Documentary Film Synopsis
(Dream Media Project)
Title: «Listen Up, Descendants!»Slogan: Mayakovsky. A Century Later—Still On Target.
Genre: Documentary Film
Rating: 16+
Director: Margarita Ri
Logline
«Listen Up, Descendants!”—this is how Mayakovsky addressed us almost a hundred years ago. His voice hasn’t just been preserved in anthologies; it’s fired again in the modern world—in music, in media, in the voices of people. This film is about a poet who has not become outdated, and about us—those to whom he was speaking.
Exposition
Mayakovsky died in 1930. He remains a portrait from a textbook, and in memory, associations resurface: the «ladder, ” the „poet of the revolution.“ Mayakovsky is studied in schools—but few read him afterward. Yet, his poems—about bureaucracy, loneliness, the search for self—are understandable without commentary, unlike the texts of the Symbolists. The poet’s lines surface naturally: in songs, on social media, in conversations.
Inciting Incident
But understanding Mayakovsky doesn’t mean unraveling him. Why do his words retain their relevance—and in what moments do they strike the mark? With these questions, we engage philologists, musicians, and everyday people.
Main Body
Experts: The Core of the Film. We go to philologists from the Pushkin House and Saint Petersburg State University to learn their perspective: what is so special about Mayakovsky’s poetry, and why do his words resonate a century later. Potential experts include Yulia Veretnova (philologist, head of the Literary Museum at the Pushkin House, author of the tour «Could You?» on Silver Age poets and Russian avant-garde, including Mayakovsky) and Alexander Pronin (Doctor of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor at SPbU, who lectures on Mayakovsky and cinema). We are not interested in analyzing the verses, but in understanding what specifically in his rhythm, words, and intonation speaks to us today.Mayakovsky and Rap. Futurists—Mayakovsky, Khlebnikov—were at the genesis of Russian rap: fragmented meter, compound rhymes, and accentual verse fit the beat unchanged. They even dressed similarly—wide trousers, yellow sweaters. In the film, we ask contemporary performers: have they read Mayakovsky? Do they feel a connection between his rhythm and rap? Some will remember; some will not. But perhaps some read him to a beat—and then they will show it.Splin. «Mayak.» The band Splin did a cover of «Lilichka!”—and Mayakovsky sounded for a new audience. In the film, we will try to connect with Alexander Vasilyev to discuss how Splin modernized the poet. If we cannot reach him, this section will feature commentary from rock journalists—Nikolay Redkin, Daniil Posazhennikov, Ruslan Munnibaev.
«Pineapple Water.» 2024. After the arrest of Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov, Mayakovsky’s satire—the poem «To You!» concerning «pineapple water”—has begun to be quoted again. Written in 1915, it proved strikingly relevant to the times: a satire directed at those who ignore the problems of others. We examine the mechanism: how a text written for one era became the voice of another, and we ask experts for their opinions.
Street Survey. We polled passersby: „What lines of Mayakovsky do you remember? What do you like about them?“ Some recall their favorite lines, others remember nothing, while others read aloud without preparation—commenting on what resonates with them. This is the vitality of it: Mayakovsky lives in the memories of people in different ways.
Climax
The lines from «Listen!» are assembled from different voices. One passerby reads the first line, another reads the second, a rapper reads the third, and an expert reads the fourth. Some stumble, some laugh, some read with inflection, and some do not. The montage stitches the footage together into a single poem.
