ISBN-10: 1845202155 | ISBN-13: 978-1845202156 | Publication Date: February 3, 2009 | Edition: English Ed
Film emerged in pre-Revolutionary Russia to become the “most important of all arts” for the new Bolshevik regime and its propaganda machine. The 1920s saw a flowering of film experimentation, notably with the work of Eisenstein, and a huge growth in the audience for film, which continued into the 1930s with the rise of musicals. The films of the World War II and Cold War periods reflected a return to political concerns in their representation of the “enemy.” The 1960s and 1970s saw the rise of art-house films. With glasnost came the collapse of the state-run film industry and an explosion in the cinematic treatment of previously taboo topics. In the new Russia, cinema has become genuinely independent, as a commercial as well as an artistic medium.
A History of Russian Cinema is the first complete history from the beginning of film to the present day and presents an engaging narrative of both the industry and its key films in the context of Russia's social and political history.
"An indispensable addition to any library, this superbly researched and engagingly written history of Russian cinema will be the standard reference for years to come. Beumers introduces readers to the rich complexity of Russian cinema and convincingly demonstrates the key role played by the 'most important art' in Russian, Soviet, and post-Soviet culture."--Denise J. Youngblood, Professor of History, University of Vermont
About the Author
Birgit Beumers is Reader in Russian in the School of Modern Languages at Bristol University. She is author of Nikita Mikhalkov: Between Nostalgia and Nationalism. and PopCulture: Russia! and editor of Russia on Reels: The Russian Idea in Post-Soviet Cinema and 24 Frames: Russia and the Soviet Union. She is also editor of the journals, KinoKultura and Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema.
Product Details
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Berg Publishers; English Ed edition (February 3, 2009)
This review is from: A History of Russian Cinema (Paperback)
Dr. Birgit Beumers has written extensively on Russian film as well as its culture and media, and her expertise shows. This history of Russian cinema is accessible and wonderfully balanced, and contains an extensive discussion of the highly dynamic period since the 'collapse.' There is always some history to any overview of Russian/Soviet cinema, given how extensively the state governed the country's film apparatus for many years. That having been said, some texts lean a little too much into the politics and lose sight of the cinema. Beumers does not do that. Her text illuminates on the state/art link, and the narrative is loosely organized around periods of Russian/Soviet political history, but she never takes the reader too far away from what they came for - the movies. The selection of films discussed is broad and comprehensive, and the appendices are loaded with resources for further study.
A well-written, well-researched, and most welcome book that clearly displays the author's love of Russia's underappreciated film history. Would probably make an excellent text for a college course, and highly recommended for anyone who simply enjoys Russian cinema.
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