Hoezo in KINO

Casting Bolshoi schooled ballet dancer Tatyana Samoylova as the lead of The Cranes are Flying proved a stroke of genius as her fierce physicality and luminous presence fitted perfectly with Kalatzotov’s dynamic visuals and aesthetics. The war time tale of two youngsters planning a rendezvous only for the boy to be shipped off to the front, remains a masterclass of visual storytelling, aided by the then novelty of hand-held cinematography – a technique cameraman Sergey Urusevskiy picked up while filming in combat. Upon release the film provided a cathartic experience for the Soviet citizens as it articulated the unfathomable losses of the war for the first time and provided space for grieving loved ones. A singular masterpiece. Russian language with English and Dutch versions screened separately.