Soviet Film’s French Origins, 1926-1932

• In Event: Film Stock in Eastern Europe: Industry, Geopolitics, Aesthetics

Abstract

In the mid-1920s, the Soviets sought to embark on film manufacturing for the first time (making both negative and positive film, and film base and emulsion). Lacking experience, they turned to foreign partners, and in this period, two projects were launched simultaneously with French firms-- neither of which specialized in film manufacturing. Delays due to material shortages led to the postponement of factory construction, which coincided with the institutional transformations at the end of the 1920s and the difficulties of launching the First Five-Year Plan. This, in turn, led to numerous complications, delays, and problems. Drawing on documentation from archival collections (RGALI, GARF) and the Soviet trade press of the period under consideration, this paper examines this fraught process and its complications, the solutions that were found, and the consequences for Soviet film production, distribution, and exhibition.

Author

• Valérie Pozner, CNRS Thalim