Elektro Moskva (2013)

  • AA
  • 06/12/2013 (AT)
  • Documentary, Music
  • 1h 29m

The Secret History of Soviet Space-Age Electronic Music

Overview

Elektro Moskva is an essayistic documentary about the Soviet electronic age and its legacy. The story begins with the inventor of the world's first electronic instrument, Leon Theremin, unveiling the KGB's huge pile of fascinating devices, some of which were musical. They all came into existence as a by-product of a rampant defense industry. Nowadays, those aged and abandoned 'musical coffins', as solidly made as a Kalashnikov, are being recycled and reinterpreted by the post-Soviet generations of musicians, sound collectors and circuit benders. The story of the Soviet synthesizers as an allegory to the everyday life under the Soviet system: nothing works, but you have to make the best out of it. An electronic fairy tale about the inventive spirit of the free mind inside the iron curtain- and beyond.

Elena Tikhonova

Director, Writer

Dominik Spritzendorfer

Director, Writer

Cast

Лев Термен's headshot

Лев Термен

Станислав Крейчи's headshot

Станислав Крейчи

Алексей Ильиных's headshot

Алексей Ильиных

Владимир Кузьмин's headshot

Владимир Кузьмин

Leon Theremin's headshot

Leon Theremin

Himself (archive footage)
Alexei Borisov's headshot

Alexei Borisov

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