ENTUZIAZM (SIMFONIJA DONBASSA)

Dziga Vertov's ENTUZIAZM is considered a masterpiece of early sound film and of Soviet avant-garde cinema. Dealing with the Five Year Plan of the late 1920s, it was praised by artists like Charlie Chaplin, was subsequently forgotten, and rediscovered by the avant-garde movement of the 1960s.

This 2-disc edition presents the film, for the first time on DVD, in two versions: the print preserved in the former Soviet Union's Gosfilmofond as well as Peter Kubelka's fascinating restoration which - by re-syncing image and sound - allows the viewer to experience what Vertov considered the new language of sound cinema.

In RESTORING ENTUZIAZM, Peter Kubelka - filmmaker and co-founder of the Austrian Film Museum - demonstrates the principles of his restoration work and discusses Vertov's concepts of cinema. The Extras section presents rare items from the Vienna Vertov Collection, also previously unavailable on video and DVD.

"Thanks to Peter Kubelka's rigorous and exquisite restoration, we are now able, finally, to actually look and listen to ENTHUSIASM. The Austrian Film Museum's all-region DVD is a joy to behold: two discs and two versions, Kubelka's demonstration of his own very particular principles of restoration, and footage of the Soviet Spinning Top himself."

— Kent Jones, Film Comment

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  Contents

Format: DVD-PAL / Region 0
(No Regional Code); DVD/DSL Bundle

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ENTHUSIASM: SYMPHONY OF THE DONBASS (ENTUZIAZM: SIMFONIJA DONBASSA) (Restored Version)
(USSR, 1930/1972)

Director: Dziga Vertov
Cinematography: Boris Cejtlin, K. Kualev
Editor: Elisaveta Svilova
Music: Nikolai Timofeev
Sound: Pjotr Shtro
Production Company: Ukrainfilm

• 1972 Resynchronization by Peter Kubelka
• 65 minutes
• 35mm
• B&W
• Sound

_________________________________________

ENTHUSIASM: SYMPHONY OF THE DONBASS (ENTUZIAZM: SIMFONIJA DONBASSA) (Original Version,
Unrestored)
(USSR, 1930)

Director: Dziga Vertov
Cinematography: Boris Cejtlin, K. Kualev
Editor: Elisaveta Svilova
Music: Nikolai Timofeev
Sound: Pjotr Shtro
Production Company: Ukrainfilm

• 65 minutes
• 35mm
• B&W
• Sound

     _________________________________________

Bonus Material

PETER KUBELKA: RESTORING ENTUZIAZM
(Austria, 2005)

Director: Joerg Burger & Michael Loebenstein

• 64 minutes
• Video
• Color
• Sound

◊

VERTOV FILMED IN PERSON
(1922-23; 1930s)

• 1 minute
• 35mm
• B&W
• Silent

◊

VERTOV EXHIBITION
1974
(Austria, 1974)

• 12 minutes
• Color
• Sound

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Total Running Time: 03:27:00 (2 Discs)

Language: Russian & English. German & English subtitles

Published By: Edition Filmmuseum

Institutional Price: $300; $600 DVD/DSL bundle (plus shipping).

To order call: 212.280.8654 or click here for information on ordering by fax, e-mail or post.