Drozdow Family Archive

The author of the film is Ewa Drozdow, who filmed travels and important events in her family life with a Quarz camera, bought in a photo shop on ul. Piotrkowska in Łódź. Ewa, who works as a textile engineer, in her free time edited her films, diversifying them with plastic boards that she created from cardboard and string.

The film was made during a Polish–Soviet Friendship Society train trip to Ivanovo and Moscow in 1976. The material begins with a board with a Spasskaya Tower with a clock arranged from a string and a shot of the sculpture “Worker and Kolkhoz Woman”. In this way, the author refers to the famous opening credits of the Soviet film studio Mosfilm. The railway station in Ivanovo, near which there is a large group of travelers with luggage, men in uniforms with instruments and several photojournalists. Shots of a street and a bus in a parking lot, where passengers enter the bus. Sightseeing of the city – Revolution Square with the monument to the Heroes of the Revolution of 1905, shots of the building of the Medical Academy. Traveling by coach to Moscow, Ewa sits behind the driver, filming the road through the windshield. In the distance, you can see police cars, which – as the author of the film recalls – accompanied them during the entire trip. The tour guide also changed daily, which was to prevent tourists from establishing too close relationships with him. Participants of the tour go towards a small Orthodox church. We can see an old, wooden house painted in blue and a modern building. The interior of the restaurant, a few people sit at the set table, smile at the camera, a waitress pours wine into the glasses standing on the table. Shot from a moving coach that passes the Red Square in Moscow. Panorama of the square – parked coaches, Saint Basil’s Cathedral, the walls of the Kremlin with towers. Close-ups of the richly decorated church. Monument to Minin and Pozharsky standing in front of the church. Panorama of the square – parked cars, walls of the Kremlin, State Historical Museum. Shots of the interior of the State Department Store (GUM). A parking lot, there are some samovars by the coach, bought by the participants of the tour. A coach ride through the city, passing the building of the Moscow State University ‘M. V. Lomonosov’. Panorama of the city and the river filmed from the hill. A bus ride through the city, shots of passing streets and buildings, such as Bolshoi Theatre, today’s City Hall with the monument of Yuri Dolgorukiy located opposite. The tour sees the area near New Arbat Avenue, then Kalinin Prospekt, with its characteristic modern buildings. A shot of one of four tall skyscrapers in the shape of an open book. People waiting in line at the Tretyakov Gallery. Close-ups of the participants of the tour. Travel by coach – crossing the river. Sightseeing the Moscow Kremlin – Cathedral Square, Cathedral of the Annunciation covered with scaffolding, the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, Tsar Belll, the Tsar Cannon. Participants of the tour are in the coach, one of the women winks at the camera. A bus ride through the city. Shots from the complex “Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy” to the Central Pavilion and The Friendship of Nations fountain. Participants of the tour sit on a bench and fool around to the camera. A coach ride through the exhibition grounds. A woman and a man walk towards the camera through the Red Square

(AT)