Interfax: Show during Sochi Olympics opening ceremony designed as story about Russia – author

MOSCOW. Feb 8 (Interfax) – Konstantin Ernst, author of the script for Friday’s opening ceremony for the Sochi Winter Olympics, said the main idea of the show that was part of the ceremony was to retell Russian history in a modern language.

“The language of a stadium means three-dimensional and vivid images and quite direct metaphors. On that basis, we sat down and began to exchange our metaphors for various epochs and images of Russia. To a considerable extent these were expressions of our love for our country,” Ernst, who was also the creative producer of the ceremony, told reporters after the event.

“The Olympic Committee formulates its task for the country that is hosting the Olympics. There hasn’t been a single occasion where Olympics hosts didn’t tell a story about their country. As for the script, ours won in a round of tendering. We meant to speak about Russia in some other, modern way,” he said.