Ivan Andreevich Golovnev,
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Senior Researcher, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia, e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Golovnev I.A. “Cinema-Atlas of the USSR”: “Turukhansk Region” by Viktor Sytin
DOI: 10.31518/2618-9100-2022-5-4
In the 1920s–1930s in the USSR, an original direction of ethno-geographic cinema was formed, expressed in a palette of methodological approaches, creative styles, and effective methods of interaction between scientists and filmmakers. The article focuses on a bright episode from the history of visual anthropology – the theoretical and practical works of Viktor Sytin – a scientist, writer, head of the film section of the Society for the Study of the Urals, Siberia and the Far East, associated with the development of ethnogeographic cinema in the USSR at the turn of the 1920s–1930s. The sources for the study, many of which are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, were historical evidence reflecting the participation of V.A. Sytin in the development of the major state project “The Cinema Atlas of the USSR” in general and in the creation of his series about the Turukhansk region in particular – text and visual documents from the funds of the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art and the Russian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents, as well as thematic articles of the scientist not presented in scientific circulation in the Soviet periodical press. Attention is drawn to the features of the scientific and creative searches of V.A. Sytin, consisting in the use of cinema as a resource for popularizing local history research – a means that allows the viewer to make an educational film expedition to a remote geographical location. Practical initiatives of V.A. Sytin on conducting joint research and cinematographic expeditions and introducing the created films into educational programs were innovative for their time and remain relevant for use in modern humanitarian practices.
Publishing: 28/10/2022
The article has been received by the editor on 19/07/2022
How to cite: Golovnev I.A. “Cinema-Atlas of the USSR”: “Turukhansk Region” by Viktor Sytin // Historical Courier, 2022, No. 5 (25), pp. 50–63. [Available online: http://istkurier.ru/data/2022/ISTKURIER-2022-5-04.pdf]
The research was carried out at the expense of the grant of the Russian Science Foundation (RNF) No. 21-18-00518 “Cinema Atlas of the USSR: The Experience of Positioning a Multinational state” (https://rscf.ru/project/21-18-00518/).
Links: Issue 5 2022
Keywords: Visual Anthropology; History of Cinema; “Cinema-Atlas of the USSR”; Viktor Sytin