Tuesday, November 12
Little Vera (Malenkaya Vera), 1988
Directed by Vasili Pichul
110m
Paradigmatic of the chernukha (“black stuff”) cinema of the perestroika period, “Little Vera” was one of the most popular films produced within the USSR during the collapse of the communist regime. Cheaply produced and poorly shot, “Little Vera” is essentially a pop melodrama about doomed young love; though it initially titillated audiences with its crude language and edgy content, it was ultimately censured for its bleak portrayal of Russian society in a time of transition.

A type of filmmaking that was born in the midst of the demise of the Soviet Union and has had resurgences in Russia until the present day, chernukha cinema is infused with a spirit of cruelty, focusing on squalid intercity apartments, populated by characters tormented by alcoholism and drug addictions, whose social interactions are bereft of any kindness, warmth or empathy. The term “chernukha” was coined by critics of this mode of filmmaking, which they saw as too critical, too bleak, too hopeless; in 1997, a film critic described it as “a tendency towards catastrophe, rejection of the future, and negative interpretation of the present, a tendency that is essentially and functionally repressive in relation to all other value systems.”

“Ugly Feelings: Precarious Cinema” presents a series of films colored by the bleak, cruel mood produced by uncertain times. In addition to the film screenings, artists Yazaan El-Zo’bi and Kareem Lotfy present a curated selection of clips from the internet that offer moments of psychosis and moments of redemption. The series is a part of "Ugly feelings" exhibition which is open Saturdays to Wednesdays in Townhouse between October 20th and November 20th.