THE CINEMA OF RUSSIA & THE FORMER SOVIET UNION

This volume explores the cinema of the former Soviet Union and contemporary Russia, ranging from the pre-Revolutionary period to the present day. It offers an insight into the development of Soviet film, from ‘the most important of all arts’ as a propaganda tool to a means of entertainment in the Stalin era, from the rise of its ‘dissident’ art-house cinema in the 1960s through the glasnost era with its broken taboos to recent Russian blockbusters. Films have been chosen to represent both the classics of Russian and Soviet cinema as well as those films that had a more localised success and remain part of Russia’s cultural reference system. The volume also covers a range of national film industries of the former Soviet Union in chapters on the greatest films and directors of Ukrainian, Kazakh, Georgian and Armenian cinematography. Films discussed include Strike (1925), Earth (1930), Ivan’s Childhood (1962), Mother and Son (1997) and Brother (1997).

March 2007
288 pages

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Birgit Beumers is Senior Lecturer in the Russian Department at Bristol University. Her publications include Burnt by the Sun (2000) and PopCulture: Russia! (2005).

‘Typically, the Russian volume … avoids, where possible, the too obvious, or too voluminously written-about … Typically, too, the thematic content is rich, if – in the context of ten-page articles – succinct and introductory.’
– Wally Hammond, Time Out 

'The analysis of the twenty-four listed films gives the reader a look into the progress of the Soviet film industry. It is lucidly written and imaginative [making] a great addition to other volumes on the subject.'
– David A. Ellis, Cinema Technology

‘Rather than a rolling, general account with a few lines on most films and a page at best on the most pivotal, here we see 24 substantial readings of representative movies … The standard of these essays is high, and for the most part the contributions manage to combine close readings of the films with contextual insight into the director, the genre or the cinema of the period.'
– Jeremy Hicks, Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema

'Ranging from silent cinema to musical comedy, from art film to animation and blockbuster, the films under discussion here provide 24 diverse and compelling answers to the question "What is Russian cinema?" Carefully chosen and meticulously researched by leading scholars, these essays cover both familiar classics and lesser-known films that have played a pivotal role in cultural politics from imperial Russia through the Soviet period - including films of the socialist republics - to today's post-socialist reality. The volume is an invaluable companion to any exploration, in the classroom or on one's own, of Russo-Soviet culture over the last century.'
– Nancy Condee, University of Pittsburgh 

'Lucidly written, vibrant, insightful, elegant and imaginative, these essays lead the reader - advanced as well as newcomer - into the depths of the best Russian and Soviet films and provide fascinating reading. Birgit Beumers has gathered in this volume the leading scholars who are working currently in the field. Using the most powerful images encoded in this cinema, the authors enable us not only to experience Russian and Soviet values and sensibilities but also to take part in the process of reconceptualisation of these great movies that are so finely analysed in this volume.'
– Evgeny Dobrenko, University of Sheffield

'No single volume of essays could hope to encompass the full richness of Soviet and post-Soviet cinema, but Beumers provides an excellent introduction to some of the leading Russian and Soviet filmmakers and films. Each essay - some by redoubtable scholars (e.g. Ian Christie, Richard Taylor, Josephine Woll), some by less familiar Slavists - surveys the career of a major director; many outline film production in former Soviet republics, e.g., Kazakhstand and Georgia. Chapters on lev Kuleshov's The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr West in the Land of the Bolsheviks (1924) and Aleksandr Sokurov's Russian Ark (2002) are particularly fine. Beumers includes good chapters on major artists (Andrei Tarkovskii, Kira Muratova, Alexei German) and less-heralded figures (Leonid Gaiddai, Rashid Nugrnanov)... Accessible to a broad audience, the essays are only minimally documented; an extensive bibliography provides leads for more advanced students... Highly recommended.'
– S. Liebman, CUNY Graduate Center, Choice Magazine, November 2007