Home Away from Home

IT SEEMS THE ONLY PROPER WAY TO WRITE ABOUT KIRA MURATOVA IS TO WRITE in short snippets, sporadic fits and fragments. As if trying to mimic the way she actually was—fierce, frantic, and controversial.

I can hear her voice now. “Why would he suddenly want to write about me? Who does he think he is—a film critic? A journalist? I say, why is he writing about me? He’s merely a filmmaker. This is an altogether different calling. He’s dealing with words now, and words are about something else… But then again, why not? Indeed, why not? He’s started writing, so let him carry on. Let him be. Look how many people there”