The visual in documentary: Sergei Loznitsa and the importance of the image

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn the late Soviet period, Russian documentary cinema rivaled feature film in popularity. It attracted attention for its ability to reveal the previously unspoken ‘truth’ about problems in the Soviet Union, both past and present. Domestic and international audiences learned not only what ‘really’ happened under Joseph Stalin, but also about contemporary problems facing Soviet citizens. Russian documentary auteur Sergei Loznitsa is making a name for himself not for following in the footsteps of the documentary film-makers who popularized the genre in the 1980s and early 1990s, such as Juris Podnieks, Marina Goldovskaia and Stanislav Govorukhin, but rather by taking a very different approach to film. Loznitsa's film-making style focuses on visual aesthetics and shifts the importance of the film to the image as the message. His documentaries, almost all of which are filmed on celluloid instead of digitally, are characterized by intense contrast, and a lack of narration and non-diegetic sound, allowing for fluid images, and are populated by simple, timeless characters who are not meant to convey a political message.