Roman "Roma" Liberov (Russian: Рома́н Алекса́ндрович Ли́беров; born 13 June 1980) is a Russian documentary filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, and the founder of the Ulysses Foundation for the Support and Preservation of Culture.

Roman Liberov
Born
Roman Alexandrovich Liberov

(1980-06-13) June 13, 1980 (age 44)
Alma materGerasimov Institute of Cinematography
Occupations
  • Filmmaker
  • producer
  • screenwriter
Years active2009–present

Early life and background

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Liberov was born in the Lithuanian SSR.

By his own admission, he did not graduate from high school. His father helped him get a high school diploma with all C's.[1]

Graduated from the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography in 2007, majoring in non-fiction film directing (his mentor was Tengiz Semenov [ru]), interned at the BBC in London, then worked as a director on British television.[2]

He was the host of an evening program on Silver Rain Radio (with Vladimir Raevsky).[3]

Liberov was a frequent guest of the section about modern poets in the TV show "Rules of Life" on TV Kultura channel.[4] Liberov lectured on film, literature, and the fine arts. He organized poets' and writers' commemoration meetings.

In January 2021, Liberov left Russia.[5][6]

Career

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Since 2009, he has been working on a series of films commemorating Russian writers,[7] in which he uses non-fiction and staged filming, animation, puppetry and shadow play, installations, computer graphics, etc.[2] His projects involve famous Soviet and Russian actors: Armen Dzhigarkhanyan, Valentin Gaft, Inna Churikova, Sergei Makovetsky, Viktor Sukhorukov, Chulpan Khamatova, Sergei Puskepalis, and others.[8]

Since 2016, as a producer and director, he has been holding a series of poetry readings "By the author" (Russian: "От автора"). The first two years the events were held in the Gulag Museum, and since 2018 they have been held in the New Space of the Theatre of Nations.[9] The invited poet not only read his selected works but also talked about them and himself. Each evening was filmed in detail, creating a film archive of contemporary Russian poetry.[10]

Liberov is the author and publisher of a series of "By hand" (Russian: "От руки") comics created by dozens of contemporary young artists based on selected poetic texts from such poets, as Vladislav Khodasevich to Dmitri Prigov. A series of poetic zines formed the basis of two exhibition projects at the Marina Tsvetaeva House Museum in 2017 and 2018.[11]

On January 13, 2023, the music compilation album After Russia, produced by Liberov, was released. This collection contains songs performed by popular Russian musicians who were forced to leave Russia because of their anti-war stance after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine. The songs are written with lyrics by Russian émigré poets who also left Russia 100 years ago. Performers include the Noize MC, Monetochka, Nogu Svelo!, Pornofilmy, Naiv, Red Samara Automobile Club, AloeVera, Sansara, Tequilajazzz, and others.[12]

Style

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In his work, Liberov combines animation, puppetry, graphics, acting, photography, and documentary filming. Journalists call his style quasi-documentary cinema. Liberov pays much attention to the musical design of his films. The music of the Grazhdanskaya Oborona and Shortparis bands sounds in his films. In the visual language, the director tries to convey the literary style of the writer about whom the film is made.[13][14] This is how Alexander Mamontow, film director, producer, actor, and the founder of the Festival of Festivals film festival, described Roman Liberov's style:

In his new film, the director has found the most compelling visual language to make us feel both the Soviet realities and [Andrei] Platonov’s prose and that prompted this prose to emerge. This language transmits and reflects the feelings of illiterate people, the peasants, who were facing the new reality, a world where [Soviet] mass repressions and the annihilation of dissident human beings not only becomes commonplace but were even presented as a necessary means of achieving a bright better future for those who survived the [Communist party] purges. And while no boats are being sent today, the dissidents are not welcome at home, once again.[15]

Filmography

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Exhibitions

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Projects

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  • Director and producer of Mikhail Gendelev commemoration meeting from the Poems About Me series with Anna Gerasimova and others.
  • Author and director of the composition for voice and trumpet in memory of Osip and Nadezhda Mandelstam Save my words forever performed by Yuliya Rutberg and Vyacheslav Gaivoronsky for the anniversary of the death of Osip Mandelstam.
  • Co-writer of the lyrics for the album We Will Get Better by Sansara.[23]
  • A selection of lyrics for the album November by Megapolis.
  • Curator of the Rock Samizdat auction, for which the collection of the music producer and journalist Alexander Kushner was exhibited. As a result, the collection was purchased by Liberov and Ivan Yefimov themselves and is currently being replenished with the goal of creating a Museum of Russian Rock. A limited edition catalog of rock publishing in the USSR was published for the auction.
  • Author and producer of Save My Words Forever a tribute album to the 130th anniversary of Osip Mandelstam, which was recorded by Alina Pash, Zhenya Milkovsky (Nervy), Svidanie, Ilya Lagutenko and Kudamir Katitsa, Zoloto, Shortparis, Leonid Agutin, Mgzavrebi, IOWA, Alina Orlova, Daniel Shake, Pornofilmy, Alexander Manotskov, OQJAV, Tequilajazzz, Noize MC, Billy Novik and St. Petersburg Jazz Active, O! Margo feat. Obe Dve, Sansara, Oxxxymiron and Kurara.

References

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  1. ^ "Либеров – как творить в несвободной стране / вДудь". YouTube (in Russian). 2023-04-05.
  2. ^ a b "Nonfiction". nonfiction.film. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  3. ^ "От автора". 20 July 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-07-20. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  4. ^ "Правила жизни / Cмотреть все выпуски онлайн / tvkultura.ru". 7 July 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-07-07. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  5. ^ "Russia's latest exodus: As bombs fall on Ukraine, artists flee Vladimir Putin's shadow". thestar.com. 23 February 2023. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  6. ^ "Либеров – как творить в несвободной стране / вДудь". YouTube (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-04-07.
  7. ^ "Роман Либеров: "Моя золотая мечта детства – сделать фильм о группе The Beatles": Медведь. Первый Мужской журнал". 25 June 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-06-25. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  8. ^ Светлана Мазурова, Евгений Авраменко (2013-10-02). ""Не предполагал, что 70% молодежи не знает об Ильфе и Петрове"". Известия (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-04-26.
  9. ^ "Театр Наций". theatreofnations.ru. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
  10. ^ Сафонова, Кристина (29 May 2019). "Интервью с создателями проекта "От Автора" Ромой Либеровым и журналистом Владимиром Раевским - Афиша Daily". Archived from the original on 2019-05-29. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  11. ^ ""Сердце могло разорваться, понимаете?" Рома Либеров об эмиграции, музыке и надежде". newprospect.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-04-26.
  12. ^ "'After Russia' In a new album, exiled popular musicians revisit the Russian émigré poetry of 100 years ago". Meduza. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
  13. ^ Samuel Goff (15 May 2017). "Off the page: meet the director bringing Russian literature to life onscreen". The Calvert Journal.
  14. ^ Galina Stolyarova (2020-10-28). "Roma Liberov Debuts New Film on Writer Andrei Platonov". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 2023-04-26.
  15. ^ Stolyarova, Galina (28 October 2020). "Roma Liberov Debuts New Film on Writer Andrei Platonov". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  16. ^ "Московский музей современного искусства - ОДНОЭТАЖНАЯ АМЕРИКА: ОСНОВАНО НА РЕАЛЬНЫХ СОБЫТИЯХ". 6 July 2019. Archived from the original on 2019-07-06. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  17. ^ dommuseum.ru. "От руки". Дом-музей Марины Цветаевой. Archived from the original on 2019-05-29. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
  18. ^ dommuseum.ru. "Выставка "ОТ РУКИ"". Дом-музей Марины Цветаевой. Archived from the original on 2019-05-29. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
  19. ^ "Новости культуры. Эфир от 13.12.2018 (00:00)" (in Russian). tvkultura.ru. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
  20. ^ "Выставка "Илья Ильф – прописан в Москве!" – Музей Михаила Булгакова". 1 March 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-03-01. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  21. ^ "Илья Ильф — одесский москвич! Писатель с фотоаппаратом. Видеоэкскурсия / Музей Москвы". 16 May 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-05-16. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  22. ^ "Гость в студии – куратор выставки "Илья Ильф – одесский москвич! Писатель с фотоаппаратом" Роман Либеров" (in Russian). tvkultura.ru. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  23. ^ "Мы станем лучше — Сансара. Слушать онлайн на Яндекс.Музыке". 3 August 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-08-03. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
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