aelita stack004

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In 1924 Yakov Protazanov made a film
from Aelita. The film is unique. The
« Martian » part is the only veritable
example of a constructivist cinema:
the model of the Martian city is by Issak
Rabinovich, the decors by Viktor Simov,
and the costumes by the brilliant
Alexandra Exter (whose student
Rabinovich had been in Kiev, in the
company of the young Pavel Tchelitchew,
who one day would compose the decors
of Jouvet’s Ondine…).

The terrestrial part is no less interesting.
These were the beginnings of the NEP,
with smugglers, black market, and hard
lives, but also a still-undisciplined spirit
ff adventure that made it seem entirely
natural for a Red Army reserve soldier
to take off on a mad scientist’s rocket,
destination Mars.