FilmIndia (Jan-Nov 1942)

What Russia Does With Films The Film Hs R Bullet Of War BY D. G. TENDULKAR "Cinema is for us the most important of arts" said Lenin. How this is true in Soviet Russia today is the theme of my article. In 1939, V. Pudovkin, one of the ace-regisseurs of Soviet Russia, undertook the production of "Minin and Pozharsky", a historical film. Its theme was the invasion of Russia by the Poles and the subsequent Polish defeat. Another historical film, "Schor" was simultaneously being produced by Dovzhenko, also a wellknown regisseur. It is the story of Nikolai Schors, Bolshevik captain of the Ukranian people, who fought successfully against the German invasion of 1919. These films were being produced when Europe was expecting war at any moment. The Soviets were arming themselves against invasion and were preparing the minds of the people for such contingency, through films, literature etc. Modern waifare is exceedingly complex. It demands preparedness during peace time too. Efficient heavy industry, scientific agriculture, excellent transport, national fitness, scientific education, research and many other things must exist if a nation has to live today. This can be achieved cnly through universal education and can best be done through cinema is well illustrated in the Soviet Union. The accessibility of the cinema, its accuracy in depicting life and scientific facts has long since turned it into an active aid in the work of Soviet scientific institutions and factory laboratories, as well as in various fields of education, from the elementary schools to the mass technical circles. Ten years ago the All Union Trust for the production of scientific, educational and instructive films was established. The major branches of this trust — which is a large organisation producing many films — are lo cated in Moscow, Leningrad and Novosibirsk. The Technical Film Trust is closely linked up with industry and scientific research institutes. In order to draw the cinema closer to the needs of the factories and also to the work of the leading scientific institutions, film producing units are established in them. Scores of scientific institutions now have their own cinema units: the Moscow Mechanical Engineering Institute, the Leningrad Industrial and Power Institutes, as well as the educational departments of the leading factories such as the Stalin AutoPlant in Moscow etc. All-Union Institute of Experimental Medicine and the Institute of Biology, the Neuro-Surgical Institute produce their own films. Eminent Soviet scientists participate in the production of scientific and educational films. A FILM FOR EVERY PURPOSE To popularise radio, driving, aviation, astronomy, geography, natural sciences, appropriate films on such subjects are shown in schools, factories and the people's clubs. The interest of the public in scientific-educational films is so great that a number of leading State Departments (the People's Commissariats for Education, Heavy Industry, Agriculture, etc.) are carrying on methodical work within their own organisations with a view to produce new films on topics of interest to them. The development of scientific propaganda requires not only the utilisation of all available skilled technicians, but also the systematic training of new people. At the State Institute of Cinematography there is a special department of scientific educational films for training both of the directors and organisers of this work. School teachers are given systematic training in the u?e of cinematographic methods of instruction. Naturally during the present war period, the film activities are double with a view to galvanize life in the prosecution of the war. Film workers have renounced their working hour restrictions. Most of the famous Jagdish and Kaushalya score a hit in "Rai Saheb", a Janak picture. 63