Latest news with #FyodorDostoevsky
Gulf Today
05-06-2025
- General
- Gulf Today
Bill opens the Gates to his wealth
All of us have heroes, but they keep changing. In school, it was my geography teacher. He was captivatingly anecdotal and a fantastic orator. When he spoke about the mountains, the rivers, the forests, it was as if we were being taken on a conducted tour of the world of nature. My other hero in school was my class teacher. He was a rare mix of authority and humility. He didn't believe in the power of spanking and allowed his smiles to rescue a tense moment. My last hero was our very popular football coach. He saw the lover of the game in me and encouraged me to play the game with passion. Then came college and with it new heroes. Even before I had reached the 100th page of Fyodor Dostoevsky's mind-blowing tale, Crime and Punishment, the Russian genius had become my new hero. Then pulsating youth fell for Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights. Bronte almost took the place of Dostoevsky. The situation forced me toadmire those who worked toreduce the bitterness I felt the same after I read Albert Camus's The Outsider, D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover and Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Well, one morning I woke up to discover that it was high time fiction made way for reality to take over. And in days, I realised that it was going to be bitter. The bitterness came in the form of lack of water, food scarcity, homelessness. Shockingly, one set of human beings enjoyed glittering dwellings, heavenly cuisines and aerated water. Another set was hit by killer droughts, unending starvation and roofless homes. The situation forced me to admire those who worked to reduce the bitterness. The fight against life's inconsiderate ways threw up Mother Teresa, Abdul Sattar Edhi and Ratan Tata. They became my heroes. But I was tempted to rethink my list when I heard that Bill had decided to open the Gates to his wealth to make life somewhat less bitter for some. Bill Gates pledged he would donate 99% of his tech fortune to the Gates Foundation, which will now close in 2045, earlier than previously planned. Gates pledged to give away almost his entire personal wealth in the next two decades and said the world's poorest would receive some $200 billion via his foundation at a time when governments worldwide are slashing international aid. The pledge is among the largest philanthropic gifts ever — outpacing the historic contributions of industrialists like John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie when adjusted for inflation. Only Berkshire Hathaway investor Warren Buffett's pledge to donate his fortune — currently estimated by Forbes at $160 billion — may be larger depending on stock market fluctuations. 'It's kind of thrilling to have that much to be able to put into these causes,' Gates said in an interview. Therefore, they who, almost all, stopped me from drinking Coca-Cola (Coke Zero) were not fully right because Buffett inspired Bill. They are trying to can the bitterness.
The Hindu
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
A Dostoevsky protagonist transitions from text to theatre
If trying to transmit to stage the rush of existentialist thoughts ambushing the mind of a character created by one of the great novelists of the 19th century is not a challenge in itself, to do so with minimalist theatre, can be a next to impossible prospect. Yet, French stage artiste Jean-Paul Sermadiras seemed to pull it off with a practised efficiency, as he presented a theatrical solo based on Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky's story, 'The Dream of a Ridiculous Man' at the Alliance Francaise. The actor portrayed the protagonist of Dostoyevsky's short story of 1877, using the bare minimum of props — a long bench and a candle lantern — and sparse, but mood-synced pieces of background score. The presentation in French has English subtitles projected on a background screen. And, through the hour-long show, it felt like the performer had gripped those in the audience by their hand and led them to travel with the thoughts of the story's protagonist who has just resolved to kill himself in a fit of nihilist angst. Things only get progressively bleak thereon before we are allowed to breathe in hope and optimism. The 'ridiculous man' struggles to figure out the purpose of that chance meeting with a girl he had met on the street, whose cry for help he had ignored and hurried home that night. As the protagonist slips into a vivid dream, where he has already killed himself, he is pulled out from inside the grave by a creature and flown across space and time, and discovers a paradise lit up by happy and innocent people, 'their knowledge deeper and loftier than science'. He dreams of how he is the personification of human greed that poisons the pristine place and plagues it with sin, lies, slavery and war. The first drop of blood is shed, factions arise and conflicts erupt. Snapping out the dream is more than returning to a wakeful state, it is a moment of epiphany. Of how the transformative encounter with the unknown girl changed his destiny, of averting pulling the trigger and getting a second chance to re-evaluate and rediscover the beauty of existence. The play alternates between dream and reality, the factual and the fantastical, the external illusion and the inner journey — a questioning or confrontation between dream and reality that is Ythier's main working axis for the play. The storytelling structure makes one wonder if they are indeed precursors of techniques such as stream-of-consciousness, even trace elements of magical realism, that would get popularised in literature almost two centuries later. Olivier Ythier was stage director and Gilles David, of the Comédie Française theatre group, his associate for this co-production of Compagnie du Passage, La Fabrique du PasSage and Les Chercheurs de Lumière with the support of the General Council of Hauts de Seine, of Saint Cloud city and its Théâtre des 3 Pierrots 'Dostoevsky uses this narrative style of a dramatic monologue that gives the feeling that he is speaking his mind to the audience', said Sermadiras, who had only a couple of weeks earlier, presented 'Behind the Veil.. The Era of Mahsa' by Chahla Chafiq set against the backdrop of the Iranian Revolution of 1979, at the same venue. 'The Dream which goes to the roots of a human being is more challenging to adapt to stage than some of the author's other works like The Idiot or The Brothers Karamazov'. 'Here, I try to live the experience of the text, portray the imagery of the dream as it were really about a place with people... only when the protagonist snaps out of his sleep does the audience return to the reality of the present', Sermaridas said. Generally audiences in the East, the Indian audiences more so, connect with the play perhaps due to their exposure to mysticism and spirituality, says Sermaridas, who has co-produced with Ythier, 'Et pourtant, c'est la veille de l'aurore' (And Yet, It's the Eve of Dawn), based on the writings of Sri Aurobindo, Satprem, Charles Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud.
Asahi Shimbun
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Asahi Shimbun
Digitalization, profits lead to revival of classic films screenings
On a recent spring day, a small arthouse cinema in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward was bustling with moviegoers who came to see 'Four Nights of a Dreamer,' a classic foreign film. It was a 4K restoration version of the 1978 film directed by Robert Bresson, based on a novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky. A 27-year-old company worker living in Tokyo said she likes foreign films and usually goes to see new movies. But she added she understands why some people prefer revival screenings. 'I don't want to push through the crowds on my day off, go all the way to a cinema far away from my place and pay 2,000 yen ($14) only to be disappointed,' she said on the day in mid-March. 'I can rest assured to see a movie when it is considered to be a classic.' Another corporate worker, 25, who lives in the capital, said she feels less hesitant about seeing classic films and her favorite directors' works than watching new releases. And when she watches new movies, she usually opts for Japanese anime titles, she added. At a time when new foreign movies are suffering poor results at the Japanese box office, moviegoers are being increasingly drawn to revival screenings of classic films from overseas. As demand for digitalization of film-shot movies increased thanks to video streaming services, there is also a rise in screenings of previously released films, an expert points out. Industry players say that they can expect certain profits from old movies with a solid reputation and that young audiences watch classic films just like they are new releases. 1 IN 5 FILMS The Film Classification and Rating Organization (EIRIN) is entrusted with rating films in Japan. After the old rating standards were revised in May 2009, the nongovernmental organization re-examines movies based on new ones before they are reshown in Japan. According to EIRIN, the number of foreign films re-examined for revival screenings was around 40 a year between 2018 and 2020. But the figure soared to 88 in 2021 and 129 in 2022. It also stayed above 100--108 and 116 in 2023 and 2024, respectively. During those years, the number of new foreign films rated by EIRIN has hovered around 400 a year, meaning that at least one out of five titles was previously screened in the country. Meanwhile, the number of Japanese films reconsidered for new showings was 46 in 2023 and 42 in 2024. The figures do not differ much from pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. It was 66 for 2018 and 30 for 2019. A survey conducted by The Asahi Shimbun showed that at least 50 foreign films shown at revival screenings last year were either 'digitally remastered' or '4K remastered' editions. It suggests that many old movies are screened again after they are digitally restored. 'Demand to digitize film-based movies has grown because they can be delivered to many people once they are streamed on the digital space, thanks to video streaming services that became widely available during the pandemic,' said Akira Tochigi, a film archivist who has been working on the conservation and digitalization of celluloid films for more than 20 years. He said he assumes that the increase in the number of productions of digital editions has also resulted in their revival screenings in theaters. 'NEW' FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES 'There is a bit of a boom in revival screenings of foreign movies lately,' said a source close to a film distributor that has offered rescreenings of old movies. Foreign films grossed about 51.2 billion yen in Japan in 2024, accounting for one-third of the box office earnings of Japanese movies. The revenues for foreign films hit a record low since the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan Inc. (MPPAJ) started publishing box-office figures in 2000, except for 2020 and 2021 when the movie industry was hit hard by the pandemic. While audiences are shying away from foreign films at an increasing pace in recent years, there is a growing view that classic films can attract moviegoers even though they are from overseas, according to the source. A member of the film distribution sector said new movies always come with the risk that they could flop at the box office, while classic films with a solid reputation can attract a certain number of moviegoers. Another distributor said costs can be kept down for some titles because there is no need to add subtitles or make other arrangements. 'I think many companies are beginning to turn their attention to masterpieces that can also appeal to younger audiences,' said Nobuo Murata, president of film distributor Mermaid Films Ltd., which has been showing old foreign movies for the past 15 years or so, indicating that classic movies have become 'promising' new materials for young people who haven't seen them yet.
