Department of Slavonic Studies

Paper Ru 2 (new for 2013-14)

Soviet and Russian Cinema

Course Convenors: Dr Susan Larsen (2013-14), Dr Emma Widdis (2015-16)

N.B. This page only introduces you to the paper. Full details and the reading list for 2013-14 will be avaliable from Easter Term 2013.

The Paper

This course investigates the history of Soviet and Russian cinema from its beginnings in the early 20th century through the present : from early silent comedies and melodramas to the emergence of the avant-garde in the 1920s; from Stalinist blockbusters of the 1930s through the Soviet ‘New Wave’ of the 1960s; from the tumultuous changes of the glasnost’ era through the postmodern challenges of the present. The paper encourages students to explore the work of one or more directors in depth, but it also asks students to think comparatively about the evolution of filmmaking practices, genres and themes across historical periods and changes in political regime. This course is open to students in both Part IB and Part II; it does not assume any prior study of film, but it students are expected to read a wide range of critical, historical and theoretical texts (in both English and Russian) as essential context for the films under discussion.

Texts and Topics

For study in 2013-14:

1) Revolutionary Film Culture: From Boulevard to Avant-Garde
This topic traces the emergence of Soviet avant-garde cinema from pre-revolutionary popular filmmaking in films by Evgenii Bauer, Sergei Eisenstein, Iakov Protazanov, Lev Kuleshov, Vsevolod Pudovkin and Fridrikh Ermler.

2) From Silence to Sound: Sergei Eisenstein, Oleksandr Dovzhenko and Dziga Vertov
This topic focuses on the evolution of the avant-garde in response to technological and political developments in the 1930s and 1940s. Films to be discussed include Eisenstein’s Bronenosets Potemkin (1927) and Ivan Groznyi (1944-1946); Dovzhenko’s Zemlia (1930) and Aerograd (1935); and Vertov’s Chelovek s kinoapparatom (1929) and Tri pesni o Lenine (1932).

3) The Other Soviet Classics: Popular Cinema in the Stalin Era
This topic examines the ways in which Soviet filmmakers sought to ‘catch up and overtake’ Hollywood in the musicals, melodramas, romantic comedies and war films that were popular in the 1930s and 1940s. Filmmakers to be discussed include Grigorii Aleksandrov, Ivan Pyr’ev, Iulii Raizman, Mikhail Romm, Semen Timoshenko and Mikheil Chiaureli.

4) Soviet Cinema After Stalin: Rewriting the Past, Confronting the Present
This topic investigates the ways in which Soviet cinema rebelled against the thematic and stylistic constraints of the Stalin era in a range of extraordinary films released between 1957 and 1984. Filmmakers to be discussed include Mikhail Kalatozov, Marlen Khutsiev, Sergei Bondarchuk, Larisa Shepitko, Grigorii Chukhrai, Kira Muratova and Andrei Tarkovskii.

5) Russian Cinema from Perestroika to the Present

This topic addresses the principal trends and figures in Russian filmmaking from the glasnost’ era through the present. Filmmakers to be discussed include Aleksei Balabanov, Aleksandr Sokurov, Aleksei German, Andrei Zviagintsev, Kira Muratova, Boris Khlebnikov, Vasilii Sigarev and Sergei Loban.

Preparatory Reading

Bordwell, David and Thompson, Kristin. Film Art: An Introduction.
Beumers, Birgit. A History of Russian Cinema.
Nesbet, Anne. Savage Junctures: Sergei Eisenstein and the Shape of Thinking.
Widdis, Emma. Visions of a New Land: Soviet Film from the Revolution to the Second World War.
Woll, Josephine. Real Images: Soviet Cinema and the Thaw.
Condee, Nancy. The Imperial Trace: Recent Russian Cinema.

Complete reading list will be available here by 1 July 2013.

Teaching

Weekly lectures in Michaelmas and Lent; weekly revision seminars in Easter; fortnightly supervisions (10 in the course of the year).

Assessment

Assessment by three-hour written examination for students in Part IB and Part II. Students in Part IB may elect to present a portfolio of essays and students in Part II may present an optional dissertation in lieu of the written examination.

Individuals with Raven passwords may download copies of the sample examination paper from Easter Term 2013