TRF Tikhon ENPRO

Genre: Docu-Fiction
Format: PAL / SECAM, DV-Cam, DV-Avi
Runtime: 26:05 min
Languages: RU (orig.), EN, FR, DE
Trailers: 1:34 (EN), 2:49 (EN)

Awards: Diploma at the International Festival of Christian TV-Radio Broadcasting, Moscow 2002

Topic: Patriarch Tikhon anathematized the Bolsheviks but did not bless the “White Movement” in the tentative to safe the religious and spiritual dimension of Russia, and agreed to the dialogue of the Orthodox Church with Catholics. The film describes his life from his missionary activity in America to his canonization after the fall of the U.S.S.R.

Plot: The TV News report about the transfer of the Relics of Patriarch Tikhon to the Donskoy Monastery (1993) constitutes the entrance door to this film. The framework of the whole movie is the dialogue between the grandfather and his grandson. With childlike curiosity the child asks: "Why are they carrying the coffin, why are they kissing each other and bowing, what is a Patriarch?" So the grandfather starts to tell the story of Patriarch Tikhon to his grandson and to the spectator. Smoothly the image shifts to rare shootings and photographs of the period of Patriarch Tikhon, interrupted only few times by short dialogue sequences. In a charming way the grandpa tells about the early stages of Patriarch Tikhon's life, his seminary time, his episcopate in Poland, his pastoral work among people of different confessions, his assignmet to the territory of Alaska and his achievements and experiences there, in the United States and other areas of the continent. He tells about the return of the Bishop to Russia, his election to the Patriarchate, the persecution of the Church during and after the Revolution of 1917 and the hardships Tikhon had to endure under the Soviet power, and finally about his house-arrest and martyrlike death. The final sequence of the film returns to the dialogue between the grandfather and the grandson, where the grandfather explains the importance of remembering martyrs like Tikhon, in order to learn from their example.

Artistic considerations: The unusal richness of the historic sequences in this film gives it a very special artistic character. Rare shootings derived from the initial era of cinematic photography are combined with original photographs and classic newsreel material. The narrative stile provides the film with a very personal note, so that the spectator can associate emotionally with the told facts, helped also by a tasteful choice of music.