{"title":"‘If I forget anything at all, it’s unlikely the stars will accept us … ’: sci-fi fan communities, post-Soviet nostalgia and contemporary cinematic experience","authors":"B. Stepanov","doi":"10.1080/17503132.2020.1871191","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17503132.2020.1871191","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Reception studies is an important trend in contemporary film studies, especially in the current situation, which is characterised by media convergence and audience differentiation. One area of such research, which has not yet developed concerning Soviet and post-Soviet cinema, is the study of fandom. In this paper, I explore post-Soviet fan communities, which play a significant role in the re-appropriation of Soviet sci-fi films and the establishment of a cult aura around science-fiction films. The article seeks not only to outline the emergence of these communities in the 1990–2000s, but also to show their contribution to the formation of a post-Soviet cinematic culture. Moreover, I show how the experience of these communities sheds light on the nature of post-Soviet nostalgia as one of the key impulses of cinematic consumption in post-Soviet culture.","PeriodicalId":41168,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema","volume":"15 1","pages":"70 - 90"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/17503132.2020.1871191","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42772201","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Notes toward an untimely Soviet comedy: Eisenstein’s MMM","authors":"D. Condren","doi":"10.1080/17503132.2020.1870284","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17503132.2020.1870284","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Between 1932 and 1933, in the context of a new mandate for cheerfulness in Soviet cinema, Sergei Eisenstein, recently returned from a frustrating sojourn abroad, undertook an exercise in genre: the beguilingly titled comedy MMM. The project, which was never completed, has been almost completely overlooked in studies of the director’s works. Against this tendency of Eisenstein scholarship, this paper presents MMM as a serious and highly developed experiment in genre, using archival material – including notes, screenplays, director’s scripts and drawings – to read the work as an expression of Eisenstein’s cinematic process at its most formally inventive and ideologically intricate. The script, composed entirely in verse, is the director’s only fully-conceived attempt at film comedy. It follows a sprawling series of incongruous historical encounters as visitors from medieval Rus’ materialise in contemporary Moscow. The absurd fantasia that ensues is not only Eisenstein’s attempt to probe an increasingly ideologically unstable Soviet reality, but is also his occasion to explore, through self-reflexive comedic techniques, the nature and limits of the cinematic medium, as well as the theoretical question of the mutability of static form and the implications of this conundrum for character, narrative and genre.","PeriodicalId":41168,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema","volume":"15 1","pages":"2 - 22"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2021-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/17503132.2020.1870284","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48276510","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"‘Superior to Disney’: colour animation at Lenfilm, 1936-41","authors":"P. Cavendish","doi":"10.1080/17503132.2020.1865614","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17503132.2020.1865614","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article examines the phenomenon of colour-film animation at Lenfilm during the period 1936–1941. It discusses the development of colour technologies at the studio during the 1930s and the ways in which its artists responded to the aesthetic challenge of colour. Three of the seven short films produced during this period have been selected as case studies; they are examined here in the context of filmed animations in the Soviet Union during the 1930s, in particular the debates prompted by the screening of three Disney animations in Technicolor at the Moscow International Film Festival in 1935. The formal analysis of the case studies is based on the digital restorations in recent years at the Russian State Film Archive (Gosfilmfond), but also the inspection of one nitrate-positive of Mstislav Pashchenko’s Dzhiabzha (1939), which has survived intact at the archive. The technical difficulties posed by the hydrotype process developed at Lenfilm, as well as the challenge of producing sufficient prints for mass distribution, also form part of the discussion.","PeriodicalId":41168,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema","volume":"15 1","pages":"39 - 69"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/17503132.2020.1865614","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43138310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema","authors":"B. Beumers","doi":"10.1080/17503132.2020.1814564","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17503132.2020.1814564","url":null,"abstract":"The journal’s third issue for 2020 appears, unaffected by the pandemic that has gripped almost the entire planet. The fact that issue 14.3 contains only two articles (but five book reviews!) has no...","PeriodicalId":41168,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema","volume":"14 1","pages":"217 - 217"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/17503132.2020.1814564","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42259408","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Armenian cinema in the late Soviet years: desexualisation as a narrative convention","authors":"S. Azatyan","doi":"10.1080/17503132.2020.1808754","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17503132.2020.1808754","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article addresses Soviet-Armenian love narratives in cinema in the Soviet political and cultural context, revealing the negative impact of ideological restrictions on Armenian romance films between 1970 and 1990. On the one hand, the state censorship of film production and, on the other hand, the local conventions on social and sexual mores were detrimental to the development of Armenian romance films through a sanitisation of the subject-matter, particularly sexuality. The article examines Armenian love narratives through the philosophy of the being of love and with reference to the principles of realistic narratives and the romance genre. In a range of aspects, from cinematic articulation of heterosexual love, through a variety of theories of cinematic realism to features of visual narration, Armenian love narratives are shown to make use of a set of features aimed at the desexualisation of male and female love interests. Using a selection of films from the 1970s and 1980s with desexualised love narratives, the argument is made that characterisation and narrative are deficient inasmuch as they refrain from realistic representations of Armenian men and women in psycho-sexual terms.","PeriodicalId":41168,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema","volume":"14 1","pages":"235 - 256"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/17503132.2020.1808754","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42605815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"This thing of darkness: Eisenstein’s Ivan the terrible in Stalin’s Russia","authors":"S. Norris","doi":"10.1080/17503132.2020.1808273","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17503132.2020.1808273","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41168,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema","volume":"14 1","pages":"262 - 264"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/17503132.2020.1808273","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42565170","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Kote Mikaberidze","authors":"Oksana Sarkisova","doi":"10.1080/17503132.2020.1808272","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17503132.2020.1808272","url":null,"abstract":"From Ivan Perestiani and Nikoloz Shengelaia to Tengiz Abuladze and Otar Ioseliani, Georgian cinema is internationally known as a pantheon of auteurs with unique visual and narrative talents. This n...","PeriodicalId":41168,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema","volume":"14 1","pages":"258 - 260"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/17503132.2020.1808272","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45545520","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"What is that song? Aleksej Balabanov’s ‘Brother’ and rock as film music in Russian cinema","authors":"Rita Safariants","doi":"10.1080/17503132.2020.1808270","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17503132.2020.1808270","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41168,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema","volume":"14 1","pages":"260 - 262"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/17503132.2020.1808270","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43378011","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Beyond Eastern Noir: reimagining Russia and Eastern Europe in Nordic cinemas","authors":"Åsne Ø. Høgetveit","doi":"10.1080/17503132.2020.1808271","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17503132.2020.1808271","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41168,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema","volume":"14 1","pages":"257 - 265"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/17503132.2020.1808271","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"59966794","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Caught in-between: intermediality in contemporary Eastern European and Russian cinema","authors":"O. Klimova","doi":"10.1080/17503132.2020.1808274","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/17503132.2020.1808274","url":null,"abstract":"The theoretical exploration of the notion of ‘intermediality’ has been ongoing in media studies and film studies over the past two decades. However, this new edited volume by Agnes Pethő offers its...","PeriodicalId":41168,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema","volume":"14 1","pages":"264 - 265"},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2020-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/17503132.2020.1808274","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45845055","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}