Bezhin Meadow: Sequences from an Unfinished Film

Bezhin Lug (Bezhin Meadow) was to be a Soviet film about a young farm boy whose father attempts to betray the government for political reasons by sabotaging the year's harvest, and the son's efforts to stop his own father to protect the Soviet state, culminating in the boy's murder and a social uprising. Assigned to Soviet film-maker Sergei Eisenstein, the filming followed the same path as with his previous effort, "Que Viva Mexico", into cost overrun and over-shooting of footage. Furthermore, Eisenstein's usage of forbidden experimental film techniques outraged his government superiors, who ordered the film destroyed before it was even completed. All that survives are the first and last frames of each shot, preserved by Sergei Eisenstein’s wife, Pera Atasheva. The 1967 reconstruction, by Naum Kleiman of the Eisenstein Museum and Sergei Yutkevich of Gosfilmofond, places these frames in order, approximating the original film.

Country:

Soviet Union

Genre:

Drama

Duration:

31 minutes

Year:

1968

Director:

Sergei Eisenstein

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Company:

State Cinematography Department

Cast:

Stepok (as Vitya Kartashov)

Samokhin, Stepok's Father

Political Commissioner (as Pavel Ardzhanov)

President of Kolkhoz

Arsonist

Crew:

Story

Director

Writer

Writer

Writer