SOVIET CINEMA
From the early years of the Soviet avant-garde to the post-Stalinist era of covert critique, Soviet cinema offers an intriguing perspective on life in the USSR and the art of film. We will explore the pioneering cinema of Eisenstein, Vertov, Pudovkin, and Dovzhenko; the Hollywood-modeled propaganda films and musical comedies of the 1930s; the representation of World War II; the aesthetic and moral quests of post-Stalinist filmmakers like Kalatozov, Muratova, and Shepitko; and comedies, socially critical films, and new cinematic directions at the end of the USSR.
With the hundredth anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution marked only very recently, we will approach our thinking about Soviet film by focusing on the revolution as a subject. Or, rather, revolutions—plural—in society, everyday life, gender, sexuality, and the art of cinema itself.
Course materials: All films are available with English subtitles. All films are available to stream online on a combination of platforms, including Youtube (free), Kanopy (free), and also through Canvas (also free). There may be 1-2 films that need to be rented on one of the streaming platforms, but that’s an exception: for the most part, there are no expenses associated with acquisition of any course materials. There are no textbooks that students are required to purchase. I will be posting links for each film, in Canvas.