Instructor

Prof. Dr. Alexander Libman

Course description

Authoritarian and totalitarian regimes frequently try to control all spheres of their societies, including everyday practices, economy and culture. Film-making receives a particular attention of autocracies, from Mussolini’s Italy, the Third Reich and Franco's Spain to Putin's Russia. Yet cinema also becomes a place, where artists contest the authoritarian dominance, or at least look for ways of escaping from it. The Soviet cinema, which already Lenin described as "the most important art" for the regime, is a particularly strong and influential example of this logic: despite the rigid authoritarian control, it produced impressive examples of more or less openly anti-authoritarian narratives. Soviet cinema deserves particular consideration also because it remains vastly popular in the modern Russia as well, raising the question about how it affects the contemporary Russian society. The favorable depiction of the Soviet Union in the Soviet movies could have contributed to the persistence of the 'good USSR' myth current authoritarian regime in Russia capitalizes upon; yet how is the explicitly non- or anti-authoritarian cinema of the Soviet era perceived in Russia today? A reasonable discussion of this topic necessarily requires an interdisciplinary perspective; therefore, we propose a course on the non- and anti-authoritarian Soviet films based on explicit dialogue between humanities and social sciences (especially political science). The class will be co-taught by two professor specializing in Russian and East European societies and cultures from the Hebrew University and from the FU Berlin, but representing different disciplinary perspectives. Because of that, in addition to discussing the main topic of the course (the Soviet cinema), the course will also familiarize students with the possibilities and limits of interdisciplinary dialogue.

Location: Garystr.55/302a Seminarraum (Garystr. 55)

Schedule: Blockseminar: 24.04., 15. und 22.05., 5. und 12.06., jeweils 15.30-19.00 (Online); sowie 20.06., 10:00-13:30, (hybrid).

Class starts on: 2025-04-24

Course language: English

Dates & Registration:
For students of FU Berlin: Please see the FUB course page.