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After the 1917 Revolution, Soviet film studios opened new professional paths for women, particularly in documentary cinema. Many entered the field as editors or lab workers, and a few, like Esfir Shub, Elizaveta Svilova, and Lidia Stepanova, managed to gain public recognition in the 1920s. But for the vast majority of women, the promise of visibility and authorship remained unfulfilled. Structural barriers, including rigid hierarchies and lack of professional training, kept most behind the scenes.
A shift occurred in the 1930s with the centralization of the Soviet film industry, the creation of the state documentary studio Soyuzkinochronika, and the growing influence of VGIK, the state film institute. A new generation of women filmmakers entered the profession with formal training. Directors like Ottiliia Reizman, Arsha Ovanesova, and Olga Podgoretskaya began building careers within the system, contributing significantly to Soviet documentary production. Yet their access to projects was often limited by institutional politics, thematic expectations, and lack of support from male colleagues.
This lecture explores the complex dynamics behind the careers of first two generations of Soviet women documentarians: How did studio hierarchies and shifting political agendas shape their work? Why, despite the number of women at Soyuzkinochronika, did a distinct women’s documentary movement never take hold? And what does their experience tell us about gender, authorship, and professional identity in Stalinist cinema?
Kirill Goriachok is a PhD Candidate in Film and Screen Studies at the University of Cambridge and holds a Candidate of Science degree (the Russian equivalent of a PhD). He is the author of several books on Dziga Vertov published in Russia, including Miru – Glaza. Dziga Vertov. Stikhi (the first collection of Vertov’s poetry), Kinoki. Shkola Dzigi Vertova, and Zhizn vrasplokh: Istoriya sozdaniya “Cheloveka s kinoapparatom”.
