Director:
Vadim Jendreyko
Run Time: 93 minutes
Country: SWITZERLAND, GERMANY
Year: 2009
Vadim Jendreyko
Run Time: 93 minutes
Country: SWITZERLAND, GERMANY
Year: 2009
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The Woman with the 5 Elephants (Die Frau mit den 5 Elefanten)
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Meet the indomitable 85-year-old Svetlana Geier, perhaps the world’s greatest translator of Russian literature into German. She has just completed new translations of Dostoyevsky's five great novels (her five elephants): "Crime and Punishment," "The Idiot," The Devils," "A Raw Youth," and "The Brothers Karamasov." Razor sharp and possessed of piercing blue eyes, Geier continues her meticulous work in her home office where she is assisted by exacting collaborators, including a musician who reads her translations out loud. They are in constant pursuit of the exact word that will give the language its rhythm. Born in Ukraine, Geier's teenage facility with languages brought her to the attention of the country's Nazi occupiers during World War II. Now she takes her granddaughter along on a rail journey to her homeland where she hasn’t been since 1943. Geier is an extraordinary screen presence who reminds us there’s beauty in the world if we look for it. “I believe that each spiritual experience leads us to treat one another better, to not strike others dead. Quite elementary. And I believe that language is a very effective remedy.” THE WOMAN WITH THE 5 ELEPHANTS is gorgeously photographed, at once cerebral and joyous. (In German and Russian with subtitles) –B.B.
Sidebar sponsored by:
Sidebar sponsored by:
| Sidebars | Standing Up Competition, Jewish and Israeli Visions, Women Of The World |
| Producer | Vadim Jendreyko, Thomas Tielsch, Hercli Bundi |
| Cinematography | Niels Bolbrinker, Stéphane Kuthy |
| Editing | Gisela Castronari |
| Director Bio | Vadim Jendreyko was born in Germany and currently lives in Basel, Switzerland. He studied at the Art Academy in Düsseldorf and has worked as a camera and editing assistant, mostly on documentary films. He founded Mira Films in 2002. |
| Select Filmography | THE WOMAN WITH THE 5 ELEPHANTS (2009) |
| Print Source |
Mira Film GmbH info@mirafilm.ch www.mirafilm.ch |
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Past Screenings
Friday, March 25, 2011 at 6:05 PMSaturday, March 26, 2011 at 2:00 PM
Monday, March 28, 2011 at 9:20 AM
Good Moral Lessons
The Woman with the 5 Elephants (Die Frau mit den 5 Elefanten) was about 45 minutes too long. Yes, there were some valuable intellectual lessons embedded in the narrative but it really began to drag after 30 minutes, but then documentaries can do that.
