Editorial

Abstract

At Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema, we condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the suffering it brings to the people of Ukraine. As an academic journal, we consider scholarship an important domain for critical reflection and intellectual exchange. We wish to distinguish between the regime and individual scholars, who often vociferously and at significant risk continue to articulate their dissent from the system. As a scholarly journal devoted to cinema of the former post-Soviet space, we publish scholarship independent of authors’ citizenship and cover the cinematic histories and cultures of the entire postSoviet space: a clear and lucid analysis is the best way to understand cultural strategies, including the use of cinema as a form of soft power. In the second issue for 2022, Studies in Russian & Soviet Cinema presents four articles, which cover a range of aspects of Soviet cinema and its history. In chronological order, we start with an article by Patrícia Silveirinha Castello Branco, who considers the haptic visuality in Eisenstein’s film theory between revolutionary and bourgeois thought, between tradition and the avant-garde, between mechanical and artisanal. Her contribution is followed by two articles about Thaw-era cinema: Olia Kim studies the concept of ‘poetic cinema’ in Soviet and post-Soviet critical discourse; and Maria Mayofis traces the genealogy of the intelligentsia through two Thaw-era films. Finally, Aleksandra Shubina’s quirky analysis of the science-fiction character Alisa Seleznёva concludes the article section. We have a small number of book reviews (which now feature in each issue rather than being clustered in the final issue each year), prepared by Stephen M. Norris, to whom I express my gratitude. As always, Studies in Russian & Soviet Cinema encourages submissions on any aspect of Soviet, post-Soviet and Russian cinema and visual culture, including the post-Soviet space. We operate a system of double-blind peer-review; submissions should be original (i.e., previously unpublished, including publications in another language) and will be considered at any time throughout the year. They should be sent to the editor at birgit.beumers@gmail.com.