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Village on Celluloid: Filmmaking as Folk Art in the Late Soviet Village

Sun, November 8, 10:00 to 11:30am, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 2

Abstract

The introduction of new technologies along with the accompanying process of urban-rural convergence fostered new social activities and practices in the late Soviet village. Amateur filmmaking in the countryside (na sele) emerged as a result of these processes. Initiated as a part of Soviet “self-activity” (samodeiatel’nost’), amateur filmmaking in the village as well as in urban centres was sponsored by the state. All technical equipment and film production materials (cameras, celluloid film, chemical kits, editing tables and film projectors) were distributed to more than 4,000 local film studios all around the Soviet Union. In villagers’ hands, the camera functioned as a tool for artistic self-expression, allowing the filmmakers to showcase a distinct vision of the rural everyday and themselves. Through various amateur clubs, the practice of amateur filmmaking opened the doors to education and self-development for many villagers. This paper investigates amateur filmmaking in the late Soviet “hinterland” (glubinka) as a cultural phenomenon. Using oral interviews with the filmmakers, archival film material as well as Soviet periodicals, it examines how new technologies impacted the life of late Soviet rural society, and which role these technologies played in the rural-urban continuum of that time.

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