Reimagining Early Soviet Animation: Screening and lecture

Reimagining Early Soviet Animation: Screening and lecture + after party

This project is an attempt to recreate and reimagine the experience of early 20th century Russian and Soviet cinema halls. For this event eight animated silent shorts have been chosen, created in pre-revolutionary and early Soviet Russia (1912 — 1929). Soviet animated and feature movies of the 1920s and 30s have enriched the language of contemporary cinema. Many viewers outside Russia are aware of Sergei Eisenstein’s and Dziga Vertov’s work: we invite the audience to explore lesser-known animated movies from that period.

An exciting and innovative aspect of this project are the soundtracks that accompany each animation. These soundtracks were composed especially for this project by Russian electronic musicians, to provide a new context for the animated story. These musicians, DJs and producers take the place of the tapeurs of the silent movie era — film accompanists who played music alongside the screenings to mask the noise of the projector and talkative audience. Later music became an essential part of the film viewing experience.

A less obvious but still essential part of going to the cinema has always been movie posters. Essentially made for promotion purposes, they became an independent art-form presented at international exhibitions and auctions.

For our project a set of ex-Soviet artists/designers/illustrators have created posters for each film.