Russian cinema

Russian cinema has had different stages in Russian history, from its origins when the Tsars imported novelties from France, passing through the emblematic Soviet cinema and reaching the modern cinema of the current Russian Federation. Russia.

Cinema of the Russian Empire

Original Cartel Stenka RazinFirst Russian film, 1908

Cinema came to Russia from the hands of the Lumière Brothers in 1896. The first film shot in Russia was taken by a Lumière cameraman, it was about the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II. A short time later they would open exhibition halls of the Pathé and Gaumont houses. In 1908, Aleksandr Drankov produced the first Russian narrative film Stenka Razin, directed by V. Romashkov. The following years would produce more than a hundred entirely Russian films that would compete with the production of France, Germany, England, among others.

In 1912, the Khanzhonkov studios were inaugurated and the film Oborona Sevastópolya ("The Defense of Sevastopol") directed by Ivan Mozzhujin, who also played the role of Napoleon, was produced.. Tsar Nicholas II assisted in the production of this and other films, and even had a personal cameraman, who took "homemade" films, but there was no official promotion from the state. Around 1914, with the advent of the First World War, Russian filmmakers turned to the production of anti-German patriotic films, exponentially increasing production, reaching 499 films in 1916. Russia's allies imported the best and most successful films, such as those of Yakov Protazánov and Yevgueni Bauer.

Finally, in the middle of the war, around 1917 the Russian Revolution took place, although there was a certain attempt by the producers to adapt and some anti-czarist films were made, finally the cinema of the Russian empire disappeared, when the creation was proclaimed of the Soviet Union. The last film from this period to be completed was "Otéts Sergii" ("Padre Sergio") which would be the first premiere the following year, already under the Soviet regime.

Soviet cinema

It was one of the most important currents within primitive cinema. Films like The Battleship Potemkin (Bronenósets Potemkin, Eisenstein, 1925) are considered masterpieces of cinema of all time.

This cinema was born immediately after the October Revolution, thanks to the policies of the Soviet Government that recognized the importance of this means of mass communication and stimulated its production and the training of filmmakers.

The main figures of the founding days of Soviet cinema were Lev Kuleshov, Vsevolod Pudovkin and Dziga Vertov. This cinema was characterized by a non-naturalistic method of representation, experimentation and the search for the construction of concepts from the montage. The filmmaker exposes himself, his gaze is evident. Much will be made of documentary film and all the expressive possibilities of the medium will be explored, also applying the ideas of constructivism.

Avant-garde Soviet cinema (at that time the most avant-garde in Europe), by authors such as Eisenstein, Kuleshov... although of great and unquestionable quality, did not have a great box office success, due to the fact that the country's intellectual elites had fled or been shot. With the exception of the socialist leaders, who were not very fond of movies (except for Anatoli Lunacharski, People's Commissioner for Public Instruction who wrote the script and collaborated in making the film Po Zakonu [1928]), cinema was more in the direction of socialist realism and more commercial cinema, although always with political overtones. It will not be until the peasant and worker masses form part of that intellectual elite that the Soviet cinematographic avant-garde will be reborn, in a more timid way.

By 1921, there was not a theater in operation in Moscow, until the end of that year, when one was opened that was very successful, and produced a stimulus to the industry, mainly by recycling old films and importing; at that time the government did not regulate the activity too much. By 1923, 89 more theaters had opened. There was freedom and encouragement to produce films, as long as they were in the official ideological line; however, party leaders warned that this was difficult to control. Under Stalin's rule, controls would be more rigid and many films would end up being cut, edited, or outright banned.

One of the most popular films of the 1930s was Circus. During the forties we can highlight Aleksandr Nevski and Iván Grozny, both of Eisenstein. After Stalin's death in 1953, Soviet cinema flourished again, with films such as The Soldier's Ballad (Ballada o soldate) by Grigori Chujrái winning the 1962 BAFTA Award for Best Film, and When Storks Fly By (Letiat zhuravlí), the only Soviet film to win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The sixties and seventies are also influenced by the new cinematographic currents from the rest of Europe; Among these new filmmakers, the emergence of the great director Andrei Tarkovski stands out. It is also worth noting Mikhail Kalatózov for the film When Storks Fly By, with an extraordinary poetic sense due to the clear but sublime presence of the camera work, and Grigori Kózintsev for what is probably the most faithful and exhaustive (although this implies little creativity, contrary to Orson Welles' Quixote) ever made of Don Quixote. In this film, Kózintsev had the artistic direction of the painter Alberto Sánchez.

The 1980s saw a diversification of themes. More controversial topics could be addressed. The result was films like Repentance (Pokayanie) by Tenguiz Abuladze, which dealt with Stalinist repression in Georgia, and the allegorical sci-fi film Kin-Dza-Dza!, that satirized the lifestyle in the Soviet Union. There were other successful film productions, such as Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears by director Vladimir Menshov, who received from the Oscar for best foreign film in 1980, to the San Michele award at the Brussels International Festival (1981), going through the Kiev Youth Film Week Diploma (1979) among others.

Current Russian cinema

The dissolution of the Soviet Union brought about a virtual demise of quality cinema in Russia and the other former Soviet republics. Very few films were made during the decade. A considerable part of the new Russian cinema is oriented towards commercial production, artistic aspirations aside, a lot of low-quality action films, comedies and pornography have been filmed, leaving little room for other kinds of productions.

Although the opening of the market has caused less artistic productions to be produced, still many of the Russian filmmakers try again to revive the quality of cinema in this country. In the mid-1990s, the director Nikita Mijalkov stands out, who won the Oscar for best foreign film for Burnt by the Sun.

In 2002, director Aleksandr Sokurov dared to innovate, making The Russian Ark, the first unedited commercial film in history, shot in high definition, in a single take, featuring the longest steadycam shot ever made, totaling 90 minutes in length.

Other films with similar themes have been produced recently, such as Vozvrascheniye (The Return) directed by Andrei Zviáguintsev, winner of prizes at the Venice film festival, Koktebel directed by Boris Khlebnikov and Alexei Popogrebsky, and The Italian directed by Andrei Kravchuk, which received critical acclaim.