Cinema-Atlas of the USSR: “In Bryansk Polesie”

Abstract

In the 1920s and 1930s, the scientific and creative community of the young Soviet state was involved in the implementation of the state program “Cinema-Atlas of the USSR”, which implied the accumulation of potential of research institutes and film studios for the production of a documentary film series about the peoples and regions of the diverse, multinational Soviet Union. One of the expressive examples of the parity of ethnography and cinematography in this context was the film “In Bryansk Polesie” (1931). Its creators were, on the one hand, experienced filmmakers, employees of the largest in the country “Soyuzkino” factory, director I.P. Kopalin and cameraman P.P. Zotov, and on the other hand – the famous researcher of the culture of the Eastern Slavs N.I. Lebedeva, representing the interests of the Central Museum of Ethnology. The general architecture of the considered film narrative is a typical example of an early Soviet ethnofilm: the transition of local communities from the “dark past” to the “bright future” is filmed. The article presents the results of the research experience of separating the “Soviet” layer from the “ethnographic” layer in this film document with a focus on its substantive and methodological aspects. It is shown that the film “In Bryansk Polesie” has a multifaceted scientific potential, since it is a multi-layered source for studying both the cultural traditions of the Polesie population and the history of the socialist reconstruction of the region.