Film and Media Studies

This book showcases the accomplishments and triumphs of women in Russian animation and reveals their past contributions to not only animation, but also world cinema. Through archival research, historical analysis, and close readings of animated films this book recuperates the often-overlooked contributions women made to Russian animation over the last 100 years.

Cinemasaurus examines ninety recent films over three decades, focusing on four issues of Russia’s transition: (1) its imperial legacy, (2) the film market and new genres, (3) the dialogue with European values and hierarchies, (4) its renegotiation with state power. Its contributors include the next generation of US-Russian cinema scholars.

This collection surveys recent developments in Russian cinema and introduces undergraduate students to significant films released between 2005 and 2016 that are also available with English subtitles. Essays on individual films provide background on directors’ careers, detailed analyses of selected films, along with suggestions for further readings both in English and Russian.

For 60 years, the Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov, creator of the famed Man with a Movie Camera (1929), has been recognized as a founding figure of documentary, avant-garde, and political-propaganda film. This book addresses Vertov's formative years in prerevolutionary and Soviet Russia, alongside his interests in music, poetry and technology.