The Adventures of the Kulturfilm in Soviet Russia

Oksana Sarkisova*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Book/Report typesChapterpeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

The dynamics of kulturfilm production highlight the emergence of new investment priorities in early Soviet cinema. This chapter looks into the short but dynamic lifespan of this notion; covers the period of the second half of the 1920s and the early 1930s, when the first kulturfilms were in broad circulation, up to the time when they were gradually replaced by the ideas of "documentary" and "scientific" cinema. It introduces the semantic context of the idea, borrowed from the German film industry and appropriated by film professionals in the Soviet Union; it surveys the studio landscape, kulturfilm production practices, and cinematographic highlights of the genre, focusing specifically on the films that, through their survey of the Soviet periphery, contributed to the shaping of Soviet identity discourses. The chapter concludes by looking into the debates criticizing the concept of kulturfilm which foregrounded its gradual withdrawal from film reviews and studio production plans.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationA Companion to Russian Cinema
PublisherWiley-Blackwell
Pages92-116
Number of pages25
ISBN (Electronic)9781118424773
ISBN (Print)9781118412763
DOIs
StatePublished - 20 May 2016

Keywords

  • Early Soviet cinema
  • German film industry
  • Kulturfilm
  • Soviet Russia
  • Soviet Union

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