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Film Studies Discussions in Cinema Art Journal: 1969–1985
Authors: Anastasia Levitskaya
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Throughout the period 1969–1985, the editors of the Cinema Art journal paid a great deal of attention to theoretical discussions, including discussions about specific problems of film studies. As a rule, leading Soviet film critics and film historians took part in these discussions.
The discussion on Georgian cinema, organized by E. Surkov (1915–1988), the editor-in-chief of Cinema Art journal, in the second half of the 1970s, had the strongest public response.
The starting point of this discussion was an article about the state of Georgian cinema, written by the well-known film critic and film expert Y. Bogomolov (1937–2023). One of the main theses of this article was the claim that Georgian cinematographers, having developed their own exquisite, parable-like style, not only lose contact with the mass audience, but also, repeating the successful artistic techniques they found, move toward a kind of creative "dead end".
This position, of course, aroused strong objections from the majority of Georgian cinematographers and film critics, who began to defend their national cinema, reproaching Bogomolov in engagement.
The discussion about genres and styles, about the phenomenon of popularity of cinematography turned out to be acute on the pages of the Cinema Art journal.