Soviet Art House: Lenfilm Studio under Brezhnev

✍ Scribed by Catriona Kelly

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Year: 2021
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 541
• Edition: Illustrated
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Its unique ability to sway the masses has led many observers to consider cinema the artform with the greatest political force. The images it produces can bolster leaders or contribute to their undoing. Soviet filmmakers often had to face great obstacles as they struggled to make art in an authoritarian society that put them not only under ideological pressure but also imposed rigid economic constraints on the industry. But while the Brezhnev era of Soviet filmmaking is often depicted as a period of great repression, Soviet Art House reveals that the films made at the prestigious Lenfilm studio in this period were far more imaginative than is usually suspected.

In this pioneering study of a Soviet film studio, author Catriona Kelly delves into previously unpublished archival documents and interviews, memoirs, and the films themselves to illuminate the ideological, economic, and aesthetic dimensions of filmmaking in the Brezhnev era. She argues that especially the young filmmakers who joined the studio after its restructuring in 1961 revitalized its output and helped establish Leningrad as a leading center of oppositional art. This unique insight into Soviet film production shows not only the inner workings of Soviet institutions before the system collapsed but also traces how filmmakers tirelessly dodged and negotiated contradictory demands to create sophisticated and highly original movies.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Soviet Art House
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
List of Figures
Preface and Acknowledgments
Terminology and Transliteration
List of Abbreviations
Introduction: The Art House in Space and Time
1. Big Hopes and Trouble, 1961–​1969
2. “Serious” Cinema and the Box Office: Lenfilm, 1970–​1985
3. The Cinema Centaur: Lenfilm as Production Line
4. Nonexistent Reality: The Lenfilm Aesthetic
5. Pleasure and Danger: Yuly Fait, A Boy and a Girl (1966)
6. The Indifference of Time: Gennady Shpalikov, A Long Happy Life (1967)
7. Regulated Immediacy: Viktor Sokolov, A Day of Sunshine and Rain (1967)
8. More in Expectation Than Hope: Naum Birman, Chronicle of a Dive-​Bomber (1967)
9. Cold War Fears: Savva Kulish, The Dead Season (1968)
10. Personal Happiness: Vitaly Melnikov, Mother’s Got Married (1969)
11. Trust in Talent: Ilya Averbakh, Monologue (1972)
12. Spontaneous Music: Dinara Asanova, Woodpeckers Don’t Get Headaches (1975)
13. Fervor and Tenderness: Gleb Panfilov, May I Speak? (1975)
14. Private Grief, Public Mourning: Sergei Mikaelyan, The Widows (1977)
15. Ludic Love: Kira Muratova, Getting to Know the Wide World (1978)
16. Cast a Cold Eye: Boris Frumin, The Errors of Youth (1978)
17. Socialist Embarrassment: Viktor Tregubovich, Go If You’re Going (1978)
18. The Power of Irony: Igor Maslennikov, The Queen of Spades (1982)
19. Hystoria: Aleksei German, My Friend Ivan Lapshin (1984)
Conclusion: Art House beyond the Art House
Filmography
Index