Katerina Ksenyeva
Encyclopedia
Katerina Ksenyeva is a Russian
actress, singer, composer, author and journalist. She is best known as the leading actress in the film Don't Think About White Monkeys
and in the TV series Grim Tales From Russia. Her music album "Lullaby for a Man" is noted for its original style and high vocal quality.
. During Katerina's childhood years, Mamin was working as an assistant for various film directors on diverse projects, fulfilling virtually all of the most complex and difficult tasks on film sets. Her mother, the actress Lyudmila Samokhvalova, who played in the films "The Prince and the Pauper", "Hold on to the Clouds", "Fontain" and "Gorko!", worked part-time at the theater. In order to make ends meet, Samokhvalova had to wait in long lines of pawn shops. Katerina's parents were never members of the Communist Party. Yuri Mamin was always against the ruling communist authorities; because of this, he and his family were often humiliated and deprived of career opportunities.
A breakthrough in their fate happened in 1985, when Perestroika
began. Ksenyeva says, however, that the end of Perestroika in 1991 marked a new era of Russian cultural degradation, along with the onset of what she calls the power of neo-feudal
oligarchy
.
She enrolled in the Department of Opera Vocals at the Musical College at the Bishkek Conservatory, where she studied for a year under Vladimir Mukovnikov, and then took lessons from Bulat Minzhilkiev; both her teachers are renowned opera singers.
In 1994, she enrolled in the drama department at the Saint Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy.
In 1998, she graduated from the master workshop of the actor and director Yuri Tomoshevsky, an honored art worker of the Russian Federation. Her diploma role was the part of Elvira in Max Frisch's play "Santa-Cruz" at the Comedian's Refuge State Theater ("Priyut Komedianta").
While working on Elvira's role in this play, Katerina Ksenyeva began to study modern jazz dance with Natalya Kasparova and took master-class lessons from the Broadway choreographer Phil LaDuca. The ingenious choreography of the theatrical choreographer Sergey Gritsay, who worked with the director Yuri Tomoshevsky, demanded "nervous" control of her body, which reveals the internal breakdown of the heroine.
Ksenyeva's played a naïve 1960's bride in the film "Gorko!" (1997).
She played the cross-eyed romantic journalist Masha in Yuri Mamin's TV series Grim Tales From Russia (TV series) (2000-2003), which was created as a satirical analogue of the American X Files planted on Russian soil.
In 2004, Katerina Ksenyeva took part in the Kirill Kapitsa TV series "Cops", in the episode "Sniper", playing the part of actress Zoya, who killed a rapist with a sniper rifle.
In 2005, due to the most difficult situation of lack of help and support for director Yuri Mamin, Katerina Ksenyeva began assisting in the production of the film Don't Think About White Monkeys
. Because of political pressure and covert persecution, the film director Yuri Mamin, as an active denouncer of social injustice, was excluded from work in large-scale cinematography for ten years. Katerina helped to attract investment in the project, thus becoming de facto a co-producer and the creative producer of the film. The work on the film was finished in 2008 and it was released in Russian theaters in January of 2009.
In the film "Don't Think About White Monkeys", Katerina Ksenyeva plays the leading role of Dasha, a destitute young suicidal
Russian woman who finds herself in a humiliating situation and struggles to survive. Dasha escapes from a psychiatric hospital and returns with her friend to his attic
, where they are discovered by Vova, a successful barman and businessman. At first, Vova dreams of using all three of them for cheap labor, but then Vova's life changes under the influence of these destitute, restless, non-conformist and talented people. When he betrays them and ruins their lives, Vova understands that his life is devoid of meaning.
The film "Don't Think About White Monkeys" received numerous international and national awards, including the grand prize at the The End of the Pier International Film Festival
(2009) and the grand prize at the International Film Festival in Rabat
, Morocco
(2009).
Because the genre of satiric tragicomedy is unpopular with the Russian authorities, only twelve copies of the film "Don't Think About White Monkeys" were released across the country, and they were only shown in theaters during the daytime. The film received almost no publicity because the Cinematography Department at the Ministry of Culture refused to provide Yuri Mamin with advertising support. At the same time, the film was stolen and handed over to Russian pirates.
and the lack of assistance for the perishing sailors. In 2006 she released the rock ballad "Lullaby for a Man", which was top-rated by the listeners of the Moscow Radio Maximum in 2007 and was received with delight by a number of famous foreign musicians.
In 2009, the company Bomba-Piter released Katerina Ksenyeva's first vocal album, "Lullaby for a Man", which includes the actress' rock ballad. The remaining songs in the album, which belong to various genres, are works of other composers - some are rock, some are French chanson
. The songs are joined by short audio clips of amusing and paradoxical psychological slices of life, which makes the actress' album original and unique. This album includes Ksenyeva's mystic ballad "Insomnia" from the film "Don't Think About White Monkeys".
Ksenyeva is also the writer and composer of other songs and instrumental compositions. In 2008, she wrote the English lyrics and music for her song "New York, New Life, New Love" dedicated to all New Yorkers and to the victims of the September 11 terror attacks. She is working on recording it as a complex vocal composition with a Gospel
choir lead by David Quinones.
Ksenyeva also conceived the idea and wrote, in co-authorship, the script for the film project "The Joy of Love to Joyce", dedicated to the suffering of the Russian intelligentsia
in general and the tragic fate of the Russian translators of James Joyce
's novel Ulysses
in particular.
As a journalist, Katerina Ksenyeva is adamant about the position of Russia in modern society. She believes that the contemporary powers in Russia are a symbiosis of the former Soviet Komsomol functionaries' party money and the bureaucrats on one side and, on the other side, of the bandit capital earned by the dishonest Russian businessmen through speculation, financial machination and theft from trusting citizens, racket and the robbery of the 1990's. As a result of this symbiosis, a new ruling class has appeared: the modern Russian feudal
corporate
oligarchy
. In Ksenyeva's opinion, this class is devoid of culture and morality, with the rare exception of a few individuals, and presents a danger not only for Russia, but for the entire world as well.
Ksenyeva believes that the problems of nationalism and racism and religious and racial hostility in the whole world, in Russia and the United States, did not go away; on the contrary, they are currently gaining new power. In order to resist against this tendency, Ksenyeva emphasizes the theme of cross-cultural solidarity in her works.
1997: "Gorko!" ("Wedding Kisses"), romantic comedy directed by Yuri Mamin. Ksenyeva plays the role of a 1960's romantic fiancée.
2000-2003: Grim Tales from Russia, 18 satiric TV series, directed by Yuri Mamin. The leading role of Masha Palkina, a young squint-eyed journalist.
2003: "The Sniper", episode in the detective TV series "Cops", directed by Kirill Kapitsa. The role of Zoya, a revengeful actress.
2009: Don't Think About White Monkeys
, a tragicomedy directed by Yuri Mamin. The leading role of Dasha, a penniless Bohemian intellectual.
Second place winner of the International Singer Contest AYUM-97, 1997
Special International Jury Diploma for best actress and Moritz de Hadeln's special remarks at the International Film Festival in Rabat, Morocco, 2009
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
actress, singer, composer, author and journalist. She is best known as the leading actress in the film Don't Think About White Monkeys
Don't Think About White Monkeys
Don‘t Think About White Monkeys is a Russian social satirical tragicomedy film directed by Yuri Mamin. The screenplay was written by Yuri Mamin and Vladimir Vardunas, translated into verse by Vyacheslav Leikin....
and in the TV series Grim Tales From Russia. Her music album "Lullaby for a Man" is noted for its original style and high vocal quality.
Childhood and family
Katerina Ksenyeva was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia (former USSR). Her father is the widely acclaimed film director Yuri MaminYuri Mamin
Yuri Mamin is a celebrated Soviet and Russian film director, stage director, screenwriter, composer, author and television host, Honored Art Worker of the Russian Federation. His highly popular film "Window to Paris" may be truly called a people's film...
. During Katerina's childhood years, Mamin was working as an assistant for various film directors on diverse projects, fulfilling virtually all of the most complex and difficult tasks on film sets. Her mother, the actress Lyudmila Samokhvalova, who played in the films "The Prince and the Pauper", "Hold on to the Clouds", "Fontain" and "Gorko!", worked part-time at the theater. In order to make ends meet, Samokhvalova had to wait in long lines of pawn shops. Katerina's parents were never members of the Communist Party. Yuri Mamin was always against the ruling communist authorities; because of this, he and his family were often humiliated and deprived of career opportunities.
A breakthrough in their fate happened in 1985, when Perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
began. Ksenyeva says, however, that the end of Perestroika in 1991 marked a new era of Russian cultural degradation, along with the onset of what she calls the power of neo-feudal
Neofeudalism
Neofeudalism refers to a theorized contemporary rebirth of policies of governance, economy and public life reminiscent of those present in many feudal societies....
oligarchy
Oligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
.
Theater
Katerina Ksenyeva planned to become an opera singer and laboriously studied vocal singing since her school days. At the same time, she also studied choreography.She enrolled in the Department of Opera Vocals at the Musical College at the Bishkek Conservatory, where she studied for a year under Vladimir Mukovnikov, and then took lessons from Bulat Minzhilkiev; both her teachers are renowned opera singers.
In 1994, she enrolled in the drama department at the Saint Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy.
In 1998, she graduated from the master workshop of the actor and director Yuri Tomoshevsky, an honored art worker of the Russian Federation. Her diploma role was the part of Elvira in Max Frisch's play "Santa-Cruz" at the Comedian's Refuge State Theater ("Priyut Komedianta").
While working on Elvira's role in this play, Katerina Ksenyeva began to study modern jazz dance with Natalya Kasparova and took master-class lessons from the Broadway choreographer Phil LaDuca. The ingenious choreography of the theatrical choreographer Sergey Gritsay, who worked with the director Yuri Tomoshevsky, demanded "nervous" control of her body, which reveals the internal breakdown of the heroine.
Cinema
Film director Yuri Mamin highly evaluated Ksenyeva's acting in "Santa-Cruz". Since than he began to invite her to participate in his films.Ksenyeva's played a naïve 1960's bride in the film "Gorko!" (1997).
She played the cross-eyed romantic journalist Masha in Yuri Mamin's TV series Grim Tales From Russia (TV series) (2000-2003), which was created as a satirical analogue of the American X Files planted on Russian soil.
In 2004, Katerina Ksenyeva took part in the Kirill Kapitsa TV series "Cops", in the episode "Sniper", playing the part of actress Zoya, who killed a rapist with a sniper rifle.
In 2005, due to the most difficult situation of lack of help and support for director Yuri Mamin, Katerina Ksenyeva began assisting in the production of the film Don't Think About White Monkeys
Don't Think About White Monkeys
Don‘t Think About White Monkeys is a Russian social satirical tragicomedy film directed by Yuri Mamin. The screenplay was written by Yuri Mamin and Vladimir Vardunas, translated into verse by Vyacheslav Leikin....
. Because of political pressure and covert persecution, the film director Yuri Mamin, as an active denouncer of social injustice, was excluded from work in large-scale cinematography for ten years. Katerina helped to attract investment in the project, thus becoming de facto a co-producer and the creative producer of the film. The work on the film was finished in 2008 and it was released in Russian theaters in January of 2009.
In the film "Don't Think About White Monkeys", Katerina Ksenyeva plays the leading role of Dasha, a destitute young suicidal
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
Russian woman who finds herself in a humiliating situation and struggles to survive. Dasha escapes from a psychiatric hospital and returns with her friend to his attic
Squatting
Squatting consists of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied space or building, usually residential, that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have permission to use....
, where they are discovered by Vova, a successful barman and businessman. At first, Vova dreams of using all three of them for cheap labor, but then Vova's life changes under the influence of these destitute, restless, non-conformist and talented people. When he betrays them and ruins their lives, Vova understands that his life is devoid of meaning.
The film "Don't Think About White Monkeys" received numerous international and national awards, including the grand prize at the The End of the Pier International Film Festival
The End of the Pier International Film Festival
The End of the Pier International Film Festival is a not-for profit independent film festival based in West Sussex, England. The festival began in 2002 and showed work by local film makers, but it has since grown to showcase shorts and features from all over the world...
(2009) and the grand prize at the International Film Festival in Rabat
Rabat
Rabat , is the capital and third largest city of the Kingdom of Morocco with a population of approximately 650,000...
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
(2009).
Because the genre of satiric tragicomedy is unpopular with the Russian authorities, only twelve copies of the film "Don't Think About White Monkeys" were released across the country, and they were only shown in theaters during the daytime. The film received almost no publicity because the Cinematography Department at the Ministry of Culture refused to provide Yuri Mamin with advertising support. At the same time, the film was stolen and handed over to Russian pirates.
Music
Katerina Ksenyeva was shocked by what she considers the treason committed against the crew of the submarine KurskRussian submarine Kursk explosion
On 12 August 2000, the Russian Oscar II class submarine Kursk sank in the Barents Sea after an explosion. The investigation showed that a leak of hydrogen peroxide in a torpedo led to explosion of its fuel, causing the submarine to hit the bottom which in turn triggered the detonation of further...
and the lack of assistance for the perishing sailors. In 2006 she released the rock ballad "Lullaby for a Man", which was top-rated by the listeners of the Moscow Radio Maximum in 2007 and was received with delight by a number of famous foreign musicians.
In 2009, the company Bomba-Piter released Katerina Ksenyeva's first vocal album, "Lullaby for a Man", which includes the actress' rock ballad. The remaining songs in the album, which belong to various genres, are works of other composers - some are rock, some are French chanson
Chanson
A chanson is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specialising in chansons is known as a "chanteur" or "chanteuse" ; a collection of chansons, especially from the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, is also known as a chansonnier.-Chanson de geste:The...
. The songs are joined by short audio clips of amusing and paradoxical psychological slices of life, which makes the actress' album original and unique. This album includes Ksenyeva's mystic ballad "Insomnia" from the film "Don't Think About White Monkeys".
Ksenyeva is also the writer and composer of other songs and instrumental compositions. In 2008, she wrote the English lyrics and music for her song "New York, New Life, New Love" dedicated to all New Yorkers and to the victims of the September 11 terror attacks. She is working on recording it as a complex vocal composition with a Gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
choir lead by David Quinones.
Film production
Ksenyeva is working on the film project "Rockman" about the fate of talented people in Russia and America at the beginning and the middle of the 20th century, which she is producing for director Yuri Mamin together with filmmakers from the United States, is dedicated to the theme of mutual ethnic understanding and mutual cultural enrichment. Katerina Ksenyeva conceived the author of the film's idea and wrote a part of the script.Ksenyeva also conceived the idea and wrote, in co-authorship, the script for the film project "The Joy of Love to Joyce", dedicated to the suffering of the Russian intelligentsia
Intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a social class of people engaged in complex, mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them...
in general and the tragic fate of the Russian translators of James Joyce
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce was an Irish novelist and poet, considered to be one of the most influential writers in the modernist avant-garde of the early 20th century...
's novel Ulysses
Ulysses (novel)
Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...
in particular.
Film dubbing
After Katerina Ksenyeva's negotiations with her English partners, the film "Don't Think About White Monkeys" is being prepared for dubbing in one of the most professional studios of the renown London sound engineer Ray Gillon. For the first time in history, a Russian film in verse will be dubbed into English verse.Journalism and social activism
Katerina Ksenyeva is also a journalist and author of literary works. She says that her social and civic activism is inseparable from her creativity.As a journalist, Katerina Ksenyeva is adamant about the position of Russia in modern society. She believes that the contemporary powers in Russia are a symbiosis of the former Soviet Komsomol functionaries' party money and the bureaucrats on one side and, on the other side, of the bandit capital earned by the dishonest Russian businessmen through speculation, financial machination and theft from trusting citizens, racket and the robbery of the 1990's. As a result of this symbiosis, a new ruling class has appeared: the modern Russian feudal
Neofeudalism
Neofeudalism refers to a theorized contemporary rebirth of policies of governance, economy and public life reminiscent of those present in many feudal societies....
corporate
Corporatism
Corporatism, also known as corporativism, is a system of economic, political, or social organization that involves association of the people of society into corporate groups, such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labor, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of common...
oligarchy
Russian oligarchs
Business oligarch is a near-synonym of the term "business magnate", borrowed by the English speaking and western media from Russian parlance to describe the huge, fast-acquired wealth of some businessmen of the former Soviet republics during privatization in Russia and other post-Soviet states in...
. In Ksenyeva's opinion, this class is devoid of culture and morality, with the rare exception of a few individuals, and presents a danger not only for Russia, but for the entire world as well.
Ksenyeva believes that the problems of nationalism and racism and religious and racial hostility in the whole world, in Russia and the United States, did not go away; on the contrary, they are currently gaining new power. In order to resist against this tendency, Ksenyeva emphasizes the theme of cross-cultural solidarity in her works.
Roles
Work in theater: 1997-2000. Comedian's Refuge State Theater ("Priyut Komedianta") in Saint Petersburg, led by Yuri Tomoshevsky. Leading tragic role of Elvira in Max Frisch's play "Santa-Cruz".1997: "Gorko!" ("Wedding Kisses"), romantic comedy directed by Yuri Mamin. Ksenyeva plays the role of a 1960's romantic fiancée.
2000-2003: Grim Tales from Russia, 18 satiric TV series, directed by Yuri Mamin. The leading role of Masha Palkina, a young squint-eyed journalist.
2003: "The Sniper", episode in the detective TV series "Cops", directed by Kirill Kapitsa. The role of Zoya, a revengeful actress.
2009: Don't Think About White Monkeys
Don't Think About White Monkeys
Don‘t Think About White Monkeys is a Russian social satirical tragicomedy film directed by Yuri Mamin. The screenplay was written by Yuri Mamin and Vladimir Vardunas, translated into verse by Vyacheslav Leikin....
, a tragicomedy directed by Yuri Mamin. The leading role of Dasha, a penniless Bohemian intellectual.
Prizes and awards
Grand prize at the All-Theater Contest of Romance Singers, 1995 (while being a 2nd year student at the Saint Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy)Second place winner of the International Singer Contest AYUM-97, 1997
Special International Jury Diploma for best actress and Moritz de Hadeln's special remarks at the International Film Festival in Rabat, Morocco, 2009
Quotes
- I think that so-called "loosers" ("лохи") are, perhaps, those people who believe in a bright ideal, who have moral principles and the most important of these principles is faith in people and life. Faith and sacrifice go hand in hand.
See also
- Yuri MaminYuri MaminYuri Mamin is a celebrated Soviet and Russian film director, stage director, screenwriter, composer, author and television host, Honored Art Worker of the Russian Federation. His highly popular film "Window to Paris" may be truly called a people's film...
- Cinema of RussiaCinema of RussiaThe cinema of Russia began in the Russian Empire, widely developed under the Soviet and in the years following the fall of the Soviet system, the Russian film industry would remain internationally recognised...
- Don't Think About White MonkeysDon't Think About White MonkeysDon‘t Think About White Monkeys is a Russian social satirical tragicomedy film directed by Yuri Mamin. The screenplay was written by Yuri Mamin and Vladimir Vardunas, translated into verse by Vyacheslav Leikin....
- Grim Tales From Russia (TV series)
External links
- http://www.ksenyeva.com/ Katerina Ksenyeva's website
- http://www.whitemonkeys.ru/index.php?id=actors&m=8 Katerina Ksenyeva's official biography
- http://www.fountaincinema.com/ Yuri Mamin's Fountain Fund
- http://www.whitemonkeys.ru/ Website of the film "Don't Think About White Monkeys"
- http://www.strashilki.spb.ru/ Website of the TV series "Grim Tales From Russia"
- Katerina Ksenyeva in Russian Wikipedia