COUNTDOWN TO OSCAR : A First: Soviets Cover Academy Awards

So what if it is the first time a Soviet publication sent someone to cover the world-famous Academy Awards? To hear photographer Nikolai Gnisyuk talk about it, America’s obsession with Oscar is regarded as a mere curiosity in the Soviet Union.

“We journalists and photographers in the Soviet Union are amazed such a fuss is made over these awards,” explained Gnisyuk in Russian over coffee Saturday morning. “That is, we understand the importance of the awards to the industry, but all this mania is just incredible. It’s as if someone were running for national election!”

By contrast, Gnisyuk said, “We do not even have such awards, although the Union of Soviet Film Makers (the U.S.S.R.’s body of directors, producers, writers and cameramen) is now considering starting them. But we photographers would never consider turning the event into a circus. The nominees would be nervous enough as it is.”

Gnisyuk, a Ukrainian based in Moscow and a regular contributor to Soviet Screen (the country’s leading film magazine, with more than 2 million subscribers) and other large Soviet publications, is an animated, enthusiastic observer of all things American--this is his first trip to the United States--and he finds the American passion for celebrities strange.

“If I were a famous actor or singer in this country I would go crazy,” Gnisyuk said, putting his hands to his head. “Everywhere you go, paparazzi and more paparazzi . You cannot take a swim in the ocean without some photographer hiding in the sand dunes. Nothing about your life is private anymore.”

A warm, open man of “about 45,” Gnisyuk said he and his more conscientious colleagues “try very hard not to spoil a celebrity’s quiet moments. Part of the reason you take photos of a person is to share that person with the world. But you can only do that best when your subjects feel like sharing themselves. When they do not--you have no picture.

“I think there is a certain cult of celebrity in the States you don’t really find in my country. Because the TV is on so much, and there are so many programs, I think there’s a feeling that these celebrities are really a part of your family. And people do tend to be obsessive about pictures of their relatives, parents or good friends.”

Gnisyuk’s own subjects have included Soviet actors and directors such as Elem Klimov--the noted director and new member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences who will write the Oscar article that Gnisyuk will illustrate--actress Tatiana Drubich and Soviet rocker Boris Grebenchikov.

When a delegation of American actors and film makers visited Moscow in January, Gnisyuk took carefully composed photos of them: Stanley Kramer, Gordon Parks, Robert De Niro (who chaired the Moscow Film Festival jury last year) and Peter Ustinov.

“I am very glad the artists and creators of our two countries are getting together and moving faster toward friendship than our politicians,” remarked Gnisyuk, who has a marked disdain for politics. “I believe only good things can come from such bonds. And with the way our artists are really freeing themselves--and being freed--we will have much more to give each other than in the past.”