Film History Research Articles

The formation of Ukrainian documentary film directing in the second half of the 1920s

The scientific relevance. The formation and development of the newsreels and documentary films in Ukraine in the 1920s remains one of the least researched pages in the history and development of Ukrainian cinema. That is why the relevance of this research lies, mainly, in filling a significant gap in the history of Ukrainian cinema. A detailed study of newsreels and documentary films production will allow to reveal trends in the development of the Ukrainian film industry in the 1920s in the field of documentary films.
 The purpose of the article is to study the specifics of the VUFKU policy on strengthening the material and technical base of Ukrainian film production during the 1920s, to study and analyze the history of the formation and development of the production of newsreels and documentary films in the specified period.
 The methodology of analysis of the problem consists in using, first of all, the historical-systemic approach, which provides an opportunity to understand the dynamics of the development of newsreels and documentary films at a specific historical stage. The problem-chronological approach made it possible to distinguish by year the main directions of the VUFKU activity in the development of newsreels and documentary cinema within the defined chronological framework. The historical-systemic approach made it possible to understand the dynamics of the development of Ukrainian cinematography in the field of documentary cinema as a system at a specific historical stage.
 The results of the research are that the article examines the prerequisites that served as an impetus for the emergence of a special technical basis for shooting newsreels. The way of development and establishment of newsreels production is considered. Genre and thematic directions of newsreels, types of newsreels, as well as the circumstances that led to the development of the production of newsreels and documentary films are analyzed. The composition, features and functions of the elements of the Ukrainian organizational and creative model of cinematography have been established.
 The scientific novelty lies in the fact that the article for the first time, on the basis of a complex analysis, researches the process of transformation of structural elements of Ukrainian cinematography in order to establish the release of newsreels and documentary films.
 The practical significance of the article lies in the fact that the results of the study will contribute to the filling of the “white spots” in the history of Ukrainian cinematography, in particular, the establishment of newsreels and documentary cinema as a component of Ukrainian cinematography, which contributes to the creation of a holistic concept of the development of domestic cinema, further understanding of the film production process of the past and present. The materials of the article can be used in further scientific and theoretical researches, during the creation of training manuals and separate sections of the history of Ukrainian cinema.

Connecting the dots: La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc, a musical score and censorship

ABSTRACT Film historians have long known that the version of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc (1928) shown at its French premiere was heavily censored by the state and the Catholic church. Exactly what was cut, however, has never been entirely clear, meaning that almost all of the critical literature about the subject has been forced to accept the testimony of those who claim to have seen it at the time. An overlooked source that would help resolve the debate is the score commissioned for its Paris premiere. It includes vital evidence in the form of intertitles and actions that correspond to a print acquired by the British Film Institute in 1947. A detailed comparison of screen and musical time convincingly demonstrates that the 1947 print is a copy of the censored version, and a broader analysis of empathetic musical gesture and specially written lyrics for choir and soloists supports that contention. This analysis underlines the valuable contribution that film-music studies can make to film history in helping reveal for the first time exactly what it was to which the authorities objected in Dreyer’s famous film.

The Antelope and the Lioness

Abstract The aim of this article is to show that readings of Riefenstahl as an artistic genius with full control over all aspects of her work have closed off more complex readings of the prologue of her film Olympia (1938). The author argues that we cannot begin to appreciate the density of this section of the film and its complex attitude toward ancient Greece without taking a closer look at the troubled collaboration between Leni Riefenstahl and Willy Zielke as two filmmakers with different visions, preoccupations, methods of work, and degrees of involvement in the making of the prologue. Attention is drawn to the hermeneutic difficulty of policing the boundaries between different types of aesthetics and different types of politics as they are played out in this section of Olympia. The article also teases out some of the difficulties around the question of how to situate the different themes and practices of the prologue within broader cinematic and extra cinematic histories of fascist aesthetics as they intersect with issues of classicism and modern subjectivity.

The Dark Comedy of the Courtroom: Norman Jewison’s And Justice for All

This article examines And Justice for All’s (1979) peculiar spin on the courtroom drama. Though the film embraces a mode of seriousness to portray sexual violence and an unjust criminal justice system, it also includes an undercurrent of dark comedy and absurdity. The article shows how the film incorporates dark-comedic absurdity to emphasize how severely malfunctional the criminal justice system is. While the film reproduces the lawyer-as-hero trope known from earlier eras in American film history, it is very disillusioned with the state of the criminal justice system as such. In this sense, it gives viewers a recognizable lawyer-hero to root for even though the film invites viewers to be very skeptical of the state of the system.

Structuralist Perspectives on the Wholeness and Synchronie of Non-Linear Film Narratives --The Film Babel as an Example

Structuralism is a methodology that originated in the nineteenth century, which asserts that all human activities are constructed rather than natural or essential and, therefore, emphasises the study of structure and regularities in terms of larger systems. In this perspective, cinema uniquely affects the viewers emotions or perception of what is on screen through the use of a variety of codes, symbols or conventions that resemble the structure of language. At the same time, non-linear narratives are an important and special category of cinematic, the so-called non-linear narrative being a film in which two or more perspectives and scenes are narrated in alternating and disrupted chronological order. This article uses textual analysis to dismantle and sort out the theme, spatial and temporal construction, audio-visual elements, and more in Babel, a typical non-linear narrative film, to prove that the two basic features of structuralism theory - wholeness and synchronise - are the most important and special category of non-linear narrative films. It argues that even though the non-linear narrative film has the fractured nature of spatial and temporal construction, the core still serves the film as a whole. The non-linear narrative of film breaks the traditional narrative mode of smooth narrative in the past, and is now an important exploration and innovation in the history of cinema from the perspective of structuralism.

Cultural Translation in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, a groundbreaking film in Chinese cinema history, etched its name in the annals of cinema by becoming the first foreign-language film from China to clinch an Oscar. This monumental achievement not only marked a historic milestone but also laid a robust foundation for subsequent Chinese cinematic endeavors to carve their niche in the global film and television landscape. Director Ang Lee, renowned for his versatile filmmaking prowess, embarked on the audacious mission of seamlessly blending Chinese cultural nuances with Western ideologies within the canvas of this cinematic masterpiece. This essay embarks on a compelling exploration of cultural translation, wherein the writer delve into how Ang Lee masterfully transmits the profound essence of traditional Oriental martial arts cinema to Western audiences. Through an in-depth analysis of a specific case study, the writer dissect Ang Lees ingenious methods for constructing a shared cultural context that bridges the chasm between these two distinct worlds. By shining a spotlight on Ang Lees extraordinary accomplishment in transcending cultural boundaries through the medium of film, the writer unravel the intricate layers of this cinematic triumph, expanding the understanding of its significance in the realm of global cinema.

A Study of Female Growth Narrative of Greta Gerwigs Coming-of-age Film

This article introduces the development of feminist films, explores the combination of coming-of-age films and feminism, and introduces Greta Gerwigs film history and her film works in the past six years. First, the article introduces the famous women director-Greta Gerwig and her career as an actress and director. Second, it introduces the background of the three films. Through the introduction of three films in the past six years, the paper believes that Greta Gerwig has formed her own unique style of female coming-of-age films. Third, this paper treats of the three ways that Greta Gerwig developed her style. These three ways are: highlighting the female perspective of the film through the mumblecore style, showing the diversity of modern feminist narratives through multiple narratives, and challenging the patriarchal world through the image of an object gazed at by men. Through unique cinematic practice, Greta Gerwig increasingly shows her own characteristics in feminist coming-of-age films.

“Wake Up!” with Narrative Film Music: Optimizing Narrative Power Through Spike Lee’s Compilation Soundtracks of Popular Music

Filmmaker and director Spike Lee famously features popular music in his films, often incorporating compilation soundtracks that function as sonic narrative devices, sometimes alongside original scores. Through analysis of three of Lee’s films based on true stories—Malcolm X (1992), Crooklyn (1994), and BlacKkKlansman (2018)—and their soundtracks, it is evident that Lee’s use of popular music in his historical films not only situates the works in their respective time periods, but also emphasizes the relevance of each film narrative in American history, both past and present.

Fragile National Identity in Taiwanese Historical Film A Narrative Analysis of Selected Case Studies from the 1980s to 2010s

This paper aims to redefine and negotiate the boundaries of Taiwan’s identity through an examination of historical films, delving into its complexity and fragility. It begins by providing a contextualisation of Taiwanese historical films. It then proceeds to compare narrative styles between the 1980s Taiwan New Cinema and 2010s films, tracing the transition from one historical interpretation to another. Lastly, it argues for a distinct narrative style in the 2010s, citing examples from feature films and documentaries. This study contributes to the understanding of Taiwan’s multifaceted national identity and the role of cinema in shaping it.

The peculiarity of the musical and sound continuum in the epic "War and Peace" by Sergei Bondarchuk

Using the example of the domestic film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's epic novel "War and Peace", the features of the sound component of the film are investigated. A comparative analysis of the author's text of the writer and his cinematic interpretation is carried out. A significant part of the article is devoted to the issues of sound engineering, the organization of the acoustic (noise) environment of the film. The problems of modern reconstruction of film classics, the difficulties of "translating" the original into a new digital format are also touched upon. The issues of preservation and popularization of the cinematic heritage of Russia are raised. The role of the regional film distribution system in promoting the national film classics, educating the younger generation of moviegoers is noted. The field of application of the research results is cultural studies, theory and practice of film studies, art criticism. The scientific novelty of the research consists in the analysis of the musical and sound continuum of Sergei Bondarchuk's film epic. For the first time, an attempt was made to study the features of not only the musical context of the film, but also the noise environment, the acoustic originality of colloquial speech. A detailed analysis of off-screen monologues, which play an important dramatic role in the film narrative, is carried out. Special attention is paid to the history of the national digital reconstruction of the epic "War and Peace", undertaken in the 1990s. The role of modern technologies, which allowed to preserve the musical and acoustic environment of the film, is noted. The question is also raised about the need to popularize a new digital version of the film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's epic novel. The prospect of introducing a special course on the history of Russian cinema into the Russian education system is considered.

An Insight Study of the Film Omkara by Vishal Bhardwaj

Shakespeare’s plays were originally intended for theaters, but some contemporary directors have incorporated them into their works. The focus of the study is on Vishal Bhardwaj’s 2006 film Omkara, which is regarded as one of the best adaptations in Indian cinema history and is an adaptation of the Shakespeare play Othello. This article attempts to comprehend how Bhardwaj adapted Elizabethan-era plays and placed them in a very different context. Through it, the paper seeks to examine the similarities and differences between the films and their original sources of inspiration while highlighting the timeless qualities of Shakespeare’s works that make them culturally and historically relevant.

An Empirical Study of Youth Perceptions of Social Factors Influencing Audience Interest in the Bangladeshi Film Industry

Bangladesh has a rich and influential film history, which serves as an effective means of mass social communication. This research will give an in-depth look at the present situation of the Bangladeshi film sector emphasis on social perspectives. Bangladesh's film industry has flourished since the first screening of "Mukh O Mukhosh" in 1955 and the enactment of the "East Pakistan Film Development Organization" bill by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1958. Despite its historical significance, the film industry is still not economically viable. The study demonstrates the significance of reviving audience interest and combining mathematical and visual evaluations for a better understanding of public opinions. Analyzing the coefficients and multiple variables gives vital insights into the societal and artistic progress, serving as a guideline for scholars, learners, and film enthusiasts.

The Occurrence of Cross-Media and Cross-Cultural Anxiety: Two Stars in the Milky Way from the Perspective of Meta Film

Abstract The 1920s was a period of exploration for the development and innovation of Chinese films, providing a direction for the localization of Chinese film creation and the reflexive thinking of film culture. Additionally, it paved the way for films that were created with a spontaneous “meta film” consciousness, such as Two Stars in the Milky Way (Yinhan shuangxing, 1932) and The Romance on the Screen (Yinmu yanshi, 1931), which appeared in the early 1930s. Released in 1931, The Romance on the Screen has been endowed with important historical value. Notably, Two Stars in the Milky Way was created earlier than The Romance on the Screen; understood as a “meta film,” the exploration of its media characteristics, narrative structure, audio-visual language, and national consciousness deserves further attention, in relation to the process of film’s change from silence to sound. From the perspective of the social perspective of the time, the context of the early film industry, and the meta film consciousness of the film workers, it is possible that Two Stars in the Milky Way may be the first “meta film” in the history of Chinese film. Moreover, it is also an expression of the value of observing cross-media and the cross-cultural anxiety of the early Chinese film.

Rethinking Extractivism and Masculinity: Aesthetics of the Environment in There Will Be Blood (2007) and First Cow (2019)

As today we face the urgency of thinking film history through the implications of the ecological emergency, the aesthetics of oil extraction in cinema can be linked to representations of petro-masculinity and to discourses of capitalist exploitation of nature. Considering the ecocritical trend in film studies, this paper analyzes the subgenre of the oil film, which is inextricably related to the genre of the western historical tradition and its revisions, and presents There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2007) as a key case. The comparative analysis discovers that the critical and aesthetic representational strategies of landscape and character of the US founding myth in First Cow (Kelly Reichardt, 2019) manifest a proposal that deconstructs the genre with the intention of filming the relationships between the human and more-than-human from a viewpoint that approaches environmental consciousness.
 Keywords: 
 oil, masculinity, western, Paul Thomas Anderson, Kelly Reichard, nature aesthetic, ecological emergency, film history

Visual Representation of War Themes in American Cinema - A Case Study of the Evolution of War Films

Throughout American cinematic history, war-themed films have captivated audiences with their distinctive visual representation. Since the release of the first war film in 1951, war movies gradually evolved to become an essential genre within American cinema. These films not only entertain but also convey the cruelty of war, the fragility of human nature, and the preciousness of peace through visual storytelling. This paper delves into three distinct periods: the early development, mid-development, and contemporary development stages, analyzing the evolution and visual representation of American war films, along with their impact on audiences and society. Furthermore, they reflect the prevailing values and political stances of their time and, with the evolving society, gradually target female audiences, influencing film creation and thematic choices. This study aims to offer insights into the visual representation of American war-themed films and their effects on audiences and society, providing valuable references to understand the significance and role of war films in American cinematic history.

Carry on Caesar

Abstract The variations on broadly fixed formulas used to represent such characters as the one portraying the Roman emperor, Julius Caesar, are all the more conspicuous for their, sometimes, almost imperceptible nuances. This article will illustrate some meaningful examples of filmic Caesars, focusing on the linguistic representation of this character, often handled as a stock character. The larger definition of stock characters, which includes but is not limited to stereotypes, encompasses a set of both visual and linguistic formulaic features which depend on identity constructions or social positions, to put it in Quantz’s terms (2015). The character Julius Caesar is often made to follow what film historians have called a general ‘linguistic paradigm’, by which British actors with posh accents, in post-war Hollywood epics of the 1950s, are frequently cast as wicked Roman tyrants or simply as members of the establishment opposed by the ‘hero’ of the tale. Departures from a schema can be however just as revealing in order to pinpoint recurrent themes, and they will be explored by focusing on the comic rendition of Caesar as interpreted by Kenneth Williams in the 1964 British comedy Carry on Cleo, and on the analysis of its outrageously racist and sexist Italian translation.

To Marry or To Write?—Sheng Qinxian and Her (Screen) Writing in 1940s Shanghai

Abstract During the Japanese occupation of Shanghai, writer-translator Sheng Qinxian (1921–2017) joined the script division of the Incorporated Film Studio of China and wrote the screenplays of three successful films: The Honourable Beggar (义丐 1944), Reunion of a Troubled Couple (冤家喜相逢 1945), and Modern Women (摩登女性 1945). Despite this success, she did not receive a writing credit for the third film, which might be one of the reasons that caused her to quit shortly after its theatrical release. It was never easy to be the only woman in any trade during this time, but Sheng’s story allows us to see an era from a unique perspective. What were her working conditions? Where is her position in Chinese film history? Did she make a unique contribution? This article aims to find answers to these questions in view of 1940s’ Shanghai cinema and via the context of Chinese culture and society before 1949.

Archiving the Past, Painting the Present

This paper focuses on the representations of diversity and feminism in the French fi lm Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Portrait de la jeune fi lle en feu, 2019), directed by Céline Sciamma. Set in the 18th century, this fi lm addresses numerous contemporary issues through a feminist lens. This paper views Portrait of a Lady on Fire as a visual archive in the history of feminist and queer cinema, creating dialogues between the past and present. Concurrently, using Céline Sciamma as an entry point, the paper also explores the female authorship in the 21st-century French cinema.

Popular historical films as collective memory-work in Eastern Europe: from Polish KATYN to Romanian AFERIM! and Hungarian BET ON REVENGE

Abstract Historical film – a film genre supported in the Cold War era – has re-emerged in the 21st century in Eastern European cinemas, its success signalled by popularity, dedicated state financing funds or political support. This article frames the phenomenon within the Assmannian model of three communicative generations, suggested to be interlinked on the level of both the creative staff and the audience of Eastern European historical films. Based on box-office data of the Lumiere Database of the European Audiovisual Observatory, and research referring to further elements of canonization, it is argued that titles such as Polish Katyn (2007), Romanian Aferim! (2015) or Hungarian Bet on Revenge (2016) – the first majority production historical films to achieve significant audience, and, consequently, critical success in their domestic markets in the 21st century – signal a successful collective memory-work process. While in the major Polish market this may be inscribed within the three communicative generations of the victims, the forgetters and the mourners doing memory-work – possibly processing collective traumatization too –, the two small national examples fall outside the validity of the Assmannian model. In order to somewhat refine this apparent opposition between 21st century Eastern European major and small national collective memory-work through historical films, further examples from the Polish, Hungarian and Romanian top lists are examined. Poetic-medial features – the actualization of “trauma narratives” (Alexander 2012) or of postmodern irony, the employment of cinematic and/or televisual visuality – seem to facilitate collective memory-work differently for major and small national domestic audiences, activating or not their belonging to the three communicative generations with respect to the historical events represented in the films.

Abraham Lincoln in the Hollywood cinema

Abraham Lincoln is a towering figure in American popular consciousness, one who acts as a rich and complex motif and metaphor across its cinema history. This essay is broad-ranging in considering Hollywood’s Lincoln but places particular emphasis on ‘classical’ representations. Its primary aim is to consider the cinematic uses of Lincoln (Lincoln as embedded in the style and rhetoric of a range of films) but a minor thread running through is why Lincoln and which Lincoln is called upon at different points of US movie history. The essay distinguishes itself from previous accounts by combining the analysis of the flesh and blood incarnation of the president’s peculiar physicality with a consideration of the literal and metaphoric solidity of the Lincoln memorial. A final section conveys the sixteenth president’s symbolic power by, paradoxically, revealing it in films that are not even about Lincoln. Lincoln is one of the Greatest Men of Vision™ in US history. In It’s a Wonderful Life (Frank Capra, 1946) and Bigger than Life (Nicholas Ray, 1956), a portrait and a verbal invocation, respectively, connect to themes of hubris and the tensions that ensue when the visions of frustrated ordinary men go too far.