Cine Fan is showing the restored version of ARSENAL on 5 and 29 October 2017. Check out our websites for the screening details of other restored films related to Russian Revolution: http://cinefan.com.hk/movie/arsenal/

In 1917, the Russian Revolution brought down the crumbling regime of the Tsar, envisioning a society built around new men and women who would change the world. While this meant rebirth across the arts, by 1925, Lenin himself noted that “of all the arts the most important for us is the cinema.” The promises of these early revolutionaries seem dimmer after a century of politics and wars that have betrayed early ideals, but time has not diminished the ardor with which an early generation of Soviet filmmakers sought to explain and promote this new order.

Combining innovative techniques with powerful and political stories, these men made silent film an arm of the revolution, its vision, its voice. Indeed, they saw films not only as a way of showing the world but also of changing it, changing man himself. Who is not caught up today in the powerful images of power and corruption in Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin (1925), a world-shattering reconstruction of a 1905 rebellion by sailors considered one of cinema’s great masterpieces? Where would we be without Dziga Vertov who revolutionized documentary with real everyday events and perceptions, a heritage that flows from his classic Man With a Movie Camera (1929) to contemporary cinema vérité?

While showcasing major works by both Vertov and Eisenstein, this panorama highlights works of their contemporaries who have never gained such currency among film buffs. This brings in works by Lev Kuleshov, founder of the Moscow Film School, who theorized and used montage so brilliantly that his name is still applied to a technique of evocative juxtaposition; he is seen here using satire as a political tool. He is joined by the epic Vsevolod Pudovkin and the comic Boris Barnet. Completing the panorama is another monumental film, Arsenal by Aleksandr Dovzhenko, a masterful voice from Ukrainian revolutionary cinema. Together, these brilliant works allow us to appreciate the filmmakers, goals and impacts of the days that shook the world.

當不公義持續累積，改良走到盡頭，下一步就是革命了。1917年，俄羅斯和若干鄰國用行動顯示了暴力革命的威力，推翻極權，君主制倒下，世界上第一個共產黨政權蘇維埃聯盟宣告成立。不僅國體改變了，意識形態和社會關係也起了翻天覆地的更迭。

革命不是請客吃飯，但今時今日講革命，經常失去了顛覆和創新之義。曾盛極一時的社會主義理想歸於平淡，甚至一度淪為笑柄。蘇聯已於1 9 9 1年瓦解，故此今年其實只是一種政體和理想的百歲冥壽。列寧、史大林、赫魯曉夫至戈巴卓夫的千秋功過，仍不時引起爭議。一失足成千古恨，再回頭已百年身。

然而，電影。幸好我們還有電影。蘇聯的興起，開拓和標誌的價值其實可以更廣、更多。普多夫金、愛森斯坦、維爾托夫⋯⋯多少叱咤風雲的名字；電影眼、庫勒雪夫效應、蒙太奇理論，幾許令人動容的概念，交織和結晶成一部部經典，為電影史奠下一座座豐碑，影響無遠弗屆。

蘇維埃革命帶來的新時代，是社會的新、思維的新，更是創作之路的新。當我們領悟電影眼如何比人眼優勝（《電影眼》），誤解帶來破壞但又可同時成就新思維（《老美紅區奇遇記》），人性如何從絕境反抗（《聖彼得堡之末日》及《十月》）、電影如何跟戲劇若即若離最終成就自己（《傻妹大鬧莫斯科》和《兵工廠》），我們上了的又何止是電影的課、人生的課？

踏入廿一世紀，左翼一度回潮卻重陷困境，又一次百年紀念，令我們注視光影的豐饒，明白到那不叫革命的貧乏。