The Eisenstein Project

About

THE EISENSTEIN PROJECT is a programme of screenings, artistic commissions, exhibitions, publications and academic research to re-examine Sergei Eisenstein through the lens of contemporary cultural and film practice.

The goal of the project is to re-animate this great filmmaker’s pioneering legacy by examining its impact through time and how his writings, art and film works communicate to audiences and filmmakers today.

THE EISENSTEIN PROJECT is made up of a series of prestigious collaborations Kino Klassika fosters between leading UK and Russian institutions including A Nos Amours, the Barbican Centre London, The Bakhrushin Museum Moscow, the Cambridge Courtauld Russian Art Centre, GRAD London, the London Symphony Orchestra, Pace Gallery, RGALI the Russian State Archive of Literature & Arts and Thames & Hudson publishers.

The research is under-pinned by the work of leading cultural theorists, Eisenstein scholars, gallerists and film practitioners including Ada Ackerman, Erika Balsom, Prof Oksana Bulgakova, Prof Ian Christie, Sophie Fiennes, Owen Hatherley, Igor Kadyrov, Margy Kinmouth, Naum Kleiman, Anna Kolesnikova, Maria Mileeva, Prof Laura Mulvey, Dr Natalia Murray, Prof Joan Neuberger, Sally Potter, Prof Antonio Somaini, Matthew Stephenson, Elena Sudakova and Justine Waddell as well as a new film commission by filmmaker Mark Cousins.

Unexpected Eisenstein

An exhibition of Eisenstein drawings from the RGALI and Bakhrushin Collections in collaboration with GRAD London examines Eisenstein’s relationship to and impact on English film and culture.

Details of Unexpected Eisenstein

Drawings include previously unseen sketches for Eisenstein’s unmade Ivan the Terrible Part 3 which imagines a relationship between England’s Queen Bess and Russian Ambassador Boris Nepaya.

A film: Eisenstein on Lawrence

Film maker Mark Cousins imagines a conversation between Eisenstein and English writer DH Lawrence. This playful film essay carries forward Mark’s dialogue with Eisenstein’s from his film ‘What is this film called love?’

Eisenstein’s Legacy: An Academic Conference

We host a two day academic conference at the Courtauld Institute with co-organisers GRAD London and Cambridge Courtauld Russian Art Centre to present new international research on Eisenstein’s legacy.

Love, Lust and Laughter at Pace Gallery

We host an exhibition of rarely seen Eisenstein erotic drawings titled ‘Love, Lust and Laughter’ with Pace London and presented by Joan Neuberger to highlight this little studied aspect of Eisenstein’s creative process.

Eisenstein in Mexico

In collaboration with A Nos Amours we host for the first time ever consecutive screenings of versions of Eisenstein’s unfinished film Que Viva Mexico with a panel discussion with Owen Hatherley, Erika Balsom and Sophie Fiennes.

Alexander Nevsky

We invite famed contemporary composer and DJ Gabriel Prokofiev to introduce a rare sold out 35mm screening of Eisenstein and Prokofiev’s ground breaking venture into sound film, the historical epic Alexander Nevsky.