The Mark of Cain (2000)

Director: Alix Lambert.
Produced by Go East Productions & Pink Ghetto Productions .

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(16mm & MiniDV) Director: Alix Lambert.
Executive Producer: Rob Bingham. Co-Production in Russia: Go East Productions.
Producers: Pink Ghetto Productions and Lalou Dammond.

A feature-length documentary by Alix Lambert, explores the dying art of Russian prison tattoos to offer audiences an understanding of conflict and transition in contemporary Russia. Through intimate interviews that enable the prisoners to talk about their life experiences, body art, and living conditions, a powerful story emerges of tension between prisoners of different generations and different social-economic systems.

 

The Mark of Cain - Documentary Thesis:

As early as the 1920ís, Russiaís prisons and gulag began to attract the attention of researchers. The prisoners of the Stalinist Gulag, or "Zone," as it is called, had developed a complex social structure that incorporated highly symbolic tattooing as a mark of rank. The very existence of these inmates at prisons and forced labor camps was treated by the state as a deep secret, and their tattoo art was considered a forbidden topic.
Since the introduction of Glasnost and the new freedoms of the press, striking figures have been published: from the mid-1960ís to the 1980ís, thirty-five million people were incarcerated. In the last decade, Russiaís prison population has exploded; overcrowding has reached unimaginable proportions. Few other nations have had such a massive prison population. The most conservative estimates suggest that in the last decades, over thirty million of Russia¼s inmates have had tattoosãeven though the process is against the law inside prison.

According to The Book of Genesis, God placed a mark on the world¼s first murderer before sending him into exile. The mark of Cain proclaimed its bearer as a criminal and social outcast; for centuries, prisoners and those who broke social codes were forcibly tattooed. In Russian prisons, tattooing emerged as a visual mode of communication linked with social division. The startling and beautiful images of churches, cats, Christs, Madonnas, dolphins, bears and hawks, to name a few, became part of a secret, political language that allowed for clandestine communication both in and out of prison.

The Mark of Cain tells the story of a fading art form and how that practiceís death reflects transition in broader Russian society. In Russian prisons there has been a Code-of-Thieves. This criminal code is directly related to how prisoners earn their status in the prison community, and in turn earn the right to carry particular tattooed images that communicate who they are and their position within the social hierarchy. The godfather of the Code-of-Thieves is the Thief-in-Law. In Russian prisons today there is major conflict concerning how prisoners achieve their status. Older prisoners are committed to the practice of tattooing and a Code-of-Thieves in which status has to do with one¼s behavior both as a criminal on the outside, in the legal system, and in the community of prisoners. Younger prisoners seek to purchase high status in the prison community. The younger generations are less interested in tattooing. The Mark of Cain documents for the first time the disappearing artistic practice of Russian prison tattoos; further, the project investigates the nature of change in Russia by examining what is happening in the countryís prisons.

The Mark of Cain resists conventional narratives that Russia is simply a disaster, or is that upon which we cannot comment. The prisoners raise crucial questions about expression, resistance, redemption and social division. The Mark of Cain intervenes into discussions that concern: Russian society, prison reform, resistance and artistic expression, and transition in world systems.

 

List of primary personnel: The Mark of Cain

DIRECTOR & PRODUCER: ALIX LAMBERT

The New York Times named Alix Lambert as one of "30 people under 30 who will change the culture in the next 30 years." Over the past eight years, Lambert has shown her film, video, photography, performance and mixed media installations to international critical acclaim. Her work explores the rules ãvisual codes and languages of communitiesã that emerge in the process of social division. One of her most acclaimed pieces, a video entitled "Male Pattern Baldness," was exhibited as part of Women Observing Men, a show that traveled to many prestigious international modern art museums. This work was also in major shows at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Her video, "Platipussy," was featured in shows in Lisbon; Washington D.C.; Mexico City; Graz, Austria; Athens; New York; and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. One of the videos from her project, the Wedding series, "No Holes Barred," was selected for the 1993 Venice Biennale. Mirabella has credited Lambert with "a rare gift for tickling taboos with intelligence and humor."

DISTRIBUTOR: JAN ROFEKAMP/FILMS TRANSIT INC.

Jan Rofekamp owns and runs MontrÈal-based Films Transit Inc.ã one of the world¼s leading distributors of quality documentaries. Films Transit Inc. specializes in the worldwide release and marketing of high profile, theatrical feature documentaries. Marketing and distribution credits include: Terry Zwigoff¼s, Crumb; Ray Muellerís The Wonderful Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl; Noam Chomsky in Manufacturing Consent; Ron Mannís Twist; Prix d¼Italia winner Silverlake Life; Oscar Nominees: Freedom on my Mind by Connie Field, and Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter by Deborah Hoffman; the Emmy Award winning The Celluloid Closet, and many others. Recent production credits include: Executive Producer, The Cola Conquest; Producer, The Dark Side of Hollywood; Associate Producer with WNET, Hitchcock, Selznick and the End of Hollywood; Associate Producer with Channel 4, World Without End. After studying film production at the Dutch Film Academy from1968-1972, Rofekamp co-founded and co-operated independent film distribution company Fugitive Cinema Holland from 1972 till 1982.

CINEMATOGRAPHER: ANASTASI MIKHAILOV

Anastasi Mikhailov has worked filming in Russian prisons for Russian news programs, particularly Moscow news, ZDF and RTL for Germany at the Zoltan agency. He has worked extensively as a journalist in Russia. He also has numerous cinematography credits for music videos such as Dolphin, Dedushkis, Mummie Troll, and X-Roudz clips.

CONSULTANTS: VALERI ABRAMKIN & ARKADY BRONIKOV

Valeri Abramkin and Arkady Bronikov are experts on criminal behavior and tattoo practices within prisons. Abramkin runs a center for prison reform in Moscow and spent 9 years in prison himself. Bronikov has published several books on the language of prison tattoos.

EDITOR: W. DAVID RITSHER

David Ritsher has worked extensively doing Avid editing and production for public television and independent documentaries. His FRONTLINE PBS editing work includes The Crash: a primer on the dangers of unregulated currency trading in the global economy, and Loose Nukes: an examination of the precarious state of Russiaís nuclear complex. His work in the production of independent documentary includes: The Homecoming: Solzhenitsyn returns to Russia, and The Struggle for Russia: an in-depth portrait of Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Ritsher graduated from Stanford University in 1989 with an Honors BA in Anthropology and Slavic Languages and Literature.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: ROB BINGHAM

Rob Bingham graduated from Brown University in 1988. He received a master¼s degree in fine arts at Columbia University. He was a founder and editor of Open City, a literary magazine, and had been a reporter for the Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh.

PRODUCER: LALOU DAMMOND

Lalou Dammond¼s film productions have traveled the international festival circuit since 1992. Award-winning shorts include Adam Yaffeís Lester Shot from a Cannon; Imogene Blue¼s Dead Man¼s Jack; Darryl McCaneís Temptation; and Krista Whetstone¼s William. She co-wrote and produced Alix Lambert¼s independent feature, Platipussy. With Adam Yaffe as head writer, she completed eight teleplays and one feature-length pilot script for the series Via America for RAI Television. In 1998 she produced two award winning campaigns: one for the Independent Film Channel, written and directed by Lara Shapiro and Hank Perlman, featuring Matt Damon, Edward Norton, William H. Macy, Janeane Garofalo and Lili Taylor. The other campaign for MTV, was written and directed by David Shane, featuring Henry Rollins, Mick Fleetwood and Coolio. She is currently in development on Ms. Shapiro¼s feature film, Drawn to Scale, and Adam Yaffeís feature, Beltway Blacksheep.

SUPERVISING PRODUCER: TONY PEMBERTON

Tony Pemberton recently produced and directed his first feature film, Beyond the Ocean in 35mm cinema-scope. It appeared in the current Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize. His experimental shorts have shown in international film festivals, museums, and art cinemas, and he was a recipient of the Jerome Foundation, and Princess Grace Foundation Awards for his work on "Description of a Struggle," a short experimental film adapted from Kafka. He lived in Russia for the last five years producing his feature film, working as a producer on many documentaries and commercials, as well as shooting his documentary ìThe Children Met Lenin in Springî now in post-production. Mr. Pemberton is the Principle Director of Go East Productions.

ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR: ALTHEA WASOW

Althea Wasow worked as a history and literature teacher for two years at Bread and Roses Integrated Arts High School. She graduated from Brown University in 1997 with Honors in Modern Culture and Media. At Brown she studied film and social theory; organized an African Film Festival; and won the thesis prize for her thesis project.