Twenty Years Before Release: Brief Encounters and Director Kira Muratova

The film Brief Encounters (Короткі зустрічі), completed at the Odesa Film Studio in 1967, went almost entirely unscreened for about 20 years afterward. Its director was Kira Muratova (Кіра Муратова, 1934-2018), who from the early 1960s went on making films at the Odesa studio.

This article sets out years and facts drawn from the Енциклопедія Сучасної України (Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine, “ESU” below; written by I. B. Zubavina, 2020), the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Institute of History’s Енциклопедія історії України (Encyclopedia of the History of Ukraine, “EIU” below; volume 7, 2010), the page of the Shevchenko National Prize Committee, presidential decrees of Ukraine, the Dovzhenko Centre’s records of her films, and the Berlin International Film Festival’s archive. The Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies’ Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine (IEU) has no entry on Muratova. This article does not assess the quality of her work.

Born in Soroky, Educated in Moscow

According to ESU, Muratova was born on November 5, 1934, in Soroky (Сороки, now in Moldova). IEU’s entry “Bessarabia” states that Bessarabia, which includes Soroky, came under Romanian rule from 1918 and was ceded to the Soviet Union in June 1940. She was born, then, in a town under Romanian rule at the time.

She graduated in 1959 from the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow, studying in the workshop of Sergei Gerasimov and Tamara Makarova (ESU, EIU, the Shevchenko National Prize Committee). EIU and the Committee’s page state that she worked at Moscow’s Gorky Film Studio in 1959-1962. Her first work, Near the Steep Ravine (Біля крутого яру, 1961), is listed by ESU as a co-directed work.

Soroky and Soroca, Two Names

Her birthplace is written in Ukrainian encyclopedias in the Ukrainian form “Сороки” (Soroky), with EIU adding “now Soroca.” Soroca is the town’s name in Moldova. As the town’s present-day name, Soroca is the one in current use.

To the Odesa Film Studio

The year Muratova moved to the Odesa studio differs by one year between sources: ESU says she began working as a director at the studio from 1961, while EIU and the Shevchenko National Prize Committee say 1962. The studio’s own history is covered in our article on the Odesa Film Studio.

Among the works ESU lists as made at the studio are Our Honest Bread (Наш чесний хліб, 1964, co-directed), Brief Encounters (1967), Long Farewells (Довгі проводи, 1971), Among Grey Stones (Серед сірого каміння, 1983), Change of Fortune (Зміна долі, 1987), The Asthenic Syndrome (Астенічний синдром, 1989), A Sentimental Policeman, Enthusiasm, and Three Stories (Три історії, 1997), among others. The English titles here are this article’s own and have not been checked against titles under which the films may have been released elsewhere.

Two Films That Waited 20 Years

Brief Encounters was written by Muratova together with Leonid Zhukhovitsky and featured her in the cast as well (Dovzhenko Centre). The Dovzhenko Centre’s record of the film states that it was placed in “the lowest distribution category” and went almost entirely unscreened for 20 years. The Shevchenko National Prize Committee’s page records it as “released in 1987.”

Long Farewells followed the same path. The Committee’s page and EIU give it as a 1971 work released in 1987, and the Dovzhenko Centre’s own screening notice likewise states that it was completed in 1971 and only finally released in 1987. Both films were released during perestroika.

A Timeline from Completion to Release, and After

Awards on Record at Film Festivals

The Berlin International Film Festival’s archive records that The Asthenic Syndrome (Astenicheskij sindrom) was entered in competition at the 40th festival in 1990 and won the “Silver Bear – Special Jury Prize.” The same archive’s filmography gives its country and year of production as “USSR 1989” and its running time as 153 minutes.

ESU states that Long Farewells won the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) prize at the Locarno Film Festival in 1987. FIPRESCI’s own 2022 article likewise lists Muratova among the women directors who won the FIPRESCI prize at Locarno. The Locarno Film Festival’s official website’s list of 1987 winners lists only the official jury prizes and does not include the critics’ federation’s prize.

Muratova also has ties to a Kyiv film festival. According to the Shevchenko National Prize Committee’s page, Three Stories won the “Arsenal” award for best Ukrainian work at the 27th Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival in 1997.

What Country Is She Written as Belonging To?

The same director is attached to different countries depending on the source.

• Berlin International Film Festival’s filmography: country of production “USSR.”
• FIPRESCI’s person page: “Film Director, Moldova.”
• FIPRESCI’s 2022 article: “Kira Muratova from Ukraine.”
• Ukrainian encyclopedias (ESU, EIU): listed as a director at the Odesa studio, alongside Ukraine’s state awards.

A film’s country of production, a director’s birthplace, and the country a director worked in are each a separate fact. What counts as “Ukrainian film” is covered in our article on the five things “Ukrainian film” can mean.

Ukraine’s State Prizes and Honors

Presidential Decree No. 60/93 of February 24, 1993, “On the Award of the 1993 Taras Shevchenko State Prizes of Ukraine,” grants Muratova the prize in the field of film “for an outstanding contribution to the art of cinema in Ukraine and the world” (per the text on the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine’s legislation database). ESU likewise gives 1993 for the award, but EIU gives 1997.

As for honors, Presidential Decree No. 231/99 of March 4, 1999, awards Muratova, director at the Odesa Feature Film Studio and People’s Artist of Ukraine, the Order of Yaroslav the Wise, 5th class. The Shevchenko National Prize Committee’s page and ESU state that she went on to receive the 4th class in 2004 and the 3rd class in 2009. The Committee’s page and ESU also list the 2002 State Dovzhenko Prize of Ukraine.

Where the Encyclopedias and the Official Record Differ on Years

In Odesa

According to ESU and the Shevchenko National Prize Committee, Muratova died in Odesa on June 6, 2018, and was buried there. ESU lists, as producers of her post-2000 works, not the Odesa studio but production companies such as Pygmalion Production and Sota Cinema Group, as well as Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Arts. Readers wanting to follow the path of Ukrainian film through its works can also read our article on films connected to Ukraine.