Includes bibliographical references, filmography and index.
Contents:
Introduction. Conceptualising the period ; Overview of the contemporary Russian film ; Crticial review of scholarship on contemporary Russian film ; Contextualising the present study ; Theorising contemporary Russian cinema -- 1. Abstracted subjectivity and knowledge-worlds : Aleksandr Sokurov's Taurus (2001) -- 2. The lacking sense of cinema : Aleksandr Proshkin's The miracle (2009) -- 3. Gatekeepers of (non-)knowledge : Aleksei Balabanov's Morphine (2008) -- 4. Symbolic folds and flattened discourse : Andrei Zviagintsev's Elena (2010) -- 5. Non-knowledge and the symbolic mode : Nikolai Khomeriki's A tale about darkness (2009) -- 6. The world and the event : Kirill Serebrennikov's St. George's Day (2008) -- 7. A plea for the dead (self) : Renata Litvinova's Goddess : how I fell in love (2004) -- 8. Body in crisis and posthumous subjectivity : Igor' Voloshin's Nirvana (2008) -- 9. The difficulty of being dead : Aleksandr Veledinskii's Alive (2006) -- 10. Intentionality and modelled subjectivities : Aleksei Fedorchenko's Silent souls (2010) -- 11. Abandoned being : Mikhail Kalatozishvili's The wild field (2008) -- 12. Amplifications of subjectivity : Aleksandr Zel'dovich's The target (2010) -- Conclusions.
Summary:
One of the first books to explore Russian cinema in the new millennium, this volume captures the emergence of a new cinematic sensibility and interprets it through the framework of the symbolic mode. Analysing films by established directors such as Sokurov, Zviagintsev and Zel'dovich, as well as lesser-known filmmakers like Balabanov, Fedorchenko and Kalatozishvili, Contemporary Russian Cinema: Symbols of a New Era explores the particular style of film presentation that has emerged in Russia since 2000, characterised by its use of highly abstract concepts and visual language. Whether directed towards a mystical world, or even towards an afterlife, the symbolic mode defines the emergence of a specific mindscape which has escaped previous representational forms and is intrinsically linked to Russia’s dramatic political and economic development since the turn of the 21st century.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.