This is a must see: Renata Piotrowski – about the TV series “Ballet” and the festival of mental health “Docu-mental”

Series team “Ballet” Evgenia Sangadzhieva, whom we remember from the series Happy End, demonstrated competent PR – literally everyone is talking about it. But the secret of success, of course, is not only in good marketing – the team has created a really great story. The producers were Sergei Bondarchuk Jr., Alexei Kiselev and Anastasia Koretskaya (“Studio Video rental”), starring Alla Sigalova, Marusya Fomina, Igor Gordin, Fyodor Bondarchuk, Irina Apeksimova, Lisa Yankovskaya and … real ballet dancers. This is the highlight of the project: the actual ballet is danced by real professionals. The project was created over the course of five years – and this, according to the director, was the most difficult task for the entire team. But, in my personal opinion, all the efforts were not in vain – two premiere episodes evoke only positive emotions (watch on the W platformink).

The plot, the picture, the dialogues, the camera work, the director’s work – everything is on top, the series is shot fashionably, stylishly, and it has a soul. The heroine of Sigalova during the rehearsal says to the dancers: “You don’t breathe!” – and for me this is the slogan of the entire series and even today. You need to breathe, otherwise you can’t stand it. And this series is a breathing organism. And yet … it is always interesting to look behind the scenes of the creative profession: the collective image of the Russian theater (and the Ballet was filmed at the Bolshoi, Nemirovich-Danchenko, and Mikhailovsky) turned out to be quite frank – both about relations within the team and how they affect career growth, a lot has been said.

The art association CoolConnections with the support of the Mental Health Union presents the 4th festival from May 31 to June 4 “doc-mental” — I think that it is extremely important that the topic of mental health is revealed not only in fiction, but also in documentary projects. Films about the inner world of a person, his harmony and disharmony, about the feelings and perception of the surrounding world by people with mental disorders will be shown at the Illusion cinema and online on the COOL PLAY platform. What to watch? An expressive Spanish film “Dance Madness” in which three young dancers work with three women with mental disorders to translate their experience into the language of contemporary art. Seeing the Invisible is an Icelandic autism project based on interviews with women of all ages and backgrounds who are learning about their diagnosis but are trying to live their lives to the fullest. And the Swedish film “Daughters” – about how children experience the loss of a mother who committed suicide during an exacerbation of depression.

On May 24–27, the XXVIII International Exhibition-Forum of Architecture and Design was held in Gostiny Dvor “Arch Moscow”, which brought together urban planning structures and institutions, architects, developers, manufacturers and distributors of building materials. Architects Alexander Tsimailo and Nikolai Lyashenko were among the participants of this bright educational forum: the personal exposition of the Tsimailo Lyashenko & Partners bureau presented the architects’ view of the company’s creative path over more than 20 years – and it’s not so easy to arrange a real retrospective in one pavilion! I am glad that the profession of an architect in our country is becoming “fashionable” in a good sense – we are all interested in immersing ourselves in the topic of city development, studying and choosing options. Today, the layman understands and appreciates the work of an architect, which means that urban planning is reaching a new level.