The New Russian Documentary
Reclaiming Reality in the Age of Authoritarianism
Masha Shpolberg editor Anastasia Kostina editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Edinburgh University Press
Publishing:31st Aug '26
£24.99
This title is due to be published on 31st August, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
This paperback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback£90.00(9781399511056)
Over the last three decades, Russian filmmakers and audiences have engaged with documentary cinema with an intensity unseen since the 1920s, when Soviet documentarians helped pioneer the mode. What started as a trickle of artistically minded films in the 1990s, expanded in the 2000s to include a broad range of works, chief among them films seeking to re-evaluate the country’s past and take stock of its present. This efflorescence went hand in hand with the creation of new institutions—film schools, festivals, and online platforms. The rise of YouTube, in particular, helped propel documentary into the cultural mainstream. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 and the Kremlin’s subsequent crackdown on independent media put an end to all this. The New Russian Documentary thus seeks to introduce readers to the key figures, institutions, and practices involved in this vibrant, if ultimately doomed, oppositionary movement.
Documentary filmmaking has arguably been the most exciting aspect of post-Soviet Russian cinema as this pioneering collection convincingly demonstrates. By introducing readers to a diverse group of directors and films, the fifteen essays also offer a unique vantage point for understanding contemporary Russia. A significant contribution to documentary studies. * Denise J. Youngblood, University of Vermont *
The New Russian Documentary addresses with competence and confidence a corpus of documentary films that have, in the past twenty years, shaped independent and critical discourses in Russian cinema, extending well into other art forms. The 15 chapters by expert authors tell insightful stories about documentary forms, themes and filmmakers, adopting diverse perspectives and making comparisons across a range of cultural contexts. * Professor Birgit Beumers, editor of Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema *
Rich in insight and diverse in methodologies, The New Russian Documentary is essential reading for film scholars, cultural historians, and anyone seeking to understand both the rise and dismantling of independent Russian documentary cinema. While the invasion of Ukraine and subsequent repression have crushed this sphere, the editors resist nostalgia, framing the book as both a historical record and a call to preserve the knowledge, tactics, and spirit of resistance embodied in these films. -- Elena Prokhorova * Slavic Review *
ISBN: 9781399511063
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
296 pages