Russian and Soviet Cinema

The module covers the main industrial, cultural and aesthetic trends in the development of Russian/Soviet cinema from the inception to the present day. While placing strong emphasis on the social, political and ideological contexts in which Russian and Soviet cinema emerged and developed throughout its existence, it also aims to impart a discipline specific understanding of the mechanics of representation in film and of various cinematic genres and modes.

Core texts include but are not limited to the following:

General Literature on Film Medium (film language, styles, genres, etc.):

• Corrigan, Timothy and Patricia White. The Film Experience: an Introduction (Boston and New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2021)Alexander Herzen, My Past and Thoughts, part 4, chapters 25, 29, 30

Russian/Soviet/Post-Soviet Cinema Histories, Historical Surveys and Readers:

• Beumers, B. A History of Russian Cinema (Oxford and New York, 2009)
• Beumers, Birgit and Eugénie Zvonkine (Ed.). Ruptures and continuities in Soviet/Russian cinema: Styles, Characters and Genres before and after the Collapse of the USSR (London, New York: Routledge, 2018)
• Cherchi Usai, Paolo, et al. (ed.), Y. Tsivian (research and co-ordination). Silent Witnesses. Russian Films 1908-1919 (London: BFI, 1989)
• Graffy, J. ‘Cinema’. In Russian Cultural Studies. Ed. C. Kelly and D. Shepherd (Oxford, 1998). pp. 165-91
• Leyda, J. Kino. A History of the Russian and Soviet Cinema. 3rdEdition (London, 1983)
• Salys, Rimgaila. The Russian Cinema Reader: Volume I, From 1908 to the Stalin Era (Boston, MA: Academic Studies Press, 2013)
• Salys, Rimgaila. The Russian Cinema Reader Volume II, The Thaw to the Present. (Boston, MA: Academic Studies Press, 2013)
• Zorkaya, N. The Illustrated History of Soviet Cinema (New York, 1989)

Monographs on Russian/Soviet/Post-Soviet Cinemas of Various Periods and Subjects

• Attwood, L. (Ed.) Red Women on the Silver Screen. Soviet Women and Cinema from the Beginning to the End of the Communist Era (London, 1993)
• Beumers, B. (ed.) The Cinema of Russia and the Former Soviet Union (London and New York, 2007)
• Beumers, B. (ed.) Russia on Reels: The Russian Idea in Post-Soviet Cinema (London and New York, 1999)
• Condee, N. The Imperial Trace. Recent Russian Cinema (New York, 2009)
• Dobrenko, E. Stalinist Cinema and the Production of History. Museum of the Revolution (Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 2008)
• Goscilo H. and Y. Hashamova (Eds). Cinepaternity. Fathers and Sons in Soviet and Post-Soviet Film (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana UP, 2010)
• Horton, A. and M. Brashinsky. The Zero Hour. Glasnost and Soviet Cinema in Transition (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1992)
• Lawton, Anna. The Red Screen: Politics, Society, Art in Soviet Cinema (London: Routledge, 1992)
• Lawton, A. Kinoglasnost: Soviet Cinema in Our Time (Cambridge: CUP, 1992)
• Miller, J. Soviet Cinema. Politics and Persuasion under Stalin (London 2010)
• Shlapentokh, D. and Shlapentokh, V. Soviet Cinematography 1918-1991. Ideological Conflict and Social Reality (New York, 1993)
• Strukov, Vlad, Contemporary Russian Cinema: Symbols of a New Era (Edinburgh, 2016)
• Taylor R. and D. Spring (Eds.). Stalinism and Soviet Cinema (London and New York 1993)
• Taylor R. and I. Christie (Eds.). The Film Factory. Russian and Soviet Cinema in Documents 1896-1939(London, 1988)
• Taylor R. and I. Christie (Eds.). Inside the Film Factory (London and New York, 1991)
• Tsivian, Yuri. Early Cinema in Russia and its Cultural Reception (London and New York, 1994/1998)
• Woll, J. Real Images. Soviet Cinema and the Thaw (London and New York, 2000)
• Youngblood, D. The Magic Mirror. Moviemaking in Russia 1908-1918 (Madison, Wisconsin, 1999)
• Youngblood, D. Movies for the Masses: Popular Cinema and Soviet Society in the 1920s (Cambridge: 1993).

Coordinator:  Dr Dušan Radunović

Further details of pre-requisites, co-requisites, aims, contact hours and assessment.