Representation of Ulan-Ude in the Soviet newsreel

The subject of the study is a Soviet newsreel that reflected the change in the urban environment and the citizens of Ulan-Ude. The object of the study is a newsreel shot mainly by the East Siberian Newsreel Studio. The genre of Soviet newsreels determines the visually constructed nature of the depicted reality. Documentaries and newsreels have a significant information potential to reconstruct the image of Ulan-Ude, its environment and the life of prominent citizens. They reflect the events that took place in Ulan-Ude and perform multiple functions: they illustrate specific phenomena and facts, express the transmission of ideas of their time, and also serve as a visual representation of urban history. Quantitative analysis of film documents allows us to determine periods of high frequency of filming and a broader picture of the capital of the region. A qualitative analysis of film documents makes it possible to critically reflect on the filmed plots, their one-sidedness or ideological outline. Detailed attention is paid to the comparison of urban photography and personalities shot during the Soviet period. The annotated description, statistical processing and analysis of the content of film documents was carried out by the author on the basis of archival work in the film repository of the Irkutsk Regional Film Fund. Research methods: visual analysis of film sources of the Irkutsk Regional Film Fund, content analysis. The novelty of the research lies in the discovery and allocation of film sources based on the content of Ulan-Ude in Russian film repositories. Along with the existing wide database of written sources on the history of Ulan-Ude, there is a significant layer of visual data, in particular, film documents, which allows reconstructing the image of the city and those cardinal changes that occurred to it during the twentieth century. Documentaries shot in regional film studios of the USSR were produced by order of ministries or party organizations, and broadcast in an extensive film distribution system throughout the country, including rural settlements. Therefore, their wide social circulation ensured regular communication or cinematic discourse between the authors of film productions and the audience. A feature of documentary filming in Soviet cinema was the production of visual knowledge within the institutional framework of the functioning film industry.

representation, Newsreel, visual reconstruction, the construction of social knowledge, urban history, Soviet documentary cinematography, film adaptation, the city of Ulan-Ude, Buryatia, East Siberian Newsreel Studio