Soviet Cinema in Italy in the Post-War Period (1950-1970)

The doctoral dissertation develops the Italian-Soviet relations in cinema in the post-war years and the history of the Soviet cinema presence in Italy. Interdisciplinary character of the research united history and cinema in that period of the XXth century when culture totally depended on the geopolitical situation. The object of the work was the historical material connected with the presence of Soviet cinema in Italy that have not yet been studied and united in one work. There was done an archival work in order to find out all the Soviet cinema festivals that appeared in Italy in the mentioned period in different Italian cities, their organizers, distributors and the amount of the spectators involved. It became clear what films arrived from the USSR, what impression they made on Italian critics and spectators. For that purpose the Italian mass media of the period was also studied. The fullest list of films made in Italian-Soviet co-production and their stories from both points of views was also one of the research’s results. As well as the first time revealed from the Venice Film Festival’s archive the detailed list of the Soviet films and their awards. The archive work and bilateral relations studies demanded several methodological approaches to be used: comparative historical method, text-based method and problematic chronological method. The research made it possible to follow the whole dynamics of the Italian-Soviet cinema processes from the total absence in the beginning of 1950s to the cinema festivals and co-productions. The contribution of the prominent figures in building those bilateral relations was also reflected in the dissertation. Important task was realized by uniting Italian and Russian archival and scientific sources and could be used in future by cinema experts interested in the Soviet cinema presence in European countries or in Italian cinema distribution, circuits, etc.