DATELINE NEW YORK: Monumental mosaics and moviemaking (04/20/97)

DATELINE NEW YORK: Monumental mosaics and moviemaking

by Helen Smindak

Previewing "The Glory of Byzantium"

More than 150,000 visitors have scrutinized the spring/summer major exhibition "The Glory of Byzantium" at The Metropolitan Museum of Art since its opening on March 11. Passing through nine galleries, viewers have been scanning 350 objects that reveal the art and culture of the Middle Byzantine era - icons, mosaics, frescoes, ivories, gems, ceramics, enamels, silks, and gold and silver secular and liturgical objects. They have also been admiring some 30 Ukrainian treasures, including four monumental mosaics from the cathedral of Mykhailivsky Zolotoverkhyi Monastyr (St. Michael's of the Golden Domes Monastery), installed to evoke the interior of a church.

A Metropolitan Museum spokeswoman reported last week that media response to the exhibition has been "outstanding and very positive." She said public reaction has been equally great - all concert and lecture series are sold out, documentary film showings Tuesday through Saturday have been averaging 150 viewers, and Friday night lectures have been bringing in a full house (about 250 people). Forty off-site lectures have been offered to date, and greater numbers of students are involved in the school programs. One can only concluded that "The Glory of Byzantium" exhibition has a fascinating appeal for many people.

At the press preview on March 3, William H. Luers, president of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, told media representatives and assembled dignitaries that the exhibition marks "the first moment in documented history to celebrate this great culture." Thanking financial contributors, he expressed gratitude to international supporters (he listed Ukraine first) and noted that the spirit of generosity and cooperation exhibited by all participants is "unparalleled."

The preview agenda included remarks by Metropolitan Museum of Art Director Philippe de Montebello and the co-curators of "The Glory of Byzantium" exhibition, William D. Wixom and Helen C. Evans. Calling the presentation "an epic-making event," Mr. de Montebello said that "an empire has been reconstructed in this exhibition."

Government and museum officials from Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Georgia, Greece, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine were present. The delegation of Ukrainian officials, headed by Leonid Novokhatko, vice minister of culture and arts, included Vasylii Prissiajniouk, vice-chairman of the State Committee of Ukraine on Urban Development and Architecture; Valentyna Achkasova, director of the St. Sophia National Architectural Preserve of Kyiv; and Mykhailo Romanyshyn, director of the National Art Museum in Kyiv.

The Ukrainian group was escorted around the exhibition by Bohdan Yaremenko, vice-consul in charge of communications and public relations at Ukraine's Consulate General in New York; Olenka Z. Pevny, a Ph. D. graduate of New York University's Institute of Fine Arts, who is a research assistant in the Department of Medieval Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and her father, Bohdan Pevny.

During a formal dinner that evening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, lavishly bedecked with spring flowers for the occasion, Dr. Pevny received special mention for her work in helping to organize the exhibition. Dr. Pevny's major specialty is Byzantine art with a concentration on East Slavic Byzantine art; she has won a number of fellowships and awards, and has done fieldwork in Ukraine, Russia and Greece. She recently spoke about the Ukrainian aspects of "The Glory of Byzantium" exhibition at the Ukrainian Museum in Stamford, Conn., and the Shevchenko Scientific Society in New York.

The Metropolitan's illustrated, 600-page catalogue on the exhibition, featuring contributions by more than 50 scholars, includes a 38-page essay on Kyivan Rus' by Dr. Pevny, introduced by her stunning photo of the exterior of the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Kyiv. A dissertation on Byzantium's Christian neighbors by Dr. Evans is introduced by an equally splendid shot of St. Sophia's interior, taken by Bruce White, who is responsible for many of the color photographs in the volume.

Attractive reproductions of Kyivan Rus' earrings, pendants, pins and hair combs from the 11th and 12th centuries are available for very reasonable prices in the exhibition's gift area. Here visitors can select from several 24-karat gold electroplated items: an abstract geometric pin/pendant, decorated with hand-applied glass enamel colors ($20); crescent earrings, lightly antiqued ($78); or a crescent pendant with a 16-inch gold-filled chain ($48). There are also lightly antiqued sterling silver earrings ($65) and a silver pin/pendant ($34), as well as a silk scarf with an abstract geometric motif based on a pair of temple pendants ($85). Among other items that can serve as delightful souvenirs of this memorable exhibition are a goldplated pin with glass colors featuring a bird design (available in two sizes, for $14 and $20) and ornamental bird earrings ($28).

The Metropolitan exhibition and its accompanying program of educational events have generated a spinoff in the Ukrainian community. Recently, The Ukrainian Museum and the Ukrainian Institute of America joined forces to sponsor a special viewing at the Metropolitan on April 4, together with a slide presentation and lecture, followed by a wine-and-cheese party at the institute's landmark building a block away. The response was so enthusiastic that two sessions had to be scheduled for that event. UIA executive director Stephanie Charczenko says inquiries are still coming in for another such event, and a repeat session will probably be scheduled after the Easter holidays.

As a sidelight to the Met exhibit, the institute has joined with the Hellenic Cultural Center of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in co-sponsoring an exhibit and sale of icons by contemporary artists. Planned to run from May 5 to 17, the event will open with a slide show, concert of Ukrainian classical music and reception. A demonstration of icon painting in egg tempera will be given on May 10 by icon specialist Yaroslava Surmach Mills.

Moviemaking in Manhattan

The Big Apple is a favored location for moviemakers and directors; turn a corner in New York and you may quite possibly find a filmshoot in progress, with camera crew, actors, technicians and assistants at work on a Hollywood drama, a television special or a documentary. The Ukrainian community itself was involved a few years ago, when famed director Woody Allen converted the Fifth Avenue mansion owned by the Ukrainian Institute of America into a foreign embassy for a made-for-TV movie.

Now an award-winning young filmmaker named Joshua Marston plans to make a 30-minute drama about young Ukrainians and South Asians living in New York. He told Dateline he hopes to shoot the film in the East Village, where the city's Ukrainian community is centered.

Mr. Marston, a California native who came east to study for a master's degree in filmmaking at New York University, has been named to receive the 1997 First-Time Filmmakers Grant. His script for "Night Out" was the sole winner from a pool of 489 applicants, garnering him a $10,000 grant and $1,000 worth of Kodak film. The movie will premiere at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood.

Scheduled for shooting in June, "Night Out" tells the story of a young Ukrainian couple who gets stuck in New Jersey late at night and must rely on the help of two South Asian men to arrange a ride home for them. Tragically, trust and hope are transformed into fear and suspicion due to subtle miscommunications and prejudicial assumptions.

"The film is designed to lead the viewer through all the same misjudgments the characters make until the viewer gets to the very end and realizes his mistake," Mr. Marston explained.

The 28-year-old director got the idea for the film when he made mistakes in judgement in a similar situation. Traveling with friends through northern Vietnam last year, Mr. Marston negotiated with a local driver to charter a private bus when a typhoon wiped out the railway line back to Hanoi. After drawing up a handwritten contract in French and Vietnamese and handing over an agreed-upon sum of money, the travelers discovered they had bought over-priced tickets on an ordinary local bus. Their trust degenerated into suspicion and anger. It was not until a week later that Mr. Marston realized, through mental replay of the incident, that miscommunication had caused the whole mix-up.

Deciding to dramatize the happening in a short film, he transposed the story to a New York setting and used two sets of immigrants to portray how immigrants are particularly subjected to prejudicial treatment, and also because language is a key factor in the misunderstanding. The film uses three languages - Ukrainian, English and Hindi, without subtitles.

Mr. Marston chose Ukrainians for two of the principal characters because his Jewish grandparents came from Odesa and because he now makes his home among Ukrainians in the East Village.

Casting for the two principal Ukrainian roles netted him two professional actors from Ukraine, Russians Yelena Seropova and Alexei Trubitskoy, who reside in Brooklyn. He is still on the lookout for any Ukrainians who would like to be involved in filmmaking as well as for East Village rehearsal space, three times a week for six weeks.

"When you're working on a shoestring budget, you need all the help you can get," Mr. Marston confided. "It would be great to get donations from the Ukrainian community - the donations would be tax-deducible, of course, and the names of the contributors would be included in the film credits. We need an apartment for filming for two days, and a donated lunch - perhaps the Ukrainian cafes would help with this. We're really depending on the generosity of the Ukrainian and Pakistani communities."

Mr. Marston said everyone in the cast and crew will be working for free, including cinematographer Enrique Chediak, producer Nadia Leonelli, production designer Alistair Wandersforde-Smith, costume designer Svetlana Zalutskaya and creative consultant Sam Pollard.

"Night Out" is the young director's fifth film. "Trifecta," his most recent film, starring Israel Horowitz, Kathleen Doyle and Richard Vetere, was played as a semi-finalist in the NYU annual film festival earlier this month.

Would-be actors who would like to inquire about auditioning for supporting roles in "Night Out," contributors and lunch donors can reach Mr. Marston by calling (212) 254-0215.

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