The cinema of Russia began in the Russian Empire, widely developed in the Soviet Union and in the years following its dissolution, the Russian film industry would remain internationally recognized. In the 21st century, Russian cinema has become known internationally with films such as Hardcore Henry (2015), Leviathan (2014), Night Watch (2004) and Brother (1997). The Moscow International Film Festival began in Moscow in 1935. The Nika Award is the main annual national film award in Russia.
Animation pioneer Ladislas Starevich made the first Russian animated film (and the first stop motion puppet film with a story) in 1910 – Lucanus Cervus. His other stop-motion shorts The Beautiful Leukanida (1912) and The Cameraman's Revenge (1912), produced for Aleksandr Khanzhonkov, are also among the first animated films. In the following years, Starevich made shorts based on fables such as The Grasshopper and the Ant (1913), as well as World War I propaganda films.[7]
Olga Preobrazhenskaya was the first woman director of Russia. In 1916 she made her directorial debut Miss Peasant. However, the film has been lost. In the Soviet era she directed Women of Ryazan (1927).
During World War I, imports dropped drastically, and Russian filmmakers turned out anti-German, nationalistic films. In 1916, 499 films were made in Russia, more than three times the number of three years earlier.
Before the October Revolution, Russia did not have a highly developed film industry due to the general populace being too poor to support a native industry.[8] The Russian Revolution brought more change, with a number of films with anti-Tsarist themes. The last significant film of the era, made in 1917, was Father Sergius by Yakov Protazanov and Alexandre Volkoff. It would become the first new film release of the Soviet era.
Vladimir Lenin was the first political leader of the twentieth century to recognize the importance of film. He saw film as a way to unite the nation over which the Bolsheviks, then a minority party of some 200,000 members, had assumed leadership.
The cinema is for us the most important of the arts.
His government gave top priority to the rapid development of the Soviet film industry, which was nationalized in August 1919 and put under the direct authority of Lenin's wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya.[8]
One of the first acts of the Cinema Committee was to create a professional film school in Moscow to train directors, technicians, and actors for the cinema. The All Union State Institute of Cinematography was the first such school in the world.[8][9]Lev Kuleshov, who taught at the school, formulated the groundbreaking editing process called montage, which he conceived of as an expressive process whereby dissimilar images could be linked together to create non-literal or symbolic meaning. His work has been referred to as the Kuleshov effect. Two of Kuleshov's most famous students were Sergey Eisenstein and Vsevolod Pudovkin.[8]
Although Russian was the dominant language in films during the Soviet era, the cinema of the Soviet Union encompassed films of the Armenian SSR, Georgian SSR, Ukrainian SSR, and, to a lesser degree, Lithuanian SSR, Belorussian SSR, and Moldavian SSR. For much of the Soviet Union's history, with notable exceptions in the 1920s and the late 1980s, film content was heavily circumscribed and subject to censorship and bureaucratic state control.
The development of the soviet film industry was innovative and linked with the Constructivist art movement. In 1922–3, Kino-Fot became the first Soviet cinema magazine and reflected the constructivist views of its editor, Aleksei Gan.
As with much Soviet art during the 1920s, films addressed major social and political events of the time. An important film of this period was Sergei Eisenstein's The Battleship Potemkin, not only because of its depiction of events leading up to the 1905 Revolution, but also because of innovative cinematic techniques, such as the use of jump-cuts to achieve political ends. To this day, Battleship Potemkin is considered one of the greatest films of all time.[10][11][12][13]
Vsevolod Pudovkin developed a new theory of montage based on cognitive linkage rather than dialectical collision. Pudovkin's Mother (1926) was internationally acclaimed for its montage, as well as for its emotional qualities. Later Pudovkin was publicly charged with formalism for his experimental sound film A Simple Case (1932), which he was forced to release without its sound track.[8]
The film is not shot, but built, built up from the separate strips of celluloid that are its raw material.
Two other key filmmakers of the Soviet silent era were Aleksandr Dovzhenko and Dziga Vertov. Dovzhenko's best known work is his Ukraine Trilogy, and more specifically the film Earth (1930). Vertov is well known for his film Man with a Movie Camera (1929) and the Kino-Eye theory - that the camera, like the human eye, is best used to explore real life, which had a huge impact on documentary filmmaking.[8][14]
However, with the consolidation of Stalinist power in the Soviet Union, and the emergence of Socialist realism as state policy, which carried over from painting and sculpture into filmmaking, Soviet film became subject to almost total state control.
Films released in the 1930s include the popular musicals Jolly Fellows (1934), Circus (1936) and Volga-Volga (1938) directed by the longtime collaborator of Sergei Eisenstein, Grigori Aleksandrov. These films starred leading actress of the time Lyubov Orlova, who was also Aleksandrov's wife.
Soviet cinema went into rapid decline after the World War II: film production fell from 19 features in 1945 to 5 in 1952. The situation did not improve until the late 1950s when Soviet films achieved critical success partly as a result, similar to the cinema of other Eastern Bloc countries, for reflecting the tension between independent creativity and state-directed outcomes.[8]
The most critically acclaimed Russian director of the 1960s and 1970s was Andrei Tarkovsky, who directed the groundbreaking art-house filmsIvan's Childhood, Andrei Rublev, Solaris, Mirror and Stalker.[8] His films won awards at Cannes and Venice Film Festival. His debut film Ivan's Childhood won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival in 1962. Tarkovsky's film Andrei Rublev (1966) won the FIPRESCI prize at the 1969 Cannes Festival.[16] For Stalker (1979), Tarkovsky won the Ecumenical Jury Prize in Cannes in 1980. He also won the Special Grand Prize for Solaris in 1972 and for Sacrifice at Cannes in 1986.[17][18]
Sergei Bondarchuk initially came to prominence as an actor. His directorial debut was Fate of a Man which was released in 1959. Bondarchuk is best known for directing and starring in the Academy Award-winning adaptation War and Peace (1967). His son Fyodor Bondarchuk is also a film director and producer.
Among other critically acclaimed literary adaptations from the 1960s was Grigory Kozintsev'sHamlet (1964), winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.[22]
Film director Kira Muratova faced censorship during the Soviet era and only started to receive public recognition and first awards during Perestroyka. Her film Among Grey Stones (1983) was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.[24]
Co-production between Soviet Union and Japan, Dersu Uzala, adapted from Vladimir Arsenyev's book, directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Maxim Munzuk and Yuri Solomin, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Picture in 1976. The film was a box-office success and ended up reviving Kurosawa's career.
Yuri Norstein is perhaps the most famous Russian animator of the Soviet period; his animated shorts Hedgehog in the Fog and Tale of Tales gained worldwide recognition and have served as inspiration for many filmmakers.[7]
Larisa Shepitko's film The Ascent was the first Soviet movie to win the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 1977.[19]
With the onset of Perestroika and Glasnost in the mid-1980s, Soviet films emerged which began to address formerly censored topics, such as drug addiction, The Needle (1988) by Rashid Nugmanov, which starred rock singer Viktor Tsoi, and sexuality and alienation in Soviet society, Little Vera (1988) by Vasili Pichul. However, the industry suffered from drastically reduced state subsidies and the state-controlled film distribution system also collapsed, leading to the dominance of western films in Russia's theatres.[8]
In the 1990s there were much fewer films being made as the cinema industry was experiencing big changes and the economy was uncertain. From 300 in 1990 the number fell to 213 in 1991, 172 in 1992, 152 in 1993, to 68 in 1994, 46 in 1995 and 28 in 1996.[32]
In 1990 censorship was abolished on an official level: the state could no longer interfere in the production and distribution of films, except in cases of war propaganda, disclosure of state secrets, and pornography. As part of the abolition of all central Soviet administrative units, the Cinema Committee of the USSR was dissolved in 1991.[33]
Russian cinema of the 90s acquired new features and themes, with the Chechen war also affecting filmmakers. Many films of that time dealt with war and Stalinism.[34]
Kinotavr was first held in 1990 in Podolsk, and then in 1991 in Sochi, where it has been held ever since. The Nika Award, which is distributed by the Russian Film Academy, was founded in 1998.[32]
The satiric melodrama of Dmitry Meskhiev, Women's Property (1999) describes a love affair between a young student and an older actress who is incurably ill. Her death leads the protagonist to face bitter loneliness. The film starred Yelena Safonova and featured actor Konstantin Khabensky in an early lead role.
Cult crime comedy 8 ½ $ (1999), directorial debut of Grigori Konstantinopolsky, starring Ivan Okhlobystin and Fyodor Bondarchuk was a satiric take on 1990s Russia. It told the story of a television advertisement director who becomes romantically involved with a gangster's girlfriend.[61]
Svetlana Baskova directed the low-budget independently made exploitation shock-horror film The Green Elephant in 1999.[61] Baskova noted that the film was conceived as a protest against the Chechen war.[62] In 2022 the film has been banned in Russia.[63]
2000s
Timur Bekmambetov, a director of Kazakh origin, directed three of highest grossing Russian movies of the 2000s, including the famous Night Watch.
Roman Kachanov directed the absurdist comedies Demobbed (2000) and Down House (2001), which were both co-written with actor Ivan Okhlobystin who also starred in the films. Both are considered to be cult films in Russia.[61]FIPRESCI awarded a special mention to the film Demobbed at the 2000 Kinotavr.[65]
The Italian is a 2005 Russian drama film directed by Andrei Kravchuk inspired by a true story, focuses on a young boy's determined search for his Mother. The film won the Grand Prix of the Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk from the International Jury at the 55th Berlin International Film Festival, and a Special Mention from their Children's Jury.[71]
One of Russia's all-time biggest box-office hits was Timur Bekmambetov's romantic-comedy The Irony of Fate 2, directed in 2007 as a sequel to the 1976 film. 2008 musical film Hipsters, directed by Valery Todorovsky about the youth lifestyle in the 1950s Soviet Union was a success at the box office. It received the Golden Eagle and Nika awards for best picture.
In 2014 censorship of cinematic works was officially introduced with a new and stricter revision of the "screening certificate" (Russian: прокатное удостоверение) act, without which public film screenings are not allowed and are punishable by law. Curse words in films were banned.[79][80] The concept of a "screening certificate" first appeared in Russian laws in 1993, when Viktor Chernomyrdin signed the decree "On the registration of films and videos", the main purpose of which was to combat the spread of pirated content. For a decade and a half, the document was more or less a formality.[81]
2013 comedy Kiss Them All! by Zhora Kryzhovnikov, produced by Timur Bekmambetov, is the most profitable domestic film in the history of Russian box office, having managed to earn more than 27.3 million dollars on a comparatively modest budget of $1.5 million.[91][92] The film was followed by Kiss Them All! 2, which became the most profitable film of 2014 in Russia.[93]
In 2015 Ilya Naishuller debuted with the film Hardcore Henry which was screened at the Toronto Film Festival. He later directed Nobody (2021) in Hollywood.
The 2017 sports drama Going Vertical by Anton Megerdichev is the highest grossing domestic film of the 2010s.[111] It also became the highest-grossing Russian film in China, where it grossed ¥85 million RMB ($12.3 million) which brought the film's worldwide gross to $66.3 million.[112]
Maryus Vaysberg is a film director mainly working in the comedy genre. He is one of the most commercially successful directors of Russia. His 2017 film Naughty Grandma was a box office success and the most successful Russian film in 2017.[114] Many of his films starred future president of the Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Sin is a Russian-Italian biographical drama film about the life of the famous sculptor and painter of the Renaissance, Michelangelo Buonarroti of Florence, in the early 16th century, written and directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, released in October 2019.[127][128][129]
2019 comedy film Serf directed by Klim Shipenko and starring Miloš Biković set new domestic box-office records. It grossed $42.4 million against a budget of $2.6 million.[130][131] The same year Shipenko directed the psychological thriller Text starring Alexander Petrov, which was also a success at the box-office and received a Nika and multiple Golden Eagle awards.[132]
Dau, the first film of the controversial DAU project by director Ilya Khrzhanovsky, which was initially conceived as a biopic of Soviet scientist Lev Landau, premiered in 2019 in Paris. DAU. Natasha and DAU.Degeneration premiered at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival there first won the Silver Bear for an Outstanding Artistic Contribution for Cinematography.[139] The rest of the films were released on VOD through the official DAU website in 2020.[140]
Historic romance film The Silver Skates, by Michael Lockshin in his directorial debut, was chosen as the opening film of the 42nd Moscow International Film Festival, where it premiered on October 1, 2020. The rights to the film were acquired by Netflix on June 16, 2021. The Silver Skates is the first Russian film to be released on the platform in the Netflix Originals category.[145][146][147]
In 2021 WWII action film The Red Ghost by Andrei Bogatyrev was released in Russian cinemas.
2021 film Gerda about a young striptease dancer by director Natalya Kudryashova premiered at the 74th Locarno Film Festival where it received the Best Actress Award and the special prize from the youth jury of the festival.[154]
The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine has impacted Russian cinema.[162] The Russian Association of Theater Owners said that there is a "high probability of the liquidation of the entire film screening industry"; ticket sales in March 2022 were half of what they had been in March 2021.[163] The Annecy International Animation Film Festival,[164] Berlinale, Cannes, Venice, and the Toronto Film Festival banned official Russian delegations.[162] The Stockholm Film Festival banned all Russian projects funded by the government.[165] The European Film Awards and Emmys banned Russian films outright.[166][167][168]FIAPF (Fédération Internationale des Associations de Producteurs de Films, translated as the International Federation of Film Producers Associations) paused the accreditation of the Moscow International Film Festival and Message to Man until further notice.[169]MIPTV in France won't allow "any Russian film and TV outfits" in 2022, and Russia has also been banned from the Banff World Media Festival and NATPE.[170] Several major international film distributors, including The Walt Disney Company, Sony Pictures, Paramount, and Warner Bros stopped screening films in Russia; prior to the invasion, movies produced in the United States made up 70% of the Russian film market.[4][163]FIPRESCI announced that it will not participate in festivals and other events organized by the Russian government and its offices, and canceled a colloquium in St. Petersburg, that was to make it familiar with new Russian films.[171]
Ukrainian film director Sergei Loznitsa spoke out against banning Russian films. He said: "Among Russian filmmakers, there are people who have condemned the war, who oppose the regime and openly expressed their condemnation. And in a way they're victims of this whole conflict like the rest of us." And: "We must not judge people based on their passports. We can judge them on their acts."[172][173] Dissident Russian film director Kirill Serebrennikov also spoke out against the boycott.[174][175]
Russian film production
There are around 400 private production companies. They do not have their own facilities for creating films, and therefore must rent out spaces and equipment from their qualified partners. There are 35 film studios (9 of them are governmental) that are the major service for renting space. The studios have 107 shooting pavilions. There are 23 private companies on the Russian market that rent their equipment of all kinds to the production teams.[176]
Leading production companies on the market
The list is composed by the Cinema Foundation of Russia. It allows companies get governmental financial support. In 2017 the number of market leaders was increased up to 10 companies.[177]
There are 600 companies that release films all around Russia that includes 105 chain cinema theatres and 495 independent theatres. Chain companies consist of 29 federal, 19 regional and 57 local theatres. According to Neva Research, as of 1 July 2016 there were 1,227 cinemas with 4,067 screens in Russia. Ten major cinema companies hold 346 theatres with 1,772 screens, which corresponds to 43.6% of the whole amount.[178]
In 2015 all the cinemas were finally digitalized. In the beginning of 2016 Russia has 33 theatres with 4D technology, 80 theatres with premium sound system, 43 theatres with 3D IMAX effect.[176]
^Peter Rollberg (2009). Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema. US: Rowman & Littlefield. p. xxiii. ISBN978-0-8108-6072-8.
^ abPeter Rollberg (2016). Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema. US: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 49–52. ISBN978-1442268425.
^ abcdefghijkThe Encyclopaedia Britannica guide to Russia : the essential guide to the nation, its people, and culture. London: Robinson. 2009. pp. 208–213. ISBN9781593398507.
^Историческая справка (in Russian). Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography. Retrieved 2 September 2008.
^Nancy Condee (2009). "Aleksei German: Forensics in the Dynastic Capital". The Imperial Trace - Recent Russian Cinema. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 185–216. ISBN978-0190451226.
^ abRichard Taylor, Nancy Wood, Julian Graffy, Dina Iordanova (2019). The BFI Companion to Eastern European and Russian Cinema. Bloomsbury. pp. 1923–1927. ISBN978-1838718497.((cite book)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Peter Rollberg (2009). Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema. US: Rowman & Littlefield. p. xxxiv. ISBN978-0-8108-6072-8.
^Birgit Beumers (2005). Pop Culture Russia!: Media, Arts, and Lifestyle. p. 80. ISBN1-85109-459-8.
^Richard Taylor, Nancy Wood, Julian Graffy, Dina Iordanova (2019). The BFI Companion to Eastern European and Russian Cinema. Bloomsbury. p. 1938. ISBN978-1838718497.((cite book)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
