УДК: 778.5"1913/1918"+791.45.072

DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2022-2-81-103

Full text (PDF): Download

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

Early Film Work of Vitold Akhramovich. 1913–1918

Abstract

The article examines the various activities of Vitold Akhramovich (Ashmarin) in early Russian cinema – from his work as one of the first professional film reviewers to that of a screenwriter and even a director. Through the lens of biography and cultural studies, the article traces the general context in which pre-revolutionary Russian cinema existed. Its employed people who came to cinema from journalism, literature and theatre and were closely associated with various artistic movements of their time. This, in turn, could not but influence the plots and the style of Russian cinema. Thus, Vitold Akhramovich brings to his work in cinema the experience of a journalist and an employee of the Musaget Symbolist publishing house, which affects his work as a film reviewer, screenwriter, and editor, while his translations from Polish make it possible to make a screen adaptation of one of the scandalous novels of the early 20th century. – “The Strong Man” (Mocny człowiek). It also laid the foundation for his attempts to move from screenwriting and administrative work in cinema to directing. Among the names that are connected through the figure of V. Akhramovich in the pre-revolutionary years are Stanisław Przybyszewski, Maxim Gorky and Maria Andreeva, and Vsevolod Meyerhold.

Keywords

Vitold Akhramovich, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Yurii Zheliabuzhskii, Stanisław Przybyszewski, early Russian cinema, film criticism.

For citation

Ryabchikova N.S. Early Film Work of Vitold Akhramovich. 1913–1918. In: Theatre. Fine Arts. Cinema. Music. 2022, no. 2, pp. 81–103.

DOI: 10.35852/2588-0144-2022-2-81-103

References

  1. Ryabchikova N.S. Vitol’d Akhramovich (Ashmarin) i Lev Kuleshov: u istokov russkoi kinoteorii [Vitold Akhramovich (Ashmarin) and Lev Kuleshov: At the inception of Russian film theory]. Theatre. Fine Arts. Cinema. Music. 2021, no. 3, pp. 61–79. 
  2. Durylin S. Kommentarii k “Antologii” [Commentary to “The Anthology”]. In: Knigoizdatel’stvo “Musaget”: Istoriia. Mify. Rezul’taty. Issledovaniia i materialy [The Musaget Publishing House: History. Myths. Results. Research and Documents]. Ed. by A.I. Reznichenko. Moscow: RGGU, 2014, pp. 347–412. 
  3. Etkind A. Sodom i Psikheia. Ocherki intellektual’noi istorii Serebrianogo veka [Sodom and Psyche. Essays on the Intellectual History of the Silver Age]. Moscow: Arsis Books, 2015. 336 р. 
  4. Moskovskii knigoizdatel’ V.M. Antik. Katalog izdanii 1906–1918 [The Moscow Book Publisher V.M. Antik. Catalog of Publications 1906–1918]. Moscow: MPI, 1993. 245 p.
  5. Kurant I. Polska literatura piękna od XVI w. do początku XX w. w wydawnictwach rosyjskich i radzieckich: bibliografia przekładów oraz literatury krytycznej w języku rosyjskim wydanych w latach 1711–1975. T. 4. Wroclaw: Ossolineum, 1986. 411 s. 
  6. Bely A. Arabeski [The Arabesques]. Moscow: Musaget, 1911. 501 p.
  7. Khersonskii Kh. Stranitsy iunosti kino: Zapiski kritika [The Pages from the Youth of Cinema: The Notes of a Critic]. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1965. 287 p. 
  8. Kissin S. (Muni). Legkoe bremia: Stikhi i proza; Perepiska s V.F. Khodasevichem [A Light Burden: Poetry and Prose; Correspondence with V.F. Khodasevich]. Moscow: Avgust, 1999. 416 p.
  9. Velikii kinemo: Katalog sokhranivshikhsia igrovykh fil’mov Rossii, 1908–1919 [The Great Kinemo: Catalog of the Surviving Russian Fiction Films, 1908–1919]. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie, 2002. 564 p. 
  10. Khodasevich V. Nekropol’. Vospominaniia [Necropolis. Memoirs]. Paris: YMCA-Press, 1976. 279 p. 
  11. Bely A. Nachalo veka [The Beginning of the Century]. Moscow: Khudozhestvennaia literatura, 1990. 686 p.
  12. 2. «…schitaiu schast’em dlia sebia rabotat’ s Vami”. Meyerkhold i kino [“…I Consider Myself Lucky to Work with You”. Meyerhold and Cinema] (publikatsiia V.V. Zabrodina). Kinovedcheskiye zapiski [Film Scholar’s Notes]. 2006, no. 78, p. 49–84. 
  13. Zheliabuzhskii Yu. Avtobiografiia [Autobiography]. In: Kino i vremia. Vyp. 4 [Cinema and Time. Iss. 4]. Moscow: Gosfil’mofond SSSR, 1965, pp. 178–186. 
  14. Zasedanie v chest’ 15-letiia sovetskogo kino. Nauchno-issledovatel’skii sektor VGIK. Fevral’ 1935 [Meeting in Honor of the 15th Anniversary of Soviet Cinema. Research Sector of VGIK. February 1935]. Laboratoriia istorii otechestvennogo kino VGIK [The Laboratory of the History of Russian Cinema, VGIK]. Inventory file 15262. 
  15. Mariia Fedorovna Andreyeva. Perepiska. Vospominaniia. Stat’i. Dokumenty. Vospominaniia o M.F. Andreevoi [Maria Fedorovna Andreeva. Correspondence. Memoirs. Articles. Documents. Reminiscences of M.F. Andreeva] / sost. A.P. Grigor’eva i S.V. Shchirina. Izd. 3-ye, dop. i pererab. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1968. 796 p. 
  16. Gor’kii M. Polnoe sobranie sochinenii. Pis’ma. V 24 t. Т. 12. Ianvar’ 1916 – mai 1919 [Complete Works. Correspondence. In 24 vols. Vol. 12. January 1916 – May 1919]. Moscow: Nauka, 2006. 731 p.
  17. Volkov N. Meyerhold. Vol. 2. Moscow, Leningrad: Academia, 1929. 492 p. 
  18. Meyerhold u ekrana [Meyerhold by the Screen]. Teatral’naia gazeta [The Theatre Gazzette]. 1916. August 7. P. 15. 
  19. Smirnova-Iskander A.V. V 1917 godu [In 1917]. In: Tvorcheskoe nasledie V.E. Meyerkholda [Creative Legacy of V.E. Meyerhold]. Moscow: VTO, 1978, pp. 236–246. 
  20. Vishnevskii V. Khudozhestvennye fil’my dorevoliutsionnoi Rossii [Fiction Films of Pre-revolutionary Russia]. Moscow: Goskinoizdat, 1945. 192 p. 
  21. Stenogramma vechera vospominaniy stareishikh uchenikov i prepodavatelei GIK. 16 i 20 ianvarya 1935 g. [A Transcript of the Evening of Reminiscences of the First Students and Teachers of GIK. January 16 and 20, 1935]. In: K istorii VGIKa. Kniga 1 (1919–1934). Dokumenty. Pressa. Vospominaniia. Issledovaniia [Towards the History of VGIK. Book 1 (1919–1934). Documents. Print Publications. Memoires. Research]. Moscow: VGIK, 2000, pp. 258–310. 
  22. Pasternak B. Sobranie sochinenii v 5 t. T. 4. [Collected Works in 5 vols. Vol. 4]. Moscow: Khudozhestvennaya literatura, 1991. 910 p.
  23. Pisateli simvolistskogo kruga. Novye materialy [Symbolist Writers. New Materials]. Saint Petersburg: Dmitriy Bulanin, 2003. 508 p. 
  24. Gracheva A.M. “Zhiznetvorchestvo” Anny Mar [Anna Mar’s “Life Creation”]. In: Litsa: Biograficheskii al’manakh [Faces. A Biography Almanac]. Vol. 7. Moscow; Saint-Petersburg, 1996, pp. 56–76. 
  25. Ekrannye iskusstva i literatura. Nemoe kino [Screen Arts and Literature. Silent Cinema]. Moscow: Nauka, 1991. 244 p. 
  26. Korotkii V.M. Operatory i rezhissery russkogo igrovogo kino 1897–1921 [Operators and Directors of Russian Feature Films 1897–1921]. Moscow: Kanon+, 2009. 432 p.
  27. Sovetskie khudozhestvennye fil’my. Annotirovannyi katalog. T. 3: Prilozheniya [Soviet Feature Films. Annotated Catalog. Vol. 3. Supplements]. Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1961. 307 p.

Received: 15.04.2022

Revised: 11.05.2022

Accepted: 13.05.2022