Soviet Constructivism Task 1-4

  1. How the political, social and economic upheaval created by the aftermath of both the  Russian Revolution and WW1 affected the production and content of classic Soviet Constructivist Cinema.

Constructivism begun as the art of a young Soviet Union after the revolution of 1917. The movement was conceived of out of a need for a new aesthetic language; one benefitting of a progressive new era in Soviet socialist history. Lenin encouraged propaganda through film, and this led to many works that involved anti-tsarist propaganda and empowerment of workers.

2. Describe some of the stylistic conventions associated with the expressionist art movement. Post some additional examples of Constructivist art.

Pure geometric forms, linearity, symmetry, repetition, simple, sans-serif fonts, the dominance of red and black, photomontage are all stylistic conventions of the ‘Soviet Constructivism Movement’

3. How does the Gerasimov Institute operate now?

The Gerasimov Institute is the oldest Film school in the world. Its present operations today consist of being one of the most influential film schools in Russia.

4. Three films identified by critics as classic Constructivist films

The New Babylon (1929)

The New Babylon is a 1929 silent historical drama film written and directed by Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg.

The End of St. Petersburg (1927)

A Russian peasant unwittingly becomes a scab, putting him at odds with a relative leading the strike.

Strike (1925)

Russian auteur Sergei Eisenstein’s first full-length feature, set just before the 1905 Bolshevik Revolution, depicts a workers’ strike against their oppressive factory bosses. When a worker is accused of stealing a piece of machinery, he commits suicide, and his fellow employees revolt against the Czarist regime controlling the factory.

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