200 Foreign Leaders of Soviet Film Distribution: Selected Collection. (original) (raw)
Related papers
2022
What does the list of the thousand most popular Soviet films look like? Why did these Soviet films become box office leaders? Which Soviet directors can be considered the most box office hits, and why? How did the press and the audience evaluate the highest-grossing Soviet films? Professor Alexander Fedorov's monograph One thousand and one highest-grossing Soviet film: opinions of film critics and viewers, now in its third revised edition, offers a broad panorama of a thousand of the most popular Soviet films, viewed through the eyes of film critics and audiences. The material of this book might be of interest for higher-school teachers, students, graduate students, researchers, film critics, cinema scholars, journalists, as well as for the wide range of readers who are interested in the history of cinema art, problems of cinema, film criticism and film sociology. In connection with the publication of the monograph A. Fedorov gave an interview to Professor Marina Tselykh.
Western Cinema on the Pages of the Soviet Screen Magazine: 1986–1991
2024
Based on the content analysis (in the context of the historical, socio-cultural and political situation, etc.) of the texts published during the "perestroika" period of the Soviet Screen magazine (1986-1991), the authors came to the conclusion that materials on the subject of Western cinema on this stage can be divided into the following genres:-ideologized articles emphasizing criticism of bourgeois cinema and its harmful influence on the audience (1986-1987);-articles on the history of Western cinema;-biographies and creative portraits of Western actors and directors (as a rule, with positive ratings);-interviews with Western filmmakers (as a rule, with those who came to Moscow film festivals);-reviews of Western films (here we can note a violation of the old tradition: if in 1986-1987 the magazine still often negatively evaluated some "politically harmful bourgeois" films, then later Western film production was evaluated without regard to ideological stereotypes, moreover, even received a positive interpretation films that were previously rejected for ideological reasons);-articles about international film festivals and weeks of foreign cinema in the USSR, reviews of the current repertoire of Western national cinematographies (no longer divided into "progressive" and "bourgeois" cinematography);-short informational materials about events in Western cinema (from neutral reports to "yellow" gossip).
Western Cinema on the Pages of the Soviet Screen Magazine (1969–1985): Reviews of Western Films
2024
Based on content analysis (in the context of the historical, socio-cultural and political situation, etc.) of texts published during the "stagnant" period of the Soviet Screen magazine (1969-1985), the authors came to the following conclusions. Of the wide range of Hollywood and British films, Soviet film distribution in the period we analyzed included mainly films with an acute social message, critically showing Western realities. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that these films received maximum support in the Soviet Screen; articles by Soviet film critics emphasized the "progressive anti-bourgeois significance" of these films. It is very significant that, even when reviewing American films, which seemed to be completely far from politics, the reviewers of Soviet Screen demonstrated ideological approaches. Of course, among the reviews of American and British films in Soviet Screen, there also appeared texts that were devoid of a direct appeal to politics. "Apoliticalism" was especially evident in reviews devoted to film adaptations of classical works, which often took place in the 19th century and earlier. Frankly entertaining Hollywood and British films were released into Soviet distribution in the 1970s and the first half of the 1980s quite rarely. And here, Soviet Screen reviewers often sought to distance themselves from edifying political and ideological assessments, concentrating on a professional analysis of the artistic quality of this or that entertaining film. In Italian and French cinema, the Soviet Screen consistently gave preference to political films that "expose capitalist reality." Of course, Soviet Screen, as before, could not ignore the works of Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, Michelangelo Antonioni, Francois Truffaut and other outstanding masters of cinema. But here, too, the magazine's reviewers assessed their work mainly within the framework of Marxist ideological principles, on the basis of which even the films of such recognized masters as Federico Fellini were criticized. The sharp rejection of Soviet Screen reviewers was often caused by entertainment films with the participation of Jean-Paul Belmondo, which were reproached for promoting "supermanhood" and violence. The Soviet Screen's reviews of famous French and Italian comedies were more benevolent, but overall rather skeptical. Of course, the range of Western films, for one reason or another, did not reach the Soviet mass audience, was much wider than film distribution. And year after year, the editors of the magazine selected examples for criticism of bourgeois society and imperialism: films of an anti
2023
The subject of Western cinematography was presented in a rather limited volume on the pages of the Soviet Screen magazine in 1957–1960. However, with the appointment of film critic Dmitry Pisarevsky (1912–1990) to the post of editor-in-chief the "thaw" tendencies in the Soviet screen led to a gradual increase in the number of materials about foreign cinema on the pages of the magazine (sometimes they took up to a third of the total volume of the issue). Increasingly, photographs of Western movie stars were published (in rare cases, even on color covers), neutrally or positively presented biographies of Hollywood and European actors and directors, articles about Western film weeks and international film festivals, reviews of Western films, etc. Although, no doubt, there were also ideologically biased materials in this magazine. Based on the content analysis (in the context of the historical, socio-cultural and political situation, etc.) of the texts published during the "thaw" period of the magazine Soviet Screen (1957–1968), the authors came to the conclusion that materials on the subject of Western cinema on this stage can be divided into the following genres: - ideologized articles emphasizing criticism of bourgeois cinema and its harmful influence on the audience; - articles on the history of Western cinema (as a rule, about the period of the Great Silent, with a minimum degree of ideologization); - biographies and creative portraits of Western actors and directors (often neutrally or positively evaluating these filmmakers); - interviews with Western filmmakers (here, as a rule, interlocutors were selected from among "progressive artists"); - reviews of Western films (positive in relation to most of the Soviet film distribution repertoire and often negative in relation to those movies that were considered ideologically harmful); - articles about international film festivals and weeks of foreign cinema in the USSR (with a clear division into "progressive" and "bourgeois" cinematography); - reviews of the current repertoire of Western national cinematographies (here, as a rule, criticism of bourgeois cinematography was also combined with a positive assessment of works and trends ideologically acceptable to the USSR); - short informational materials about events in Western cinema (from neutral reports to caustic feuilletons and "yellow" gossip).
Cinema in the mirror of the Soviet and Russian film criticism
This monograph is devoted to the topic of cinema in the mirror of the Soviet and Russian film criticism. The book is intended for educators, students, researchers, film / media critics, journalists, for the readers who are interested in the problems of film and media criticism, film studies.
2021
Fedorov, A. Record holders of the banned Soviet cinema (1951-1991) in the mirror of film criticism and viewers' opinions. Moscow: “Information for all”. 2021. 102 p. The monograph provides a wide panorama of the opinions of film critics and viewers about full-length feature Soviet films (1951-1991), which were banned for a long time (over five years) from being shown in cinemas and on television or stopped while filming. For higher education teachers, students, graduate students, researchers, film critics and historians, journalists, as well as a wide range of readers interested in the history of cinematography, the problems of cinema, film criticism and film sociology.
Corvinus Journal of International Affairs
The study of cinema as a tool of ideological and political influence for Soviet propaganda is an important subject for studies of the Cold War. The following paper examines the portrayal of enemies of the Soviet Union in Soviet movies. The focus is on the times under post-WW2 leaders, namely Stalin, Khrushchev and Brezhnev. The discussion of the wide range of instruments used by filmmakers is organised in terms of two distinct thematic frameworks in the article: that of gender discourse and spy movies. The paper illustrates the portrayal of Western characters and the Western lifestyle through Soviet narratives. This often entailed de-humanizing American women and de-masculinizing American men or glorifying Soviet spies as the national heroes.
The Soviet Western, 1964-1982: Sovietising Hollywood
In this paper, I attempted to understand the underlying reasons for the existence of a Sovietised attempt at the quintessentially American genre of the 'Western' film. By dissecting several distinct film of the 1960s and 1970s, I hope to have shown that the Soviet Western is revealing in its demonstration of convergence and connection between the American and Soviet experience of history.