SCREENING FROM FRIDAY JULY 24th

The relatively small body of work of Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-1986) is inestimably influential. Screening here in a new 4K digital restoration, his penultimate film came at a time when, tired of state interference in his work, Tarkovsky moved production to Italy, where he enjoyed greater artistic and financial freedom. Suitably, the film follows an expatriate Russian writer who yearns for the homeland of his memory, filled with an ennui that causes him to ignore the attentions of his beautiful translator (Domiziana Giordano). He is only roused from his torpor after an encounter with a local mystic, who sets him a challenging task.

Notes by Kevin Coyne