Margarita Barskaia and the emergence of Soviet children's cinema

Abstract

Margarita Barskaia was the wife of Petr Chardynin—the. legendary film-maker of pre-Revolutionary cinema, and a pioneer of children's cinema. This cluster of documents brings together articles written by Barskaia for the leading newspapers of the time, as well as letters from her private archive, in which she tries to move forward the formation of a children's film studio. The cluster contains an article by Natalia Riabchikova about the history of films for children in the Soviet Union, followed by articles from 1929, which highlight the need for a cinema for children and Barskaia's involvement in this debate. Natalia Miloserdova offers a survey of Barskaia's life and her career, which is followed by two letters from the private archive of Margarita Barskaia, which show her involvement in the formation of the children's studio at the highest level. In all her endeavours, she pleads for the formation of a production unit, not a large studio—which. is what would happen with the establishment of Soiuzdetfil'm in 1936. Finally, this cluster presents some reviews of Barskaia's three films: Who's More Important, What's More Necessary, an agitational film that has only recently been identified as Barskaia's first film; Nikolai Izvolov describes how the film was identified. Lev Kassil's review of Torn Boots is indicative of the high praise that Barskaia received for her work. A report on the shooting of Father and Son from 1936 is also highly positive of Barskaia's methods, while the review of the same film, published in May 1937, reflects the campaign against Barskaia that would destroy her career and her life.