Evolution of the Russian film festival movement: trends, forms, themes, and genres of children and adult amateur filmmaking in the XX – XXI centuries

The subject of this research of this article is the trends, forms, themes and genres of children and adult amateur filmmaking on the context of development of the national film festival movement. The author traces  the evolution of the Russian film festival movement, which is reflected in trends, organizational forms, themes and genres of children, mixed and adult amateur filmmaking in the XX – XXI centuries. Methodological framework of this research is comprised of the dynamics of formation of the experience of emotional-value perception of the visual image of reality (B. M. Nemensky), content analysis, comparative, genre-thematic, statistical, historical-culturological analysis of the themes and genres of works of amateur filmmaking of the Soviet and post-perestroika periods presented at film festivals. As a result of the conducted research, the author divides the traditional filmmaking into enthusiasts of cinemagorahic art and amateur videographers; outlines the organizational forms and development trends of the Russian film festival movement; highlights the thematic peculiarities of modern amateur filmmakers that consist in the successive, traditional, new and lost themes of children and adult amateur films. The traditional amateur film and modern amateur video genres of screen works are determined. The novelty of this research lies in nontraditional approach, as well as comprehensive analysis of the problem of modern development of the amateur film festival movement. The main conclusions are as follows: 1) the division of traditional amateur filmmaking into two groups: enthusiasts of traditional cinematographic art and amateur videographers – creation of the works of new and traditional themes is substantiated by sociocultural peculiarities of modern development of the amateur film festival movement; 2) It is noted that the lost thematic groups, such as the Soviet legacy, would be revived in the works of modern authors; 3) there is an important feature in the development of modern amateur videography in the context of film festival movement and establishment of the new genres.

Problems of digital transformation of film distribution

The article provides a brief overview of the emergence of the legal market of online cinemas in Russia. The paper reveals that the Governments of many countries have a national policy that is aimed at maintaining internal programming on traditional video platforms. Such policies range from licensing, which requires serving the “public interest” and defines rules for the distribution of certain types of content produced domestically, to requiring content distributors to contribute to the financing of the production of domestic content. The authors investigate that during the implementation of these rules, the Russian government decided on the allocation of limited resources. There was also regulation on whether platforms can solely decide what content to offer their users, or whether viewers should also participate directly. The study concludes that the transition from traditional platforms to online distribution can reduce the effectiveness of existing regulatory regimes and deprive traditional platforms of audience and revenue.The world and Russian experiences of using the Internet prove that today modern information and telecommunications technologies can contain real threats to the violation of fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens, as well as to question the security of society and the state. The only exceptions are progressive or innovative areas related to the provision of new services and the expansion of opportunities for socio-economic development.As a result of the study, the paper identified four problems of Russian film distribution on digital platforms. The authors chose piracy as the first problem of online cinemas. Pirate sites not only illegally copy content from online movie theaters, but they also create copies of their own services to transfer their servers to another platform in case of blocking. The second problem was highlighted by the requirement for foreign owners. The third problem was highlighted by the high cost of online movie theater subscriptions. The authors consider the fourth problem the lack of financial support from the state.

Kuvitteellisia periferioita

Artikkeli tarkastelee nenetsikirjailija Anna Nerkagin pienoisromaaneja Nogo-suvun Aniko (1976) ja Valkea jäkälä (1996) sekä venäläisen elokuvaohjaaja Vladimir Tumajevin näiden teosten pohjalta ohjaamaa elokuvaa Valkea jäkälä (2014). Lähestyn teoksia kysymällä, kuinka niissä kuvataan arktista tundraa tilana ja kuinka teoksissa kuvattu perifeerinen tila esitetään suhteessa valtakeskuksiin. Artikkelin tärkeimpinä teoreettisina viitekehyksinä toimivat geokritiikki sekä jälkikolonialistinen teoria. Nerkagin teoksissa tundra näyttäytyy muusta maasta irrallisena alkuperäiskansan toimintaympäristönä, joka kytkeytyy sekä nenetsien historiaan että näiden suhteeseen ei-inhimillisen luonnon kanssa. Erityisesti Valkean jäkälän voi nähdä myös kritisoivan yhteiskunnan tapaa laiminlyödä alueen asioiden hoitoa. Tumajevin elokuva puolestaan nojaa venäläisessä kulttuurissa vallitseviin käsityksiin arktisesta tundrasta ja heijastaa myös Venäjän 2000-luvulla aktivoitunutta tarvetta profiloitua arktisena suurvaltana. Imagined Peripheries Abstract: This article focuses on Nenets author Anna Nerkagi’s short novels Aniko of the Clan Nogo (1976) and The White Moss (1996) and their film adaptation The White Moss (2014) by Russian film director Vladimir Tumaev. I approach these works by asking how they depict the Arctic tundra as a space and how they describe the relationship between this peripheral space and the power centres. The main theoretical frameworks used are geocriticism and postcolonial theory. Nerkagi’s works depict the tundra as a region that is disconnected from the rest of the country and defined by Nenets history and the relationship with non-human nature. Especially in The White Moss, the reader can also notice a social critique of the neglect of the region. Tumaev’s film, on the other hand, relies on Russian cultural conceptions of the Arctic tundra and reflects Russia’s urge to be profiled as an Arctic superpower in the 2000s.

A.A. Khanzhonkov as a Pioneer of the National Film Industry

The article provides an analysis on the activity of the first shareholding company in the Russian film industry. The analysis is based on archival documents from the Russian State Archive and the State Achieve of the Republic of Crimea, as well as on published sources, available literature and Khanzhonkov’s own memoirs. The main focus of the text is on managing mechanism of the shareholding company, special attention is paid to the key directions and peculiarities of its activity in the film market of the early 20th century. It was revealed that the production process of documentary and educational films released by the film factory was rather innovative. The research defined the main stakeholders and equity holders, besides it described the life path of the founder of the Shareholding Company at different stages of his life including the Soviet period. One of the conclusions made in the research was the equity-mutual type of the Shareholding Company, when shares were issued and distributed only among the people closest to the equity holders, their relatives and family members and were not presented to the market for general public. This approach provided the management body with complete control over the enterprise, but at the same time the approach limited its development since there were no external investments. As the Board Chairman and Managing Director A. Khanzhonkov sought alternative opportunities to win the national film market without attracting additional outside sources of funding. The key condition for implementing the chosen strategy was the search for opportunities to improve the quality of released film products.

Linguodidactical potential of modern feature films in Russian as a foreign language classes

The work is devoted to the formation of sociocultural and linguocultural competences of foreigners studying Russian as a foreign language (RFL) through work with modern feature films. We describe the linguodidactic potential of authentic video materials designed to work in the classroom in Russian as a foreign language; selection criteria are presented. We point out that mo-tion pictures are a valuable source of both linguistic and extralinguistic information. We conclude that it is advisable to use authentic full-length feature films in RFL lessons; the recommended lev-el of language proficiency is B1. We offer a methodological development for the Russian film “Moscow Romance” (2019). We substantiate the criteria for choosing this film, we have devel-oped a system of tasks, some of which can be completed during extracurricular hours. We pre-scribe such stages of work with the film as: “Pre-demonstration. Preparation for viewing”, “Dem-onstration. Understanding Test” and “Post-Demonstration. Discussion”, as well as offer the fourth stage “Continuing work outside the classroom”. This system of work has been tested by the au-thors of the work in three groups of different nationalities studying at Russian universities.

METAMORPHOSES OF THE CINEMA CLUB MOVEMENT

The article is based on the studies by the Department for the Development and Approbation of Film Education Methods (VGIK) in the field of amateur film associations and cinema clubs. The authors profile the history of the Russian film club movement and analyze the significance of such associations for cultural enlightenment and comprehensive education of a personality. Such a survey is included in the international process of the formation of a cinephile community, who in the USSR were called nothing short of “kinomany” (movie addicts). A hundred years of experience of Russian film education, in the forms of both spontaneous amateur one and complex state one, is considered as a source of methods and best practices to be implemented in modern media education. The article also explains the influence of film clubs and their repertoire on the distribution and popularization of cinema works, especially on the so-called festival and “shelved” films, limited in release then and now becoming a battleground between commercial and artistic priorities of the filming process. The text contains stories and descriptions of participants in the film club movement: the founders of associations, curators and critics. Their interviews make it possible to imagine a three-dimensional picture of the life of cinema lovers’ communities. The main milestones in the history of the film club movement in the USSR and in the world are traced: the formation in the 1910s–1920s, the decline in the 1930s–1940s, the revival of the international festival movement abroad after World War II, and in Russia—during the perestroika, the crisis of the 1980s–1990s, the creation of the Cinema Club Federation, attempts to revive the Friends of Soviet Cinema Society, and modern trends related to the film club work in the context of international cooperation, which was initiated by the VI World Festival of Youth and Students. The Soviet experience is studied in correlation not only with the strengthening in Western Europe of such phenomena as film clubs and film lovers’ associations, but also with the formation of specialized art cinemas and the experiment of the cinema club network, which is predicted to play a special role in the post-pandemic era. Among other things, the authors’ attention is focused on the delicate balance, that accompanied the entire history of the film club movement: the balance between initiative of the people, a spontaneous mass movement, and state efforts to organize and structure this process, between the desire for creative freedom and strict censorship of the elite. The authors consider the domestic and foreign cinema club experience as an opportunity to distribute works of the Russian cinema art among the most interested audience and to establish a system of limited cinema club distribution, which would bring originators and the public closer together.

А. Khanzhonkov and Co Joint-Stock Company and its competitors in Russia

The article is based on the archival files of joint-stock companies in the film industry, stored in the fonds of the Russian State Historical Archive (RGIA), the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI), and the Central State Historical Archive of St Petersburg (TsGIA SPb) as well as statistics digests Joint-Stock Companies of Russia (1912–1917) and scientific literature and focuses on the analysis of the activities of A. Khanzhonkov and Co Joint-Stock Company and its competitors in the film industry at the beginning of the twentieth century. A. Khanzhonkov’s joint-stock company, which gradually developed from a small trade and commission business that supplied the Russian market with films and equipment produced mainly by European, became a leader in the Russian pre-revolutionary film market. The company steadily made a profit, increased its fixed and reserve capital, and also paid dividends to shareholders annually. The author came to the conclusion that it is A. Khanzhonkov and Co Joint-Stock Company that was most successful and effective in the field of production and distribution of films among Russian film companies firms and was a real competitor to the branches of leading foreign companies in Russian film business, such as Gaumont and Pathé Brothers. However, the company was unable to fully exploit the opportunities which emerged after the outbreak of the First World War due to the withdrawal of a number of branches of leading foreign companies from the film market. By keeping his firm in the form of a joint-stock company, A. Khanzhonkov actually hindered its development himself by not issuing shares for free sale on the stock exchange. Therefore, the company constantly suffered a lack of investment. This was especially evident after the February Revolution of 1917, when new companies entered the film business, which significantly increased competition in the film market. The attempt to transfer the company’s activities to the Crimea in connection with the construction of a new Yalta film studio was not successful, primarily due to the deterioration of the overall political and economic situation in the country.

Russian film education: problems and prospects

The subject of the study is education in the field of culture and art, its purpose is to assess public policy in the field of art education. The article analyzes the reasons for the appearance in the film industry of specialists with a low level of training. The study was based on the regulatory legal acts of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, data from Federal State Statistics Service, portals of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia: ‘Monitoring the employment of graduates’ and ‘How to enter the UNIVERSITY correctly’. During the study, a hypothesis was formulated on the trend of an increase in the training of specialists in creative specialties in non-core educational organizations. The hypothesis was tested on the basis of a regressive analysis of the distribution of admission quotas to higher education organizations, regardless of their departmental affiliation, and the construction of a linear regression. The article applies methods based on the establishment of an internal relationship of phenomena, their mathematical description. According to the analysis, the assessment of the quality of education in the field of culture and art should be determined not only by conducting online exams and testing graduates, and by questioning employers about the quality of their professional training. The author suggests measures aimed at changing the existing methodology for distributing admission quotas for creative specialties to educational organizations of higher education of the Ministry of Culture of Russia and other universities for which creative specialties are not specialized, and tightening requirements for material, technical and personnel support of a full-fledged educational process.