The production of a chosen space: the Donbass in the cinema of the Stalin era

Abstract

This article deals with the characteristics of the depiction of the regional space of the Donbass region in Soviet cinema of the Stalin era. Using films such as Dziga Vertov’s Enthusiasm (Symphony of the Donbass) (1931), Sergei Iutkevich’s Miners (1937), Boris Barnet’s A Night in September (1939), Leonid Lukov’s A Great Life (Part 1: 1939; Part 2: 1946, rel. 1958) and Donetsk Miners (1950), the article analyses the basic motifs and evolutionary problems of the ‘Donbass text’ in Soviet cinema. A separate examination concerns the folkloric and mythological aspects of the ‘Donbass text’, its connection to the cultural-historical context of the period, the work of Leonid Lukov – the ‘singer of the Donbass’ – and the involution of the Donbass theme in post-war Soviet cinema.