Russian Film: From Revolution to Today

An introduction to the cinematic tradition of Russia and the Soviet Union. This course will offer close, contextualized, and comparative analysis of major Russian films from the 1920s to the present. We will examine the films in terms of their formal structures and their reception, and in light of the epochal social, political and cultural changes that took place over Russia's last, turbulent century. Filmmakers to be studied include Eisenstein, Vertov, Tarkovsky, Sokurov, Zvyagintsev, and others. No prior knowledge of Russian culture or language is required.