Facts and Myths: Censorship in Soviet Cinema

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

This panel examines the impact of censorship on Soviet cinema and showcases films between the 1930s and the second half of the 1980s that had to undergo some changes due to intensified or debilitating ideological and stylistic constraints imposed by the state. The papers focus not only on the negative affect of censoring processes, but also explore how censorship could also result in the development of more creative cinematic techniques and encourage more open public discussions of the role and responsibilities of filmmakers. Beumers’ paper tries to reconstruct some facts on the basis of archival documents and challenge the narrative of two censorship cases of Soviet animation films—Mikhail Tsekhanovsky’s Tale of the Priest and his Worker Balda (1930) and Andrei Khrzhanovsky’s Glass Harmonica (1968) and attempts to understand the circumstances that may have contributed to the bans. Klimova’s paper examines the two important state resolutions from 1972 and 1982. She discusses how these suggestions affected youth cinema under the Brezhnev government and how film directors and administrators reacted to these resolution in the Soviet press. Alpert’s paper explores the complicated issues associated with censorship of documentary films during Perestroika. While many thought the relaxation of censorship was beneficial for the genre, others began to realize that some level of control was perhaps necessary. As official censorship waned, documentary filmmakers had to figure out how to make the genre financially sustainable under the new model of cinema in order to keep making films.

Sub Unit

• Arts/Film/Electronic Media 

Organizer

• Olga Klimova, Mercyhurst U/Duquesne U

Chair

• Maria Vinogradova, New York U

Papers

• Who is Afraid of Cartoons? Fact and Fiction of Censorship in Soviet Animation - Birgit Beumers, U of Aberystwyth (UK)

• Facts Behind Myths/Myths Behind Facts: State Censorship and Youth Films Under Brezhnev - Olga Klimova, Mercyhurst U/Duquesne U

• Filming the 'Facts': Documentary, Censorship, and the New Model of Cinema during Perestroika - Erin Alpert, Cuyahoga Community College

Discussant

• James M Steffen, Emory U