• Vitold Akhramovich (Ashmarin) and Lev Kuleshov: At the inception of Russian film theory

DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2021-3-61-79

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Natalie S. Ryabchikova

PhD in Film Studies, lecturer at the School of Design
Higher School of Economics
Moscow, Russia
E-mail: natalia.ryabchikova@gmail.com

Vitold Akhramovich (Ashmarin) and Lev Kuleshov: At the inception of Russian film theory

Abstract

The article is devoted to the beginning of the career of one of the first Russian film reviewers and theorists Vitold Frantsevich Akhramovich. He worked with directors Evgeny Bauer and Vsevolod Meyerhold and had a significant impact on the early practice and theory of Lev Kuleshov. The article briefly traces the career of Akhramovich as a theatre and film reviewer, screenwriter, literary editor in film companies, assistant, and director. It also discusses the reasons why his influence on Lev Kuleshov was later downplayed by Kuleshov himself and by researchers of his work. The figure of the artist and director Evgeny Bauer, who died in the summer of 1917, thus came to the forefront. By emphasizing the input of Akhramovich, the article establishes a strong connection between Kuleshov’s ideas of the 1910s – 1920s and not only Bauer’s practice, but also the film work of Vsevolod Meyerhold. This connection has previously not been considered in detail. Akhramovich’s views on cinema, preserved in Kuleshov’s later retellings, are placed in the context of Akhramovich’s early work in cinema, and thus the figure of one of the influential, but later practically forgotten Russian filmmakers and film theorists emerges.

Keywords

Vitold Akhramovich, Lev Kuleshov, Evgeny Bauer, Vsevolod Meyerhold, early Russian cinema, film theory, film historiography.

For citation

Ryabchikova N. S.Vitold Akhramovich (Ashmarin) and Lev Kuleshov: At the inception of Russian film theory. In: Theatre. Fine Arts. Cinema. Music. 2021, no. 3, pp. 61–79.

DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2021-3-61-79

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Received: 29.06.2021

Accepted: 12.08.2021