A retrospective of works by Dmitry and Anzhela Trofimov—pioneers of experimental film in Central Asia.
Dmitry and Anzhela Trofimov began working as a duo in the mid-1980s at a local filmmakers’ club in Tashkent, which offered non-professionals access to 16 mm film and cameras. The development of experimental cinema in Tashkent was similar to that in other large Soviet cities («parallel cinema» in Moscow and Necrorealism in Leningrad). Imitations of big studio productions gave way to experimental formats: 16 mm black-and-white intimate works in the 1980s, 8 mm multiple exposure pieces in color in the 1990s, and digital experiments in the 2000s. Dmitry and Anzhela Trofimov had no following and formed no circle. Even in Moscow, where they moved in the mid-1990s, their work stood apart from everything else. Their practice was closer to the avant-garde art of the 1920s and the visionary experiments of the postwar American underground than to post-Soviet independent and experimental film. Derek Jarman’s 8 mm works were an important influence.
On April 30, 2022, Dmitry Trofimov passed away. Working with the archive he left behind, Alexey Artamonov has produced a posthumous retrospective of Dmitry’s films made in collaboration with Anzhela Trofimov. Restoration of Dreams is a program organized as a dream: a dream about a person devoted to experimental film until their final days despite the total absence of recognition, which, as often happens, came to Dmitry after his death. Lyrical impressionism, diary film, collage, and abstract expressionism—films of very different styles are brought together not in a chronological order but based on dream logic, which is emblematic of the duo’s work.
The program curator will introduce the screening and talk about the specific nature of working with archives of this kind. The screening will be followed by a Q& A with Anzhela Trofimov and Aleksey Artamonov.