Pockets of Resistance: Russian Independent Documentary Post-2022

• In Event: Russophone Antiwar Media: Discourses of Conscience

Abstract

From 2010 until 2022, independent documentary in Russia came to constitute one of the last free public spheres in the country, a space where people could exchange ideas and express views that ran counter to those of Putin’s government. During this time, emerging film schools, documentary film festivals and screening series opened up a vibrant discursive space and provided a strong alternative narrative to that of the country’s mainstream media. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 and the Kremlin’s subsequent crackdown on independent media put an end to any freedom of speech in the country. Any individual who publicly expresses a viewpoint diverging from that of the state now faces a prison sentence. Consequently, in the months following the invasion, a large number of journalists, filmmakers, and artists left the country. The proposed presentation is based on ongoing fieldwork that explores documentary cinema as a site of resistance post-February 2022. Taking an interest in the work of both those who left Russia and those who chose to stay in the country, it surveys recent public initiatives such as Marina Razbezhkina’s “Open School” and the online “Un/Filmed” school of documentary, which challenge the ideological repression of the state.

Author

• Anastasia Kostina, Columbia U