Soviet Cinema Research Articles

Paulin Soumanou Vieyra, the Soviet Union, and Cold War Circuits for African Cinema, 1958-1978

Based on previously unexamined documents in Soviet archives, this essay shows Paulin S. Vieyra's key role as a "cinematic internationalist" who used the socialist and Cold War film networks to advance African cinema. As a filmmaker, producer, scholar, and Senegalese government official, Vieyra took part in Soviet film life, beginning with the 1957 International Youth Festival in Moscow. Vieyra participated in the making of the Soviet documentary about the First Negro Arts Festival in Dakar, African Rhythms; represented the Pan-African Federation of Filmmakers at the Tashkent Festival for African, Asian, and Latin American Cinema; and advocated for African films on the Moscow International Film Festival jury in 1971, 1973, and 1985. He also traveled to the United States, as a member of a FEPACI delegation in 1973 and as a participant in a major Senegalese cinema retrospective at the Museum of American Art in New York and the Pacific Film Archive at Berkeley in 1978. Vieyra's advocacy connected two politically disparate film cultures that supported African cinema during the decolonization era—Soviet cinema and militant Third Cinema. He used Cold War infrastructures in the Soviet Union and the United States to promote and establish African cinemas internationally.

Adapting Diana of Belflor: The Dog in the Manger’s Soviet Adventures

Before Pilar Miro’s famous filmic adaptation of The Dog in the Manger, Lope de Vega’s masterpiece had been successfully brought to the small screen in Soviet Russia. The Leningrad director Yan Frid’s 1977 musical comedy Sobaka na Sene (The Dog on the Hay), while almost unknown in the West, is considered a classic of Soviet cinema. This article explores the reasons behind the extraordinary popularity of this television film in relation to the Russian Lopean performance canon, as well as to the specific sociocultural conditions of the Stagnation era. I argue that, by prioritizing the issue of gender relations over the conflict of honor, Sobaka na sene managed to inscribe new cultural meanings in the story of the Countess of Belflor and her secretary and, therefore, to bring Lope’s play closer to the Soviet viewers of the late 1970s.

Мужские образы советского кино как культурные герои и «настоящие мужчины» (ретроспективный женский взгляд)

The artistic images of cultural heroes play a special role in the preservation and transmission of the cultural code. Using statistical, comparative and hermeneutic methods, the article retrospectively reveals male images of Soviet cinema, perceived by the female audience as cultural heroes and «real men» (sex symbols). The research showed that the selected male images embodied the collective memory of the «masculine» and «spirit of the times», but the status of «cultural hero» and «real man» did not always coincide.

‘Ritual Folklore’ as a Structural Element of Cinematographic Processes in Multinational Soviet Cinema of the 1960s & ’70s

‘Ritual Folklore’ as a Structural Element of Cinematographic Processes in Multinational Soviet Cinema of the 1960s & ’70s

Soviet everyday life: migrations from rural areas to the city, and their reflection in cinematography (1930-1980)

The subject of this research is the historical-typological peculiarities of reflection in the Soviet cinematography of 1930s – mid 1980s of internal migrations, primarily from the rural areas, as well as determination in the historical dynamics of their value motivations, factors, means, and gender peculiarities. The object this research is the Soviet everyday life as a holistic lifeworld since the early 1930s to the early 1980s, which includes the three eras of spiritual life of the Soviet society: totalitarianism, “thaw”, and the “70s”. The subject of research is viewed in correlation of the ideological and everyday levels of life in their historical dynamics. The article employs the historical typology of culture, content analysis, comparative and hermeneutic methods. The theoretical substantiation of this study consists in the conceptual positions on the artistic methods of the cognition of culture. The conclusion is made that the images of migration in cinematography of the totalitarian period by factors, motives and means are inaccurate. However, from the perspective of systemic-holistic approach, the “typical” artistic images, which inaccurately reflected the internal migrations, expressed the profound essence of Soviet culture of the totalitarian period: concealment of truth and romanticization of reality. In the more realistic depictions of the cinematography of “thaw” period was reflected the “truth of life” and aesthetization of reality, naturalistic style, and social optimism. The formal and “enlightening” depictions of the “70s” translated the in-depth essence of this period: escalation of all-round crisis. Cinematographic works that in one or another way touched upon the theme of internal migrations, namely in the 1950s and 1980s, reflected the binary nature of the Russian-Soviet culture and mentality.

Beyond Censorship: Goskino USSR and the Management of Soviet Film, 1963–1985

Beyond Censorship: Goskino USSR and the Management of Soviet Film, 1963–1985

Кино как средство мобилизации населения Урала на отпор врагу в период Великой Отечественной войны

The paper describes the forms and methods of work of the Party and State bodies aimed at the full and effective use of the Soviet film industry in the labour and patriotic mobilization of the residents of the Urals. The problems of the development of documentary films are analyzed. It is noted that despite the pronounced emphasis on the rear issues, the Ural documentarians also focused on the needs and aspirations of the front-line soldiers. Demonstrating on the front line the achievements of the “supporting edge of the power”, they gave soldiers confidence in the steadfastness of the rear, capable of supporting the victories of the Red Army with all its might. The process of formation of feature film art in the Urals is shown. The activities related to the organization of the Sverdlovsk studio of feature films are described: the decisions made by the authorities, their practical implementation, expressed in specific construction works, the installation of the necessary equipment, and the solution of personnel tasks. Special attention is paid to the analysis of the functioning of the regional cinema network; the issues of strengthening its material and technical base, the formation of the personnel base are reflected. It is proved that the rate of restoration of the cinema network in the Urals in the second half of the war was ahead of all-Russian indicators, making the region one of the main consumers of film products. Considerable place is devoted to the analysis of the successful combination of various forms of mass-political work with the show of documentaries and feature films. It is concluded that the organization of various kinds of defence film festivals and film festivals, patriotic film lectures and front-line monthlies increased the emotional perception of the events taking place in the Urals, helped to strengthen the morale and confidence of the population in the imminent defeat of the enemy.

Редактор как феномен советской художественной культуры

The article is devoted to understanding the image of the Soviet editor in Russian art (using examples of fiction and cinema). The author examines the personal qualities that contributed to the entry of a person into the profession («editorial character») and provides a chronological observation of the «editorial evolution» – in publishing and film production-throughout the Soviet period and the first years of Russia in the 1990s. An important aspect that has been updated since the early 1920s is the active inclusion of women in editorial work. The characteristics of editors of different Soviet periods are analyzed using examples from the prose of M. Bulgakov, V. Shishkov, L. Rakhmanov, A. Tobolyak, V. Astafyev. Portraits of Soviet film editors are considered in the works of J. Gausner, N. Bogoslovsky, V. Makanin, D. Rubina and M. Kuraev. Representatives of the editorial profession are also represented in the films of A. Tarkovsky, V. Zheregy, K. Shakhnazarov and A. Benckendorf. There are two main types in the artistic depiction of editors and their activities: satirical (in a pointed form ridiculing personal and professional shortcomings) and dramatic (reflecting the complexity of editorial characters in their inseparability with the influence of society, historical era). In the final part of the article, the vectors of professional diffusions in the film-editing corps are outlined with the end of the Soviet era and the need to adapt to the new, post-Soviet realities.

Editing thinking and its features in the concepts of soviet film innovators:philosophical interpretation

Editing thinking and its features in the concepts of soviet film innovators:philosophical interpretation

ТРАГЕДИЯ И ФАРС: О РОССИЙСКОЙ КОЛЛЕКТИВИЗАЦИИ 30 Х И ДЕКОЛЛЕКТИВИЗАЦИИ 90 Х ГГ. ХХ В.

The article analyzes two historically important processes of radical restructuring of agrarian sphere in Russia in the XX century: the Stalinist collectivization of 1928–1937 (the creation of collective farms and state farms) and de-collectivization in the first half of the 90s. More attention is paid to the consideration of the collectivization of the Russian village. The Soviet films of the 30s told the mass audience about the goals and objectives of collectivization, and above all, the industrialization of the village. Industrialization was supposed to help us quickly get closer to a utopian future — the construction of a “world USSR”. The de-collectivization of the 90s appears as a historical farce, because, in fact, there was nothing significantly new in the reforms of the agricultural sector carried out under the leadership of Boris Yeltsin. The article shows that both events (collectivization and de-collectivization) were initiated by the authorities forcibly and did not take into account the readiness of rural residents for change. There was a tragic “radical change” not only in the type of management, but also in the life and psychology of millions of peasants. The analysis of the processes and results of collectivization and de-collectivization is based on the analysis of literary works and films.

Using the Informative and Educative Potential of Soviet Films for Teaching History of the Great Patriotic War to Students not Majoring in History

Using the Informative and Educative Potential of Soviet Films for Teaching History of the Great Patriotic War to Students not Majoring in History

Образы советской колонизации в архивном кино: «Евреи на земле» Абрама Роома. 1920–1930–е гг.

At the turn of the 1930s, the Soviet film industry actively released documentary films about life of remote regions of the country, giving its audience an opportunity to make virtual trips across the “sixth part of the Earth.” This phenomenon had a political background: unification of leading creative and scientific forces for creation of the screen image of a multi-structured, multinational, and successfully developing socialist country within the frameworks of state project “Cinema Atlas of the USSR.” The article is to introduce into scientific use an archival documentary “Jews on the Earth” (1927) directed by Abram Room, a film telling about the state program for Jewish settlement of the northern Circum-Pontic region. The socio-political, cultural, and ideological context of its creation is analyzed. The study draws on little-known visual and textual archives, as well as on data of the Soviet periodicals and excerpts from the screenwriter V.B. Shklovsky’s theoretical heritage. Due to specifics of silent cinema, the film “Jews on the Earth” is a kind of cinematic text, consisting of approximately equal number of alternating film frames and text credits written by Vladimir Mayakovsky and Lily Brick. The film story is a sequence of episodes describing agrarization of the Jewish population, its “exodus” from the destroyed miasteczkos to the fertile southern lands. In the course of the research, it becomes obvious that this film is an example of the propaganda films describing the success of early Soviet colonization projects. The method used by Abram Room when working on the “Jews on the Earth” was a creative combination of the documentary and feature film techniques, allowing the film not just to convey dry information, but also to highlight socio-cultural context of the events. The film’s significance was in its contribution to the visual chronicle of the Soviet colonization and to the development of the myth of existence of the Jewish community in the USSR. It is concluded that this film, even overcoming the frameworks of purely propagandistic narration and becoming an outstanding phenomenon of cinematographic art, remains a significant example of the visual anthropology of the Soviet period, as well as a multilayered historical source that has not lost its relevance for modern scientific study.

An Anxious Love Affair: The Presence and Absence of Italian Neorealism in Soviet Film Culture

An Anxious Love Affair: The Presence and Absence of Italian Neorealism in Soviet Film Culture

THE IMAGE OF A FEMALE HEROINE OF THE WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF IDEOLOGY: ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE MOVIE «THE SNIPERS» BY B.SHAMSHIEV

Modern social science pays more attention to the study of social consciousness, forms and means of communication, methods of self-identification of human communities. A sufficient number of studies can be found on the influence of information on mass consciousness. In this regard, some thoughts and research have arisen about how a certain ideology can penetrate the consciousness of people through the media. This interest of scientists is largely related to various sources (text, visual, etc.) of information in modern society, which is accessible to the masses. This work focuses on the forms of representation of ideology aimed at the masses. Within the framework of the work, a brief history of Soviet cinema, cinema as a means of building the ideology of the Soviet era, and a review of literature in the context of this topic were presented. In order to identify the forms of transmission of ideology, the Van Dyck method of ideological discourse is used. An example of the study is the film " Snipers” by Bolotbek Shamshiev, a film based on the exploits of Aliya Moldagulova during the Great Patriotic War. Using this method of analysis, the film examined the forms of ideological construction through ideological discourses. Soviet sniper Aliya Moldagulova, who was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, presented as a female hero in the 1985 film "Snipers", is considered an ideological icon. The transformation of Moldagulova into an icon was carried out within the framework of socialist ideology in the form of militarism, equality of men and women, courage, etc.

Efim Dzigan: Pseudo-classic of the Soviet Cinema

Efim Dzigan: Pseudo-classic of the Soviet Cinema

El primer cine soviético en Argentina: el Comité Central de Ayuda al Proletariado Ruso y la distribuidora Russ Film (1922-1927)

El objetivo de este artículo es estudiar la difusión, a comienzos de la década de 1920, del primer cine soviético en la Argentina, que se realizó a través del Comité Central de Ayuda al Proletariado Ruso, una organización dedicada principalmente a recaudar fondos para paliar la hambruna que azotó a Rusia en 1921 y que constituyó la distribuidora Russ Film. Se trató de la única distribuidora en toda Latinoamérica dedicada a la exhibición de las primeras películas soviéticas que había sido conformada a instancias de la Internationale Arbeiter-Hilfe (IAH), la organización fundada por el dirigente comunista alemán Willi Münzenberg para fomentar la solidaridad social hacia la Unión Soviética y la difusión de las ideas comunistas a nivel mundial. De esta forma, se pudieron conocer en Argentina, por intermedio de la Russ Film, los primeros documentales propagandísticos de la revolución bolchevique y las primeras producciones de ficción soviéticas. Por un lado, estudiaremos el contenido y el estilo de algunos de estos films, y las estrategias de promoción adoptadas para su comercialización por esta distribuidora. Por otro, abordaremos el particular sistema de exhibición implementado por la Russ Film, ya que no solo distribuyó sus películas en las salas comerciales, sino también a través de un circuito alternativo: el de las “veladas” culturales realizadas por las diversas tendencias políticas de la izquierda argentina y las organizaciones sindicales. A pesar de que la mayor parte de esa producción resulta muy difícil de visualizar, o directamente se encuentra perdida, el relevamiento de las revistas cinematográficas de la época y de las publicaciones periódicas de izquierdas permitió obtener información sobre las características de estos films y reconstruir su marco de exhibición.

The Cossacks’ Bordering Process in the Civil War. Filmic Representations.

The Russian Revolution(s) and the Russian Civil War represent topics revisited by the recent Russian media and film-making. Mikhail Sholokhov’s novel And Quiet Flows the Don as a masterful case of fictionalisation of historical events is the basis for four subsequent film adaptations. Whereas the destiny of the Russian Cossacks is a generous theme, we would like to focus on the filmic representation of Cossacks’ bordering process in the Civil War. Two Soviet film adaptations and two post-Soviet ones present in different manners the impact of the shifting borders on people’s lives during the Russian fratricide war. Tzar’s abdication had caused confusion in the midst of the Cossack population loyal to the state father figure, while contributing afterwards to a territorial identity construction and a fight to obtain and maintain the autonomy of the Cossack region. Soviet and post-Soviet directors’ approaches of the geographical, mental and cultural borders during the Civil War in the Cossack region offer insights into the debatable loyalties and multiple sides shifting. The analysis of the four film adaptations is focused on concepts such as questioned loyalty, divisive Cossack territorial identity, nuanced and shifting identity and active/ passive territoriality. We argue that the Cossacks’ territorial identity and their bordering process is differently reflected in subsequent film adaptations of the novel.

The Cinema of Transcaucasia in the 1920s and 1930s

The paper is concerning the Soviet seizure of the cultural space of Transcaucasia and the establishment of „national“cinematography in the Soviet republics of Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in 1920s – 1930s. The Soviet power realizing the influential potential of cinema turned it into instrument of state propaganda. The three Transcaucasian film studios (in Tiflis, Yerevan, Baku) had a common task – to change the image of the East as exotic world and to alternate it with the image of the Soviet East. At the same time each of the film studios was entrusted a specific role in the Soviet cinema: The Georgian film studio as the first established Transcaucasian studio initiated the earliest agitation films glorifying the Soviet republic and the earliest heroic – adventure (western) films „Red Devils“ (“Krasnye dyavolyata”) (1923). But as the most prominent success of the Georgian cinema was labelled the movie „Eliso“ (1928), which according to the Soviet critique was considered as „ historically realistic narrative about the struggles against the colonial politics of Tsar’s autocracy“. The role of the non-Muslim Armenia and the Armenian film studio was to contribute for the removing the yashmaks from the face of the East. About the highly evaluated from the Soviet propaganda film „Namus“ (1925) „the father of the Trans-caucasian cinema“ Hamo Bek-Nazarov received the recognition of being the first one to show the true image of the East without make-up. Another task of the Armenian cinema which was successfully done was to ridicule and relegate the independent Armenian republic, governed by the party of Dashnaktsutyun (1918-1920). Baku film studio was called upon to turn into centre of movies influencing ideologically and artistically the audience of Azerbaijan, Dagestan, Persia, Turkey and other Eastern countries. It was proclaimed to be national proletarian centre for export of socialism to „ the foreign countries of the East“. By Azerbaijan movies anti-Islamic Soviet propaganda was implemented denouncing „the reactionary essence of the Muslim priesthood “. Such are movies „Bismillah“ (1925) and „Sevil“(1929, co-production with Armenian film studio). The movie „Sevil“ came out during the campaign for removing the yashmaks which was organized and controlled by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. It got the recognition of contributing for the „liberating of women of the East“. The movie is significant of the cooperation between the Azerbaijani playwright, poet and screenwriter Jafar Jabbarli, the film studio in Baku today is named after him, and the Armenian director Hamo Bek-Nazarov, the film studio in Yerevan is also named after him. In the conclusions some myths about the Soviet Transcaucasian cinema are mentioned, myths already demystified. The Transcaucasian cinema from 1920s – 1930s was not a result of free and creative exchange of knowledge and experience but it was created in a capsulated world under the control of the Soviet power. That is way the whole story of this cinema from the beginning of the 20th century is full of examples for its use for narrow political aims.

Centrality and Centralisation: A Social Network Analysis of the Early Soviet Film Industry, 1918-1953

Die sowjetische Filmindustrie bestand wie jede andere Institution aus Netzwerken von Menschen, die sich kannten oder die Menschen kannten, die sich kannten. In diesem Artikel untersucht Joan Neuberger einige dieser Beziehungen mithilfe der Analyse digitaler sozialer Netzwerke. Sie wendet die digitale Netzwerkanalyse an, um Verbindungen zwischen sowjetischen Regisseuren und Schauspielern im Zeitraum von 1918 bis 1953 zu untersuchen, und zeigt zum einen, inwieweit Unbekanntheit vorteilhaft sein konnte, und zum anderen, dass Veranderungen in der ethnischen und regionalen Integration in dieser Zeit ein anderes Bild der Zentralisierung aufweisen als jenes in Studien der politischen Zentralisierung.

The Progression of the Soviet Heroine in Film

Heroines in Soviet films adapted to conform to changing political and social views throughout the twentieth century. Oksana Bulgakova's observation of the metamorphoses of Soviet heroines marks the decline and peaks of complexity in their characters through each progressing year. There are two major historical periods which precipitated the evolving portrayal of female protagonists in cinema: the Thaw and Glasnost. The films The Cranes Are Flying (1957) and Little Vera (1988) establish two specific breakthroughs: they set the precedent for independent, complex heroines who defy the communist condemnation of the "individualist" mindset while also portraying the feminist struggles of their decades.