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Soviet Cinematic Internationalism and Socialist Film Making, 1955–1972

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Book cover Socialist Internationalism in the Cold War

Abstract

This chapter explores Soviet attempts after 1955 to influence, coordinate, and cooperate with socialist filmmakers in creating, distributing and promoting films perceived as potentially sympathetic to their goals. In addition to the bilateral exchange agreements, film weeks, and friendship societies that characterized so much Soviet cultural outreach, Soviet film bureaucrats and filmmakers initiated several types of collective cinematic endeavors with representatives from countries inside and outside the Bloc. In part these activities renewed the quest for a successful film aesthetic to portray the ideals of socialism in a way attractive to mass audiences. Institutionally, the goals of these collective projects included creating occasions for artistic discussion across the Bloc, establishing a socialist film elite through education and formal association, cultivating sympathetic filmmakers in non-socialist countries, and setting up a transnational network of financial and technological support for like-minded filmmakers: in short, Soviet cinematic internationalism. Three forms of Soviet cinematic outreach are explored here: the Moscow Film Festival as a highly visible international forum in which socialist films and filmmakers could be gathered, publicized, and projected to elite viewers and potential film importers; Soviet-sponsored annual meetings among socialist filmmakers as an occasion for discussion and critique of filmmaking among members of the Bloc; and co-produced Soviet feature films on the subject of the Great Patriotic War that attempted to frame the war narrative as one of socialist cooperation and solidarity. Overall, the Soviet cinematic efforts at festivals, collective meetings, and co-productions during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s are well worth remembering in light of contemporary efforts at pan-European cultural projects and the great power narratives that compete on today’s screens.

The author would like to thank Sergey Dobrynin, who has assisted this venture into Soviet co-productions over many years, and Patryk Babiracki whose support contributed immeasurably to the completion of this chapter.

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  1. Central European University, Budapest, Hungary

    Marsha Siefert

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  1. University of Texas at Arlington , Arlington, Texas, USA

    Patryk Babiracki

  2. Old Dominion University , NORFOLK, Virginia, USA

    Austin Jersild

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Siefert, M. (2016). Soviet Cinematic Internationalism and Socialist Film Making, 1955–1972. In: Babiracki, P., Jersild, A. (eds) Socialist Internationalism in the Cold War . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32570-5_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32570-5_7

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