world of sensual Russian poet
A few years ago, posters with a deceptively simple eight-line poem – “If there is
something to desire” 1 – appeared on New York and Los Angeles public transport as
part of Poetry in Motion, 2 enriching the lives of millions of commuters. Used to
seeing lines from eminences like Shakespeare, Robert Burns, Walt Whitman, and
Emily Dickinson, this simple poem was by an unknown, contemporary Russian. Since
then, this poet has become one of the best-selling authors in the USA 3 and her books
have been translated into 21 languages.
For those commuters and others wishing to know more about the author, a compelling
new 30-minute documentary, to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival, 4 provides a
intimate glimpse into the life and thoughts of Vera Pavlova, who was born in Moscow
at the height of the Cold War, in 1963. She rose to fame in Russia once a daily
newspaper, Segodnia, published 72 of her poems in an unprecedented two-page
spread, spawning the rumour she was a literary hoax.
Critics have described her as an “erotic poet”, a label she refuses to accept. This film
unfolds as a monologue and is presented as a visual poem, in which Pavlova herself
reveals her thoughts on love, life, and poetry, and explores connections between body
and soul. Shot in Moscow and New York, the two cities where she lives, the film is
produced by New York-based Red Palette Pictures and directed by Yelena
Demikovsky. 5 “Vera. An Intimate Sketch” is one of three films directed by
Demikovsky featured in this year’s festival.
“We sought to provide an intimate glimpse into the creative process of a sensual poet
who speaks to all ages through a rich variety of modern media, such as SMS text
messages, video, postcards, and bookmarks, as well as conventional books,” said
Demikovsky. “This film is a chance for people to experience the milieu of her
complex, sensual, and charming world.”
Published in France, The Netherlands, Russia, and many other countries as well as the
USA, where her book of 100 poems is now in its second edition, 6 Pavlova is also an
accomplished musicologist who began writing poetry on 2 June, 1983, in a maternity
ward, inspired by her joy at the birth of her first daughter, Natasha. She finds the
process of writing poetry identical to writing music, and seeks “to boil the universe
down to the size of a poem”. Renowned Moscow composer, Iraida Yusupova 7 wrote
the music for this film. It already has a Merit for Documentary and Direction in the
2010 Accolade Awards, and an Honourable Mention in the Short Documentary
Category of the 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival.
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Notes for Editors
1. “Letters to a room next door: 1001 confessions of love,” published in Russian by AST
Publishing House, Moscow, 2006; English translation by her husband, Steven Seymour,
published in The New Yorker, 30 July, 2007.
2. Launched in 1992 by the Poetry Society of America and the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority, Poetry in Motion® is today one of the most popular public literary programs in
America. Poetry in Motion® places poetry in the transit systems of cities throughout the USA,
helping to create a national readership for both emerging and established poets.
3. “One of Russia's bestselling contemporary poets, Pavlova is the most recent international darling
to break into the American literary scene, first in the New Yorker and now with this first fulllength
collection to appear in English.” – Publishers Weekly, January 2011.
4. Sunday, 15 May, at 11.30 am in Palais F.
5. Yelena Demikovsky is founder of Red Palette Pictures. Born in Russia, she has lived in the
United States for more than 18 years. She is a documentary and narrative filmmaker with a
broad theatre background in the United States and Russia. Demikovsky has directed awardwinning
documentaries such as Unity, Happy To Be So, The Story of Fenist, and narrative shorts
Shell, and Through the Door. She is in post-production of the documentary, Then Comes the
Glory, about famed ballet star, Rudolf Nureyev, and Black Russian, about Black Americans
moving to the Soviet Union in the 1930s. In addition, she has written five short scripts, two
feature scripts and a two-act play. Demikovsky has produced two symposia about Rudolf
Nureyev - one in New York (1997), another in St. Petersburg, Russia (1998). She has also
contributed interviews and translations to four authors of Nureyev biographies. Demikovsky has
two masters degrees, one in theatre (Moscow, Russia), and another in video (Boston, USA) and
has taught theatre directing in Moscow.
6. “If There is Something to Desire: 100 poems about love” is Vera Pavlova’s first full-length book
in English, translated by Steven Seymour, published by Knopf, 2010.
7. Iraida Yusupova, born 20 February, 1962, is a Turkmenistani composer of half Russian-half
Tatar ethnicity, who currently lives in Moscow. She graduated from the Moscow Conservatory
with a degree in composition in 1987 and has written and composed three operas, two
symphonies, six cantatas, three instrumental concerts, and a great deal of chamber music,
electro-acoustic music, and music for cinema and theater spanning the late 1980s to the present
day. Her various styles include minimalism, serialism, and several progressive new age modes.
Her music has been performed in Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, USA,
Switzerland, Turkey and Hungary. In 2001, Moscow journalists listed her among the top ten
notable modern Russian composers.
