CIN201Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Soviet Montage Theory, Gerasimov Institute Of Cinematography, Economy Of The Soviet Union
Lecture I-7: Soviet Montage Cinema
Lecture Structure:
1) Introduction: Comparing Germany and Russia
i) underdeveloped film industry prior to crucial developments
ii) necessity for government intervention
iii) centrality of a few key institutions
[N.B.: we will only cover i)-iii) in this lecture]
iv) influential role of a dominant art movement
v) decline linked to changes in political climate
2) The State of the Pre-Revolutionary Industry
3) Government Action
i) NEP
4) The VGIK and Lev Kuleshov’s Workshop
i) Kuleshov and Montage
Introduction: Comparing Germany and Russia
The parallels that exist between the German and Soviet national cinemas will
be used to structure today’s lecture.
A central difference between the German cinema of the Weimar period and the
Soviet cinema of the pre-Stalin revolutionary era is the importance of theory
to the development of the latter.
The State of the Pre-Revolutionary Industry
Domestic companies began to emerge around 1907 (e.g. Drankov).
The emergence of some important directors in the early teens (e.g. Bauer and
Protazanov) revealed a style quite different from that adopted in the post-
Revolutionary period.
The pre-Revolutionary industry’s interests were not shared by those of the
Bolshevik government. (The October Revolution occurs in 1917.)
Government Action
The newly installed Bolshevik government needed to unify the country and
convince the Soviet populace to support its policies. Film would become
instrumental in the government achieving those goals.
In 1919, the film industry was nationalised under the Educational
Commisariat, aka Narkompros, headed by A.V. Lunacharski.
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Document Summary
Lecture i-7: soviet montage cinema: introduction: comparing germany and russia i) underdeveloped film industry prior to crucial developments ii) necessity for government intervention iii) centrality of a few key institutions. : we will only cover i)-iii) in this lecture] iv) influential role of a dominant art movement v) decline linked to changes in political climate: the state of the pre-revolutionary industry, government action i) nep. 4) the vgik and lev kuleshov"s workshop i) kuleshov and montage. The parallels that exist between the german and soviet national cinemas will be used to structure today"s lecture. A central difference between the german cinema of the weimar period and the. Soviet cinema of the pre-stalin revolutionary era is the importance of theory to the development of the latter. Domestic companies began to emerge around 1907 (e. g. drankov). The emergence of some important directors in the early teens (e. g. bauer and. Protazanov) revealed a style quite different from that adopted in the post-
