In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

ONE Kino-Nedelia, Early Documentary, and the Performance of a New Collective, 1917–1921 Take One The Red Star Literary-Instructional Agit-Steamer of the All-Russia Central Executive Committee was a propaganda ship that traveled down the Volga River in 1919. It was also the name (without question a most unwieldy one!) of a two-reel film that Dziga Vertov made in accordance with its voyage. Red Star is a political travelogue that follows the ship as it spreads propaganda in towns and villages along the river. The ship itself was a multipurpose vessel: it carried movie-barge; it was equipped with a radio station tuned to the national news service; it exchanged goods made in Moscow for peasants’ grain; and it handed out propagandistic literature. Moreover, the ship was itself a piece of propaganda, as it was covered in banners and marquees championing political slogans. To emphasize the importance of the mission, the Red Star bore celebrity leaders who would speak to citizens gathered along the way. Among the figures were Nadezhda Krupskaia (Lenin’s wife) and Viatcheslav Molotov (Stalin’s future minister of foreign affairs). The film captures the leaders in private moments—writing speeches, enjoying the sights, or conversing with comrades—and in public moments as they deliver speeches to crowds. In these latter cases, the emphasis is less on the 38 Post-Revolution Nonfiction Film individual speaking than on the crowd gathered. Close-ups of the speakers focusing on gestures quickly give way to long shots from the vantage point of, and covering, the crowd. The speech coverage, the handing out of propagandistic literature, and the political slogans marking the vessel contribute to the notion that the film is actually less about the content of the agit-prop than it is celebrating the propagandistic effort itself. It does not celebrate a speech; it celebrates speechmaking. It does not highlight a propagandistic message; it highlights propaganda. But the film also visualizes the impact of the steamer on the populations it encounters. Two sequences in particular aim to demonstrate growing support for the Bolsheviks. The first is a striking scene of the ship leaving a large village. As it pulls away from shore, it appears that the Red Star has amassed hordes of new passengers. It is not clear why. Perhaps the captain agreed to transport locals down the river? Perhaps they just wanted to watch a film on board? Whatever the reason, the ship has apparently increased in population and energy. People wave good-bye, chat, and laugh. The vessel is full of vivacity and is reminiscent of a traveling show bringing joy to a town and moving on after its brief stay. It has a carnivalesque feel. Bolshevik propaganda appears not as a tedious thing but as an inevitable and pleasurable force sweeping the nation. If this first sequence indicates the energy and optimism the film hopes to associate with Bolshevism, an additional example points to the organizational unity of the masses. Following a speech to a large crowd of people gathered on a hillside, we see a long shot of the group descending the hill. The shot is framed so that we see them gradually coming together as they make their way in organized yet urgent fashion between two obstacles (perhaps boulders, it is unclear), that cover the bottom left-hand and right-hand sides of the frame. Had Vertov immediately cut away from the scene, we would probably not have paid the sequence any attention. Instead, after slightly reframing, he cuts back to the same shot as the crowd has increased in density. Finally, he cuts to another slightly reframed image of the remnants of the crowd as the lingerers hustle to make their way down the bottom of the hill and along the path. In each instance, the condensed space does not have a suffocating effect on the crowd. The people convene in an organized fashion, with purpose 65.246] Project MUSE (2024-04-26 14:03 GMT) 39 Kino-Nedelia, Documentary, and a New Collective and discipline. They adjust their personal positions to accommodate others. The cumulative effect of the three shots, like the previous scene of the people on the ship, is a sense of the inevitability of this nationalideological movement. It comes across not as an oppressive force but as an invitation, offering people a place on board, promising pleasure, excitement, and camaraderie, even as it requires a level of discipline and organization required for its efficacy. But it...

Share