Synopses & Reviews
Amid the instability and violence of turn-of-the-century industrialization and urbanization Russians embraced a revolutionary art form to reflect the aspirations and motivations of a new class. In
The Magic Mirror Denise Youngblood portrays a newly urbanized entrepreneurial middle class—not the revolutionaries or imperialists of historians—and the movies they made and paid to see. Upon those screens they saw their lives depicted in all their variety and uncertainty.
Youngblood provides a cultural angle into an era most often viewed through a revolutionary lens. Film and the film industry illuminates and reflects the popular attitudes of the time.
The Magic Mirror is a study of the ten years of native film production through the Revolutions of 1917, based almost exclusively on Russian language primary sources. Topics examined include the organization and evolution of the industry followed by description and analysis of genres, motifs, and themes as exemplified in 65 of the most important surviving films.
Review
“A compelling account of the social basis of the development of Russian cinema.”—Vance Kepley, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Review
andquot;In the temple of cinema, there are images, light, and reality. Sergei Parajanov was the master of that temple.andquot;andmdash;Jean-Luc Godard
Review
andquot;Steffen has managed to capture Parajanov's unique style in a language that is simple and elucidating, making you want to watch his films again and again.andquot;andmdash;Birgit Beumers, editor of Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema
Review
andldquo;An . . . enthralling and desperately overdue book.andrdquo;andmdash;
Sight and Sound MagazineSynopsis
These vividly written letters document the lives of two remarkable women artists who were at the center of twentieth-century dance modernism. Mary Wigman s groundbreaking choreography and inspired performing in Germany during the 1910s and 1920s brought the emerging art of modern dance into dialogue with modern painting, theater, and film. Her disciple Hanya Holm took Wigman s aesthetic philosophy to the United States in 1931, effectively adapting it to the American temperament, and ultimately became a celebrated choreographer of Broadway musicals such as Kiss Me, Kate and My Fair Lady. Written between 1920 and 1971, Wigman s letters are a treasury of fascinating detail about artistry, friendships of women, and the stamina of two artists who refused to capitulate to personal, political, and cultural forces that confronted them. They inject immediacy into discussions of Wigman s work within the Third Reich and cast light on Holm s construction of an American identity. With her extensive annotation Gitelman contributes context to the domestic and social spheres within which the women worked on two continents. Never before published in any language, these letters are untapped resources for historians of twentieth-century culture, German-American relations, as well as dance."
Synopsis
Sergei Parajanov (1924andndash;90) flouted the rules of both filmmaking and society in the Soviet Union and paid a heavy personal price. An ethnic Armenian in the multicultural atmosphere of Tbilisi, Georgia, he was one of the most innovative directors of postwar Soviet cinema. Parajanov succeeded in creating a small but marvelous body of work whose style embraces such diverse influences as folk art, medieval miniature painting, early cinema, Russian and European art films, surrealism, and Armenian, Georgian, and Ukrainian cultural motifs.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The Cinema of Sergei Parajanov is the first English-language book on the director's films and the most comprehensive study of his work. James Steffen provides a detailed overview of Parajanov's artistic career: his identity as an Armenian in Georgia and its impact on his aesthetics; his early films in Ukraine; his international breakthrough in 1964 with Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors; his challenging 1969 masterpiece, The Color of Pomegranates, which was reedited against his wishes; his unrealized projects in the 1970s; and his eventual return to international prominence in the mid-to-late 1980s with The Legend of the Surami Fortress and Ashik-Kerib. Steffen also provides a rare, behind-the-scenes view of the Soviet film censorship process and tells the dramatic story of Parajanov's conflicts with the authorities, culminating in his 1973andndash;77 arrest and imprisonment on charges related to homosexuality.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Ultimately, the figure of Parajanov offers a fascinating case study in the complicated dynamics of power, nationality, politics, ethnicity, sexuality, and culture in the republics of the former Soviet Union.
Description
Filmography: p. 171-173. Includes bibliographical references (p. 175-185) and index.
About the Author
James Steffen is film and media studies librarian at Emory University in Atlanta and a historian of Soviet and post-Soviet cinema. For more information, visit www.jamesmsteffen.net.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations and#160; and#160;Acknowledgmentsand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;Note on Transliterationand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;Chronologyand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;Introductionand#160;and#160;and#160;1 An Artist's Originsand#160;2
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: Ukrainian Revivaland#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;3
Kyiv Frescoes: The Film That Might Have Beenand#160;and#160;and#160;4
The Color of Pomegranates: The Making and Unmaking of a Filmand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;5 Silent Years: Unproduced Scripts, 1967andndash;1973and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;6 Arrest and Imprisonment, 1973andndash;1982and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;7
The Legend of the Surami Fortress: Thunder Over Georgiaand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;8
Ashik-Kerib and the End of a Careerand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;Epilogue: Parajanov's Afterlifeand#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;Filmographyand#160;and#160;Notesand#160;Selected Bibliography and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;Index