Presented by the Centre for Cinema Studies and Cinema Thinks the World, the Critical Thinkers Series features research talks by notable and emerging scholars in Cinema and Media Studies. Join us for the first talk in the Fall 2025 Series by Dr. Dina Iordanova, Emeritus Professor in Global Cinema at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.
Soviet Cinema as Seen from Central Asia
Scholarly writing on Soviet cinema is, for the most part and with a few exceptions, synonymous with writing on Russian film. However, the cinema of the Soviet Union was a complex conglomerate that comprised of the cinema of 15 culturally and linguistically diverse republics, of which Russia was just one. This talk will discuss aspects of Soviet cinema as seen from one of its peripheries, the republics of Central Asia (Kazakh SSR, Kyrgyz SSR, Tajik SSR, Turkmen SSR, Uzbek SSR), mainly on examples of the war films (about WWII a.k.a. Great Patriotic War) and the ‘Easterns’/’basmachi’ films made in these parts.
About Dr. Dina Iordanova
Dina Iordanova is an Emeritus Professor in Global Cinema at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. She has published extensively on transnational cinema and film festivals. Her current research interest is in the cinema of the non-Russian republics of the former Soviet Union.
