Globus Books is excited to invite you to an interview with Slava Tsukerman, the director of a cult classic "Liquid Sky." Tsukerman talks about the production and history of the unique sci-fi movie with writer Zarina Zabrisky. With Yuri Neyman, ASC, Director of Photography, and Marina Levikova, Production and Costume Designer. A special guest: Bruno Toussaint, producer and film lecturer at Sorbonne.
ABOUT LIQUID SKY
Liquid Sky is a 1982 American independent science fiction film directed by Slava Tsukerman. Produced with a budget of $500,000, it became the most successful independent film of 1983, LIQUID SKY is one of the most commercially and artistically successful independent low-budget films in the history of cinema. In the U.S., Germany, and Japan it broke all the existing box office and duration records. In New York, Boston, and Washington D.C. the film played non-stop for more than 3 years and grossed more than a million dollars in each city.
On April 16, 2009, Dan Person of current.com recalls that upon its release in 1983 Liquid Sky "provoked heated arguments and, love it or hate, was required viewing for anyone who really cared about film. Liquid Sky is one of the formative forces of indie film."
The film heavily influenced a club scene that emerged in the early 2000s in Brooklyn, Berlin, Paris, and London called electroclash.
Director Slava Tsukerman, cinematographer Yuri Neyman, and Production Designer Marina Levikova worked closely together to create the distinct, unique cinematic look and vivid feel of Liquid Sky. In 2014, Queer/Art/Film, a New York City-based screening series, chose Liquid Sky as their first film on the list "that every queer person needs to see as a rite of passage", according to Queerty.
"It's about time people started rendering into Liquid Sky. Its long lipstick trace is smudged through much of indie cinema." Carlos James Chamberlin, 2004 (senseofcinema com)
ABOUT SLAVA TSUKERMAN
Vladislav "Slava" Tsukerman is a USSR-born film director. At 21, Tsukerman made his first film, I Believe in Spring, the first independent short fiction film in Soviet history. It won first prize at the All-Union Festival of Amateur Films in Moscow and a prize at the Montreal Film Festival. In the 1970s, he emigrated to the US via Israel. In Israel, he filmed a documentary titled Once Upon a Time There Were Russians in Jerusalem. The film won Best Documentary and Best Director at The World Television Film Festival in Hollywood. Tsukerman is best known for producing, directing, and co-writing the screenplay for the 1982 cult film Liquid Sky that won the Special Prize of the Jury at 1982 Montréal Film Festival, the Audience Award at Sydney International Film Festival in 1983, a Special Jury Prize at 1983 Cartagena Film Festival and Special Prize of the Jury at 1983 Brussels International Film Festival. He also directed the 2004 documentary Stalin's Wife (about Nadezhda Alliluyeva), the 2008 film Perestroika, and Poor Lisa (2001.)
READ MORE ABOUT THE CREW:
MARINA LEVIKOVA, Costume and Production Designer: crossingenres.com/paris-gulag...
YURI NEYMAN, ASC Director of Photography:
modernmythology.net/the-filmi...
ZARINA ZABRISKY is the author of three short story collections and a novel "We, Monsters" (Numina Press, 2014). Zabrisky's work appeared in nine countries in over fifty literary magazines and anthologies, including The Nervous Breakdown, A Capella Zoo, The Rumpus, Guernica, and received nominations and awards, including the 2013 Acker Award for Avant-Garde Excellence. A long-time fan, Zabrisky interviewed the DOP of Liquid Sky, Yuri Neyman, the Art Director Marina Levikova, and authored essays and articles about Liquid Sky.
GLOBUS BOOKS is an independent bookstore serving San Francisco since 1971. It offers a wide-ranging stock of books on all things Russia. Globus is actively working with the libraries across the states on completing their holdings for Russian publications, both contemporary and out-of-print. The Globus Books team is well-known for its expertise in first editions of Russian literature, books on the Russian avant-garde, early imprints, and travel and voyage books. Under the new management, Globus strives to serve the Bay Area, bridging gaps, continuing cultural traditions, and giving voice to unrepresented communities in Russia and the US.
GLOBUS BOOKS KZfaq CHANNEL features several series of literary and cultural events on its KZfaq Channel ( / globusbookssf , including Literary Translation Round Table, History/Anthropology, Playtime and Storytime for children, and more. The programs are produced by Zarina Zabrisky.