The fall of the Soviet Union had the effect of making Russia even more of a riddle to the foreign observer than it had ever been. This book incorporates into an organic whole the realities of film production, the films themselves, and the socio-political-cultural context, weaving these three threads into a narrative discourse. It aims to integrate the films of the 1990s with life, and to provide a global picture of Russia (with Moscow in the foreground) as the big stage on which the drama unfolded. The author discusses some eighty films made between 1990 and 2000. Many reflect the reality of the present day, either in dramatic or grotesque form. Others reassess the past, placing different spins on various epochs and figures according to the director's ideological orientation. Still others offer escapism into imaginary worlds. The films selected may vary in technical quality and depth of thought; they may be mainstream pictures, or art films. But taken together, they provide an eloquent portrait of Russia, entering the new millennium still in search of its true identity.

An original collection of essays by leading international Soviet cinema scholars, covering seventy years of cinema history, providing a clear understanding of the aesthetic developments and sociopolitical function of Soviet cinema.

This original collection of essays was generated from papers presented at a conference on Soviet cinema in the US, which gathered together leading Soviet cinema scholars for the first time. The book encompasses 70 years of cinema history from the perspective of 20 academics of different backgrounds and nationalities. The book highlights significant moments in chronological order providing a challenging montage of detailed "close-ups". This gives the reader a clear understanding of the aesthetic developments and sociopolitical function of Soviet cinema. "The Red Screen" covers the last two decades of Soviet cinema, previously neglected by scholars. This is especially important as the recent change in Soviet policies marked a turning point in the cultural establishment. This book should be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students of Soviet studies, film and media and cultural studies.

This book incorporates into an organic whole the realities of the 1990s in Russia, focusing on film production, the films themselves, and the socio-political-cultural context. It aims to provide a picture of Russia (with Moscow in the foreground) as the big stage on which the drama unfolded. The author discusses some eighty films made between 1990 and 2000. Many reflect the reality of the present day, either in dramatic or grotesque form. Others reassess the past, placing different spins on various epochs and figures according to the director's ideological orientation. Still others offer escapism into imaginary worlds. The films selected may vary in technical quality and depth of thought; they may be mainstream pictures, or art films. But taken together, they provide an eloquent portrait of Russia, entering the new millennium still in search of its true identity.

This is an expanded edition of Kinoglasnost: Soviet Cinema in Our Time. The book examines the fascinating world of Soviet cinema during the years of glasnost and perestroika-the 1980s. It shows how the reforms that shook the foundations of the Bolshevik state and affected economic and social structures have been reflected in the film industry. A new added chapter provides a commentary on the dramatic changes that marked the beginning of democracy in Russia. This book will be widely read by students and specialists of Soviet/Russian history, culture and society, and film studies, as well as by anyone with an interest in the transformations of Russian society. "What makes Kinoglasnost pre-eminent among current studies of the subject is the sustained attention Lawton pays to changes in the formal organization of Soviet cinema and in the cinema industry." - Julian Graffy, Sight and Sound, vol. 3 (July 1993) "Lawton's book now stands as a valuable work of history on one aspect of a collapsed system...This remains as a testimony of a fateful moment that has changed the course of history." - Louis Menashe, The Russian Review, vol.53, No.4 (October 1994). "The author constructs a complex, multilayered narrative of a steady and significant movement toward radical change in Soviet society, an account of the growing anxiety and the hope experienced by Russian filmmakers and the intelligentsia." - Ludmila Z. Pruner, Slavic and East European Journal, vol.38, No.4 (Winter 1994).

This is the second edition of Russian Futurism through Its Manifestoes 1912-1928, originally published by Cornell University Press (1988). Futurism as a world movement profoundly affected the course of twentieth-century art and culture. This collection made available for the first time in English the writings of the Russian Futurists, which supplied the theoretical base of their movement. In her extensive introduction, Lawton has highlighted the historical development of the movement and has related Futurism both to the Russian national scene and to avant-garde movements worldwide. She describes how the Russian Futurists declared their enmity to the aesthetic canons of nineteenth-century realism and to the mysticism of the Symbolists. Eagle's concluding essay discusses how Futurism's most significant theoretical ideas, through the medium of Russian Formalism, had a lasting impact on the subsequent development of structuralism and semiotics. The lively and imaginative translations by Lawton and Eagle capture the distinctive polemical style of the Russian Futurists-jarring, provocative, neologistic-and reproduce their often idiosyncratic typography. Among many Futurists represented are Vladimir Mayakovsky, Viktor Khlebnikov, Aleksei Kruchenykh, David Burliuk, Vadim Shershenevich, and Boris Pasternak.