The artistic director of Sovremennik theater did not come to Gaft's funeral, but he will make a movie

Angelica Dean

In artistic circles, the absence of the artistic director of the Sovremennik theater, Viktor Ryzhakov, is actively discussed at parting with Valentin Gaft. The artist has faithfully served in this theater for more than half a century, was the "right hand" of Galina Volchek, and the farewell to him, judging by eyewitness testimony, including the artist Stanislav Sadalsky, took place in a half-empty hall:

"I was parting with Valya. A shame. The hall is empty. Almost none of the young, recognizable theater actors. The new artistic director of the Sovremennik Ryzhakov did not come".

The reason, perhaps, is that quite recently Viktor Ryzhakov visited the Ministry of Culture to defend his debut film "Parent's Day" and received 25 million rubles from the federal budget. The 60-year-old theater director fought for state support on a par with yesterday's 25-year-old students of directing departments, and ...won.

But even some eight years ago, while recruiting his first year at the Moscow Art Theater School, Viktor Ryzhakov vowed that “he would not make films,” because he did not know how to do it. In our interview with directors without film education, Viktor Anatolyevich "compared with the character of Andersen's fairy tale "The Naked King":

“I have enough intelligence and wisdom not to be like the Naked King".

Cinema is a very serious field of art, and I cannot encroach on it without going through the necessary school. There is no such producer who would allow me to first delve into the process of creating a picture, and then implement it, - the theater director Viktor Ryzhakov said then in the office of the former assistant to the artistic director of the Chekhov Moscow Art Theater Sergey Puskepalis.

Ryzhakov's friendship with the authorities helped him find in the person of the Ministry of Culture the very producer who would allow debutant Viktor Ryzhakov to learn the craft of a filmmaker.

By the way, director Alexei Fedorchenko, a member of the Expert Council for Pitching Debutants at the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, explained to novye Izvestia why he did not vote for Viktor Ryzhakov's film:

"I voted against the project because of the quality of the script. This scenario did not convince me", - Aleksey Fedorchenko commented on "NI".