No, my dear.

Okay, think it over. We have plenty of time.

It’s in one month. So think it over.

I’ll think it over.

I just shot this as a sketch.

We talked over the placement with them.

I want to print some pictures in a large size.

- So it will be there? - Yes, this is the place.

Here you go.

So. Is it okay?

Grandma, are the garbage bins far away?

- What? - Are the garbage bins far?

Somewhere behind the garages.

I believe, he'll figure it out.

Usually, when I ask him to get some water

I also ask to take the trash out.

There's a garbage bin at the end of the building.

I have to explain a thousand times how to...

walk along the building,

how to find the garbage bin.

Well, you know,

I think it's also hard for him, actually.

Why?

He kind of knows that there's something off with him.

He's coming.

Of course, he knows.

But he can do nothing about it.

That's the most horrible feature of his state that he knows it all.

Grandpa was one of those few Soviet citizens who could travel abroad.

Sadly, he always traveled abroad by himself, never with grandma.

At the time, the couples were not allowed to travel together.

Just in case, so they wouldn't escape to the West.

What was he thinking about at the airports when other countries were so close?

Had he ever thought about running away to the West?

Probably not.

The 1970s and 1980s were a good time for them in Odessa,

both personally and professionally.

The Studio produced up to 16 movies per year

The studio provided my grandparents with the flat and a place for a summer house.

Land in a field near a lake.

Everything on this plot is made by grandpa's hands.

Everything is built by him from scratch.

According to Soviet standards, he had everything a man could dream of:

a car, a summer house and a videoplayer.

In the late 80s, VHS сame to the Soviet Union.

My grandpa could borrow a camera from the Studio

to capture important events.

- Can we go? - Yes!

For example, to film my parents' wedding

or the opening of the first film festival in Odesa in 1987.

It's hard to believe that all this was happening in the Soviet Odessa.

Also he filmed his travels abroad

- We'll never catch up...

He filmed the displays full of regular goods

that were hard to find in USSR: shoes, groceries, TVs...

VHS was becoming more and more popular.

Video rentals appeared with the movies that could not be seen in cinemas.

The distribution revenues of the Soviet films started dropping.

We turned on our camera in October, 1990.

It's hard times.

The financial crisis, devaluation of the Soviet currency.

The collapse of various institutions and enterprises.

The destiny of the Odesa Film Studio is also very uncertain.

Those who will watch this film in the future

will know how it all ended up.

But we don't know anything yet.

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed.

So, the Soviet film production collapsed as well.

There were less and less films made in the following years.

Many studio employees lost their jobs

My grandpa got lucky.

He shot a few features during the 1990s.

However, those were films of a much smaller scale.

- Antonovych, we’re out of focus. - Did you turn it on? No.

It’s not working.

You need to press ‘full’.

See? Enough?

Yes, let’s record it.

- We’re finished? - Yes. It’s half past four.

Now grandad was filming our childhood.

- Keep it.

And jump.

- Grandpa, grandpa. - He can’t figure out that you are coming along.

- Let’s go. - Grandpa, grandpa.

Come on.

One!

Two!

And three! And on your own now.

Turn around and cycle further on.

Stay still, don't turn around

See me, if you wish.

Well done, Igor!

- Aren’t you tired holding the camera in your hands? - I’m good.

- Is it recording? - Yes!

Hold here... Take a wide shot. Hold the level.

Hold here... Take a wide shot. Hold the level.

Yeah.. Good, now press "Stop"

Grandpa's last film was released in 1999.

- Rolling. Scene 33, take 1.

It was a year of significant film releases.

'The Matrix', 'Fight Club', 'Toy Story 2', 'Star Wars, Episode 1'

...and grandpa’s 'How a Blacksmith Sought for Happiness'

- Everything is mine!

It was a low-budget,

a very low-budget film.

- Then we have a bluescreen shot..

- And this one whack, whack, whack! And that’s it.

Most of grandpa’s colleagues were pensioners.

This videotape is marked as October 9th.

This is my grandpa's birthday. He’s turning 60.

- Open and pour!

We have to drink to a wonderful and talented person!

May he live long and continue

bringing us joy throught his art.

From the bottom of my soul

I wish him to be healthy and truly happy.

And also his family, children, grandchildren.

All the best wishes!

Honestly, some of the youth will soon envy Leonid.

Because starting today, he'll develop sclerosis.

Like in an anecdote...

Are you planning to come to the Studio's 100th anniversary?

First of all, I don't know whether we will be invited.

I think you'll be invited for sure.

Not for sure at all.

Nobody congratulated grandpa on his 80th birthday.

Neither the Odesa Union of Filmmakers,

nor the National one.

No one! No letter, no phone call, no message.

Given the fact that he turned 80 last year in October.

But no one did anything on this occasion.

Of course, they remember him at the Studio.

And they know that I'm making a film about grandpa.

- Really? - Sure. The Studio tries to help us.

At least, they don't create obstacles.

The last 15 years the Studio is stagnating.

Sometimes shoots are happening, but mostly it is a service production.

The Studio is managed by a private owner now

but it’s obvious that film production is not their priority.

Because in the last 15 years the Studio hasn’t developed.

The films that are stored here, at this damp warehouse,

were seen by millions of people.

Some of those took part in international film festivals

and one of them was nominated for an Oscar.

One more is stored here.

There are over 400 films stored here.

This is 'Forgive', his next movie.

In a couple of years those films might be lost forever.

and around 30 movies shot by grandpa along with them.

These thujas used to be small, right?

Yes.

They used to be small, so you could see the delta.

And now they're tall, with thick trunks.

Oh my, I'm so tired.

- Is it the heat? - Yes.

And I have to manage it all.

"Leonid, get this from the shed."

"But where's the shed?"

Here, the first door.

"Where? Where do I go?"

But do you understand that...

I do, but I'm just telling you why I’m tired.

Because I need to go to the shed,

Get what I ask him to get

and take it back.

I do understand that it's not going to get better.

But I pray to God that it doesn't get worse.

- So, the bottom line is... - I got it.

I pray it doesn't get worse.

So he would still remember that he needs to use the toilet.

Here, I need to take him to the toilet.

Sit down here.

Poor, poor thing.

I simply cannot come to terms with the thought that he is like this now.

No, he can't hear us anyway.

He used to be so lively.

He never had problems with any technical issues.

We're slowly scanning your entire archive.

All the photo rolls that you've shot.

We scan them so that we can look at them on a computer.

And there are so many pictures of Nastya.

Literally, she's on every third film.

Nastya, the youngest daughter.

Many pictures of little Nastya.

It’s strange but even more than of Olya, my mother.

I can't remember, frankly.

But it's not the point.

I just got curious about all that.

Why did she leave for good?

Why did it happen this way?

Tell me more, maybe I'll remember.

Do you remember Nastya?

Nastya, the youngest daughter.

Well, not yet.

Alright, I'll show you the pictures later.

Okay.

So beautiful.

These are also the pictures from...

Wow, such a beauty.

These are also from your film that I scanned.

And who's this?

- Well, it's Nastya. - This is Nastya, right?

Such screams!

Wow. A severe face.

The lips...

...are right in the middle.

Awesome shot.

I don't know how to help my grandpa now.

It's impossible to save his memory,

but at least his legacy can be saved.

If we would linger a bit longer, not only my granddad's films

but all films of Odessa Studio, including films by Kira Muratova

Stanislav Govorukhin, Piotr Todorovsky and many others can be lost forever

Not only because of poor storage conditions,

but due to the danger that The Studio itself can be demolished and redeveloped.

As has happened to most of the former state-owned buildings around.

It took half a year of negotiations to convince everyone

that the films need to be moved to the proper film archive.

420 films in thousands of boxes weighed nearly 6 tons.

Now the movies will be stored in the National Film Archive in Kyiv.

It has all the conditions for storage, restoration and digitalization.

There we've found out what happened to granddad’s photo films

Turned out, damages weren't made on purpose.

The structure of the film itself was to blame.

In USSR the dangerous nitrate film was in use up to mid-60's.

The emulsion dissolves on it even at room temperature

and causes such distortions to the images.

In 2018 we opened a first exhibition of Leonid Burlaka’s photographs

Later on we showed it in more cities.

In 2019 this exhibition opened in Odessa.

Do you recognise those? Your pictures.

Yes, I do. - Do you recognise?

It’s from the same film roll.

- Are you cold? - No, not really.

FestiFilm...

It's a T-shirt from the film festival.

Now the rain has stopped...

[THE END]