New Arts Documentary Series: The Russian Avant-Garde "Revolution or Renaissance" - Copernicus Films

Moscow, Russia, May 16, 2008 --(PR.com)-- The producer and director Michael Craig of Copernicus Films discovers inspiration in the pioneers of the Russian avant-garde which has taken him on a journey from the streets and boulevards of Moscow to the shores and forests of a Pacific island off the coast of Japan.The result is a documentary series of 6 films about the Russian Avant-garde of the 1920s and 30s which has been released on DVD on Amazon.com.

Using computer graphics ,archive footage and filming in locations as wide ranging as Russia, Germany, and Japan, Michael Craig follows in the footsteps of some of the great Russian artists of the Russian Avant-garde, (Alexander Rodchenko, Meyerhold, Vladimir Tatlin, Malevich, David Burliuk, Vassily Kandinsky) These artists changed our perceptions of art and reality with their visions of the future and their struggle to change the present. Michael Craig has come up with a series of films which explores all the major themes of the Russian avant-garde - futurism, Primitivism, Rayonism etc.

Estelle Winters of Timelines comments: “In this comprehensive and wide ranging series about the Russian Avant-garde, the director Michael Craig and Copernicus Films have produced an in depth exploration of this phenomenon in the history of art. It’s a remarkable achievement!”

After a decade working in the film and television industry in the UK, Michael Craig travelled to Moscow in 1995 to make films and write where he has lived and worked ever since. He made the first documentary film in the series "Alexander Rodchenko and the Russian Avant-garde" in 1999 which premiered at the Milan International Film Festival (MIFF) and was shown on British Television. From here he embarked on series of films about the Russian Avant-garde of the 1920s and 30s: "Architecture and the Russian Avant-garde," which was nominated for the best documentary film in the International Festival of Cinema and Technology in Toronto (IFCT), "Mayakovsky", broadcast on Swedish Television in 2006, plus "Meyerhold, Theatre and the Russian Avant-garde," and "David Burliuk and the Japanese Avant-garde" which was shot in Russia and Japan. The final film, "Kandinsky" filmed in Russia and Germany completes the whole series.

Even though Michael Craig regards Moscow as his home, he mentions that it was a pleasant experience to be whisked from the snow covered streets of a Moscow winter to the tropical heat of the Bonin islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean to film the David Burliuk section of the series.

The films can be found on Amazon on DVD or check www.copernicusfilms.narod.ru for more detailed information about the series and distribution or e-mail: copernicusfilms@yahoo.co.uk.