The George Eastman Museum announced last month that Dr. Peter
Bagrov has been appointed as the new curator in
charge of its Moving Image Department. Relocating from Moscow to Rochester,
he’ll be succeeding Paolo Cherchi Usai,
who has taken a leadership position at the Centro Sperimentale
di Cinematografia, Italy’s national film
institute.
In
essence, the head curator helps form the guiding ideology or direction of the
museum’s collection, working to decide what films should be preserved by the
museum and determining a plan of conservation and preservation. Head curators
also have a hand in deciding what films are acquired to further develop the
collection, and continuing research on items already in the archive.
Curators
have to keep their fingers on the pulse of shifting tastes in film and modern
methods of preservation, Bagrov says. “If you are a
film historian, you should be aware of and interested in political history and
art history in general. Also technology and dealing with people, and a bit of
film theory, and of course dealing with the actual medium. Because film is a
very physical thing. All this should be molded together in curation.”
But
Bagrov didn’t immediately start off on a path toward
becoming a film scholar. With a mind for science and a love of classical music,
he actually earned a master’s degree in physics before turning to film history
and curation. But in talking with Bagrov, it’s clear
that background in the sciences has shaped his approach to the role, and he
brings that analytical mindset to his work as curator.
He
recalls growing up in Russia and seeing a banner in seemingly every grade
school classroom with a quote from one of the first Russian scientists, Mikhail
Lomonosov, reminding students: “mathematics should be studied, if only for that
it puts the mind in order.”
“So
this is why I really like the idea of having some kind of technical background,
to try to be more or less logical when you’re dealing with humanities; more or
less objective. But I am not a really good physicist. So I became a film
historian.”
The
love of movies was always there, a passion that began with classic American
musicals and broadened to silent films like “Nosferatu.” That love of
silent film continued through this schooling and well into his professional
career.
It
seems clear the job of curator was a natural fit, allowing him to combine an
analytical mindset with his love of cinema. The ability to sort through the
film archives was a draw, as was the possibility of making new discoveries.
“Digging up the collection, finding stuff,” he says. “This is
something I enjoy the most.”
Bagrov brings a wealth of experience with him to Rochester,
having previously acted as the senior curator of Gosfilmofond,
the national film archive of Russia. He has nearly 20 years of experience as a
film curator and scholar, including a stint as the vice president of the
International Federation of Film Archives. In addition to his senior curatorial
position at Gosfilmofond, he was artistic director of
Belye Stolby, the oldest
and largest archival film festival in Russia.
He
also previously collaborated with members of the Eastman Museum’s Moving Image
Department as a member of the advisory board for the Nitrate Picture Show. It
was the ability to work further with nitrate that proved particularly
irresistible when considering a position at the Eastman Museum, he says.
All
of the Eastman curators of the past, from James Card to Cherchi Usai, were able to put their own unique stamp on the
museum’s collection during their time at the helm. They brought their own
personality and specific interests to create a viewpoint that can clearly be
seen, even if it’s only after the fact.
“It
would not be fun for me just to keep things running smoothly,” Bagrov says. “And that shouldn’t be enough, because there
should be some new energy or adrenaline in an archive.” The position also
brings with it the opportunity to spearhead new projects, for example the
Nitrate Picture Show, which was an idea originated by Paolo CherchiUsai. Bragrov admits he’d
love people to look back on his time heading the collection and see a sign of
his legacy. “But what that will be, I don’t know yet,” he says.
His
work doesn’t end up leaving him with much time to take in contemporary movies,
aside from the occasional family-friendly fare with his children. (He admits to
being less than impressed by the recent spat of
live-action Disney remakes).
“The
thing is, I do watch [modern] things occasionally, films that are being talked
a lot about,” he says. “But so many times, a film would be discussed
actively and critics would say this is really a great masterpiece that, you
know, outshadows everything in American cinema. And
five years pass and that film is barely remembered.”
Since
he isn’t following contemporary cinema, he adds, “I’m not going to pretend
that there wasn’t anything great made in the last 20 years. And I probably can
think of exceptions myself. But so many times, there’s this splash and then
nothing comes out of it. So if a film is talked for quite a while, I will go
and watch it. But as a historian, I need some distance.”
“But
I cannot keep up with everything,” Bagrov says. “And I think a lot of modern
films are not too good. My first interest is in history, and film happens to be
a wonderful medium that tells a lot about history.”
There’s
a fascination with the way films are often inextricable from when and how they
were made, telling their viewers a great deal about the political, financial,
and social state of the world at the time they were created.
“One
of the exciting things about cinema is what it tells you about people — a whole
set of people: the people who made the film, people who watch the film, the
audience at the time, and then the people who the film is about.”
He’s
perfectly content viewing mostly older films as opposed to newer works. “I have
access to so many excellent films from the past. I haven’t seen so many of them,
or I haven’t seen a good print of them,” he says. “There’s just not enough time
for everything, and there’s just so much more to see.”
This article appears in Sep 11-17, 2019.
