Lost in the Newsreel
During my last visit to St. Petersburg, among other things, I managed to visit a previously unknown and unseen event under the generic name of “immersive installation”. It took place in one of the pavilions of the Lenfilm studio and is called “Lost in the Newsreel”.
To understand the essence, I will simply quote the project website: “An interactive project about front-line cameramen and employees of the Lenfilm film studio who lived, fought and filmed history during the Great Patriotic War. 15 episodes on an area of 1,500 sq. m. In the halls, elements of buildings, models of equipment and figures of heroes are recreated in life-size. Here, each visitor will be able to feel the closeness of history and the reality of the past. Find yourself on the other side of the lens.“
The project made a strong impression on me, which, on this day, I want to share with you.
On site, you will be accompanied by an audio guide, and to explain the scenes, I will post an explanatory text (with possible abbreviations) from the same website.
01 hall. Excavations 1990s. Nevsky Pyatachok.
The hall is decorated in the style of a summer cottage on the banks of the Neva River (Leningrad Region) in the 1990s. In 1941, a defensive line passed through this place. The owners of the house knew about it and contacted searchers to check the area. The searchers found a broken position of Red Army soldiers, mangled rifles, helmets, machine guns, and the remains of dead soldiers. A war correspondent was found among the soldiers. The profession of the deceased can be guessed from the subject plan: camera, films, documents.
02 hall. Nevsky Pyatachok, 1941. Nevsky Pyatachok.
You passed under the roots of a large tree, it symbolizes the connection of the present with the past. In this hall you see the same place, only in 1941: in place of the house stands a destroyed Soviet tank KV-2 (full-scale model).
03 hall. Lenfilm, 5 pavilion. Leningrad.
The interior of the bomb shelter at the Lenfilm film studio in the first weeks after the start of the war in 1941 has been recreated in the room. The production of the film Masquerade was coming to an end, and despite the war that had begun, it was decided to finish it. In the event of an air raid, actors, cameramen and other employees of the film studio had to take refuge in the bomb shelter under Pavilion No. 5, sometimes in costumes and makeup.
04 Hall. Izhora Plant. Kolpino.
The hall has been recreated to resemble a factory workshop. The aftermath of shell hits is visible: the feeling of the proximity of the front, which is only a few kilometers from the plant and Kolpino, is conveyed. Filming is underway at the same time: a documentary was shot in 1942. The plot is recreated based on real heroes, memories, and materials provided by the Izhora Plant Museum.
05 Hall. Film screening in a dugout
The fragment is dedicated to the mobile cinemas that worked in the frontline zone. The film “Anton Ivanovich is angry” (released on August 29, 1941) is being shown in a dugout. In the corner, near the window, there are figures of a Red Army soldier and captured Germans.
06 Hall. Polar Region. Murmansk.
The episode reflects the theme of allied aid and Lend-Lease supplies. Inside the fuselage of a Douglas DC-3 aircraft, there is an airfield maintenance fighter and two wounded fighters, one of them a cameraman. Through the open door, you can see the airfield and what is happening near the aircraft. Preparations are underway to load the property received under Lend-Lease onto the aircraft.
07 Hall. Crossing the Volga. Stalingrad.
The interior of a river vessel is shown, which transports cargo and soldiers along the Volga during the defense of Stalingrad. The route leads along a makeshift ramp made from scrap materials to the right bank of the Volga River. On the roof of the river vessel, a soldier fires a DShK machine gun.
08 Hall. Caucasus. Mestia Pass.
In the mountains of the Caucasus Range, a moment of battle between a Soviet mountain rifle detachment and Wehrmacht mountain rangers is shown. The space is divided into 2 plot zones. In the first, there is a battle on December 16, 1942, in the area of the Lekzyr glacier. In the second, the unit moves along a high-mountain route.
09 Hall. Hospital. Belarus
The setting of a partisan hospital in enemy-occupied Belarus is shown, located in the premises of a former Catholic church. The hall combines the architecture of the church, the hospital, and the life of the partisans.
Hall 10. Film studio. Moscow.
The episode symbolically shows the work of film studio employees during the Great Patriotic War. You walk past shelves where reels of film are stacked in metal cases. Documentaries about the main events of the war were created at the film studios, as well as periodic newsreel releases.
Hall 11. Urban battles. Europe.
The fragment is dedicated to the liberation of Europe by the Red Army at the last stage of the Great Patriotic War. The plot is based on urban battles in the fortress city of Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland) in February 1945. The route begins in an office filled with propaganda materials of Nazi Germany.
Hall 12. Berlin Street. Germany. The events after the end of the storming of Berlin (April 23, 1945 – May 2, 1945) are recreated. Traces of hits and combat actions are everywhere – the battles were going on quite recently. The episode reflects both the joy of Victory and long-awaited peace, and the bitterness of losses, and the enormous price that our people had to pay for it.
Hall 13. Reichstag. Germany.
A fragment of the Reichstag building in the first days after the capitulation of German troops in Berlin is reproduced: decorative elements of the facade, bas-reliefs, porch, columns.
Hall 14. Nuremberg Trials. Germany.
The hall contains a recreated fragment of the interior of the courtroom in the Nuremberg Palace of Justice, sculptures of the defendants – war criminals from the leadership of Nazi Germany at the time of watching the film “Film Documents on the Atrocities of the German Fascist Invaders”.
Hall 15. Return. Railway station.
The last episode brought you to the platform of a small railway station. Two carriages have been recreated: a trophy passenger carriage and a freight carriage. In the carriages you see figures of front-line soldiers – many of them are made in the image of real participants of the Great Patriotic War. Legendary actors who played in films about the war served as prototypes for other figures.
