Elektro Moskva
Elena Tikhonova & Dominik Spritzendorfer:
Elektro Moskva (Austria, Russian, 2013)
89 min. - Russian - English subtitles
K-3
Elektro Moskva is a film about the era of electronic progress and its musical legacy in the Soviet Union. The documentary starts off with Leon Theremin, who developed the world's first electronic instrument in 1919. Called simply theremin, the instrument later became widely known through western pop and rock music after it was used by bands such as The Beach Boys and Led Zeppelin.
In the Soviet Union many interesting instruments and sound devices originated as side products of the enormous war industry. Nowadays several of the new generation of Russian musicians hunt for the old tank-proof synthesizers and other gadgets capable of producing wild sounds. Elektro Moskva is a real treat especially for instrument-freaks; the main characters in the film search for old Soviet synthesizers from flea markets and dusty warehouses to utilize them in their musical visions or to sell them to other collectors.
Elektro Moskva charms with Soviet nostalgia and is in addition a well executed expedition into music history. The documentary is an electronic fairy tale about true inventor-attitude and the power of free thinking before and after the era of the Iron Curtain.
Sat 16th Nov at 2:45pm Tapio 4