1932: Komsomol: Leader of Electrification (Esfir Shub) Natalie Ryabchikova December 2017 100 Years of Soviet Cinema Speaking in the Voice of the Workers: Komsomol: Leader of Electrification (Esfir Shub, 1932) Esfir Shub is known primarily for her “found footage” films of the mid-1920s, which re-edited pre-Revolutionary Russ...
1925: The Death Ray (Lev Kuleshov) Natalie Ryabchikova December 2017 100 Years of Soviet Cinema A Cinephile in the Land of the Bolsheviks: The Death Ray (Lev Kuleshov, 1925) Lev Kuleshov’s Luch smerti (The Death Ray, 1925) is wedged between the acknowledged masterpiece of early Soviet montage experimenta...
1924: Strike (Sergei Eisenstein) Natalie Ryabchikova December 2017 100 Years of Soviet Cinema The Master’s Debut: Strike (Sergei Eisenstein, 1924) As Eisenstein himself described it years later, Stachka (Strike, 1924) had been “Awkward. Angular. Surprising. Bold. It contains the seeds of nearly all the...
1930: Salt for Svanetia (Mikhail Kalatozov) Natalie Ryabchikova December 2017 100 Years of Soviet Cinema Ethnography vs. Modernisation: Salt for Svanetia (Mikhail Kalatozov, 1930) The first independent film by the future master of Letiat zhuravli (The Cranes are Flying, 1957) and Soy Cuba (I am Cuba, 1964) appear...
