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Presented By: University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA)

Branding the New Order: Soviet Constructivist Films from the 1920s

In conjunction with the UMMA exhibition Soviet Constructivist Posters: Branding the New Order, UMMA, the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, and the University of Michigan Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies present a series of groundbreaking films from the early Soviet Union. The bold designs of the movie posters in the exhibition announced to the public the new revolutionary state in its formative first decade, the 1920's. The movies themselves are still viewed and studied today for their inventive approach to filmmaking. Five of the films advertised by the posters will be screened in February. The final day of the series, February 12, 2016, also features a panel discussion of the Constructivist movement with exhibition curator Lehti Keelmann and U-M faculty.

Schedule of Films for February 6:
4:30pm- October/Ten Days that Shook the World, Sergei Eisenstein, 1928 (103 minutes)
October re-enacts the beginning of the October Revolution, with its iconic moments such as the storming of the Winter Palace. It is directed by Soviet cinematic great, Sergei Eisenstein (from Riga, Latvia), who participated in the revolution, producing propaganda. The film is dynamic and some of its elements such as the use of banners are visually translated into the accompanying poster. It is significant for its historical context in recounting (through the eyes of the Bolsheviks) the events of the revolution at an early point in the trajectory of the Soviet Union. Though prepared earlier, the film was not released until 1928 due to Stalin's ban on images of Leonid Trotsky, which required certain scenes to be edited out.

For Eisenstein, camera angles and the minutea of detail were important. He cultivated a style involving a "montage of attraction," which brought together different theatrical techniques and types of scenes for a composite effect. He used actors and scripts and sought to build intensity from scene to scene. While foreign critics praised his inventive camera angles and montages, they were skeptically received in the Soviet Union, especially after Eisenstein's blockbuster success, The Battleship Potemkin.

6:30pm- Zvenigora, Aleksandr Dovženko, Georgi Astafyev, and Vja?eslaw Ov?innikov, 1927 (67 minutes)

Zvenigora combines the tradition of Ukrainian folk tales and poetry with revolutionary ideals and dynamic cinematic practices in early Soviet film. Directed by Ukrainian Alexander Dovženko, the film centers on a hidden treasure in the Ukrainian region of Zvenigora and juxtaposes the past with the present. A grandfather tells the story of the hidden treasure to his two grandsons, who react in different ways. The first, Pavlo, searches for the treasure, becomes a con artist, and eventually commits suicide. The second, Tymishko, becomes a soldier of the revolution (fighting for the Bolsheviks in the Ukrainian Civil War) and discovers that the true treasure of Zvenigora involves working the land to reveal the bounty of agriculture and industry.

For Dovženko, the revolution was about understanding how to harness the land for progress. In this vein, the landscape plays an important role in the film. While the film was criticized for being too nationalistic, Dovženko believed that it highlighted the range of his creative abilities and espoused Eisenstein’s “montage of attractions.” The film mediates traditions and national history – the mythical – with a narrative of the New Order – the modern. Produced by VUFKU, Zvenigora is part of a trilogy of silent films centered on Ukraine by Dovženko that also include Arsenal and Earth.

Series Schedule:
All programs take place in the Helmut Stern Auditorium.

Saturday, February 6:
4:30 pm – October/Ten Days that Shook the World, Sergei Eisenstein, 1928 (103 minutes)
6:30 pm – Zvenigora, Aleksandr Dovženko, Georgi Astafyev, and Vja?eslav Ov?innikov, 1927 (67 minutes)

Sunday, February 7:
4:30 pm- The Love Triangle/Bed and Sofa, Abram Room, 1927 (87 minutes)
6:15 pm- The Eleventh, Dziga Vertov, 1928 (52 minutes)

Friday, February 12:
4:30 pm – Branding the New Order: Soviet Constructivism, a panel discussion with exhibition curator Lehti Keelmann and U-M faculty
6:30 – The Man with the Movie Camera, Dziga Vertov, 1926 (68 minutes)

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