I Am A Seagull

When she was only 21 year old, Russian actress Valentina Karavayeva could briefly call herself a star, owing to her compelling performance in the classic MASHENKA (1942). After a motorcycle accident, however, her fate changed: the accident left her with a large scar, which put a premature end to her career. She married a British diplomat, but was constantly thwarted by the KGB. After a suicide attempt, she sank into oblivion. The cinema turned out to be her only friend: when she was alone in her room, she put up a camera and started acting. For thirty years, all by herself, Valentina played melodramatic parts from Tsjechov’s THE SEAGULL and THE CHERRY ORCHARD and Tolstoj’s ANNA KARENINA, and then watched the films of herself. Valentina was a great actress, but hidden from the world. Owing to Georgi Paradzhanov, who re-edited her ‘home movies’, she momentarily has her audience back.