Share:


Late Soviet film industry: creativity and work culture

    Tomas Mitkus Affiliation
    ; Raimonda Steiblytė Affiliation

Abstract

In this paper authors analyse work environment in late Soviet period Lithuanian film industry. This study looks at primary sources (session memos, annual reports, professional film union’s memos etc.) and analyses what key elements influenced work ethics of Soviet Lithuanian film crew. Findings suggest that censorship, tolerance of low work ethics and strict annual production planning influenced work environment that accepted low film creative value and negative attitude towards administration.

Article in English.


Vėlyvojo sovietinio laikotarpio kino industrija: kūrybiškumas ir darbo kultūra

Santrauka

Šiame straipsnyje autoriai analizuoja Lietuvos kino industrijos darbo aplinką vėly-vuoju sovietiniu laikotarpiu. Siekiant identifikuoti pagrindines priežastis, kurios lė-mė sovietmečio kūrybinės kino komandos darbo etikos susiformavimą, straipsnyje apžvelgiami pirminiai šaltiniai: posėdžių protokolai, metinės ataskaitos, kino studi-jos profesinės sąjungos protokolai. Duomenys rodo, kad cenzūra, žemos darbo etikos toleravimas ir griežtas metinės produkcijos planavimas buvo pagrindinės priežastys, lėmusios kino kūrėjų darbo kultūrą, kuri suformavo toleranciją žemos kūrybinės vertės kino produkcijai bei neigiamą požiūrį į administracinį personalą.

Reikšminiai žodžiai: cenzūra, kūrybinės industrijos, kino industrija, istorija, Lietuva, vadyba.

Keyword : censorship, creative industries, film industry, history, Lithuania, management

How to Cite
Mitkus, T., & Steiblytė, R. (2018). Late Soviet film industry: creativity and work culture. Creativity Studies, 11(1), 116-128. https://doi.org/10.3846/cs.2018.2372
Published in Issue
Jun 12, 2018
Abstract Views
1233
PDF Downloads
705
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Baltic Films: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. (2006). Facts & Figures. Retrieved from http://filmi.ee/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Facts_Figures-2006.pdf

Baltic Films: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. (2007). Facts & Figures. Retrieved from http://filmi.ee/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Facts_Figures-2007.pdf

Baltic Films: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. (2012). Facts & Figures. Retrieved from http://www.lkc.lt/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/FF-2013.pdf

Baltic Films: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. (2017). Facts & Figures. Retrieved from http://nkc.gov.lv/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/09/FF-2017-web.pdf

Bayadyan, H. (2008). Soviet Armenian identity and cultural representation. In T. Darieva & W. Kaschuba (Eds.). Representations on the Margins of Europe: Politics and identities in the Baltic and South Caucasian States. Frankfurt/New York: Campus Verlag, 205-219.

Bereznickas, I. (2017). Animacija: Nuo idėjos iki ekrano. Vilnius: Vilniaus dailės akademijos leidykla.

Bohlinger, V. (2014). Book review of Philip Cavendish’s the men with the movie camera: The poetics of visual style in Soviet Avant-Garde cinema of the 1920s. Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema, 8(3), 236-238. https://doi.org/10.1080/17503132.2014.969915

Bordwell, D. (1972). The idea of montage in Soviet art and film. Cinema Journal, 11(2), 9-17. https://doi.org/10.2307/1225046

Brašiškis, L. (2009). Šarūnas Bartas – lietuvių kino filosofas. Bernardinai.lt. Retrieved from http://www.bernardinai.lt/straipsnis/2009-11-04-sarunas-bartas-lietuviu-kino-filosofas/34707

Briley, R. (1996). Sergei Eisenstein: The Artist in service of the revolution. The History Teacher, 29(4), 525-536. https://doi.org/10.2307/494802

Cavendish, Ph. (2004). Book review of David Gillespie’s early Soviet cinema: Innovation, ideology and propaganda. The Modern Language Review, 99(1), 273-274. https://doi.org/10.2307/3738974

Cavendish, Ph. (2013). The men with the movie camera: The poetics of visual style in Soviet Avant-Garde cinema of the 1920s. New York: Berghahn Books.

Černeckaitė, I. (2005). Sovietinė kino dokumentika Lietuvoje: istoriniai ir ideologiniai kontekstai (1963–1988 m.). Genocidas ir rezistencija, 1(17), 35-50.

Cinema D’Europa MEDIA Salles. (2014). 2013: European cinema yearbook. Retrieved from http://www.mediasalles.it/ybk2013/index.html

Collective Agreement. (1982). Collective agreement. Vilnius: Lithuanian Film Studio.

Dobrenko, E. (2007). Creation myth and myth creation in Stalinist cinema. Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema, 1(3), 239-264. https://doi.org/10.1386/srsc.1.3.239_1

Elsaesser, Th. (2005). European cinema: Face to face with Hollywood. Series: Film Culture in Transition. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. https://doi.org/10.5117/9789053566022

Faraday, G. (2000). Revolt of the filmmakers: The struggle for artistic autonomy and the fall of the Soviet film industry. Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press.

First, J. (2015). Ukrainian cinema: Belonging and identity during the Soviet Thaw. Series: KINO: The Russian and Soviet Cinema Series. R. Taylor (Series Ed.). London, New York: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd.

Gillespie, D. (2005). Early Soviet cinema: Innovation, ideology and propaganda. London and New York: Wallflower.

Golovskoy, V. S., & Rimberg, J. (1986). Behind the Soviet screen. The motion picture industry in the USSR, 1972–1982. Michigan: Ardis Publishers.

Goncalo, J. A., & Staw, B. M. (2006). Individualism–collectivism and group creativity. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 100(1), 96-109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2005.11.003

Gorp, Van J. (2011). Inverting film policy: Film as nation builder in Post-Soviet Russia, 1991–2005. Media, Culture & Society, 33(2), 243-258. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443710393384

Grieveson, L. (2004). Policing cinema: Movies and censorship in Early-Twentieth-Century America. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press.

Kaminskaitė-Jančorienė, L. (2008). „Brežnevinio sąstingio“ praeities deformacijos lietuviškuose kino ir televizijos vaidybiniuose filmuose (1968–1980 metai). Lietuvos istorijos studijos, 22, 104-116.

Kaminskaitė-Jančorienė, L. ir Švedas, A. (2013). Epizodai paskutiniam filmui. Režisierius Almantas Grikevičius. Vilnius: Vaga.

KEA; Morawetz, N. (2009). The impact on the impact of European support programmes on the State of Lithuanian audiovisual industries. Retrieved from http://www.keanet.eu/wp-content/uploads/Final-Report-Lithuania-Executive-Summary.pdf

Kenez, P. (1985). The birth of the propaganda State: Soviet methods of mass mobilization, 1917–1929. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511572623

Larsen, S. (2003). National identity, cultural authority, and the post-soviet Blockbuster: Nikita Mikhalkov and Aleksei Balabanov. Slavic Review, 62(3), 491-511. https://doi.org/10.2307/3185803

Lawton, A. (1992). Kinoglasnost: Soviet Cinema in our Time. Series: Cambridge Soviet Paperbacks. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lithuanian Film Center. (2017). Lithuanian Film Center. Retrieved from http://www.lkc.lt/en/

Mayorov, N. (2012). A First in Cinema… Stereoscopic Films in Russia and the Soviet Union. Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema, 6(2), 217-239. https://doi.org/10.1386/srsc.6.2.217_1

Mazierska, E., & Rascaroli, L. (2003). From Moscow to Madrid: postmodern cities, European cinema. London, New York: I.B. Tauris.

Merrill, J. (2012). Brothers and others: Brotherhood, the Caucasus, and National Identity in Post-Soviet Film. Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema, 6(1), 93-111. https://doi.org/10.1386/srsc.6.1.93_1

Mikonis-Railienė, A. ir Kaminskaitė-Jančorienė, L. (2015). Kinas sovietų Lietuvoje: sistema, filmai, režisieriai. Vilnius: Vilniaus dailės akademijos leidykla.

Miron, E., Erez, M., & Naveh, E. (2004). Do Personal Characteristics and Cultural Values that Promote Innovation, Quality, and Efficiency Compete or Complement Each Other?. Journal of Organizational Behavior 25(2), 175-199. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.237

Miron-Spektor, E., Erez, M., & Naveh, E. (2011). The effect of conformist and attentive-to-detail members on team innovation: Reconciling the innovation paradox. The Academy of Management Journal, 54(4), 740-760. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2011.64870100

Paukštytė, R. (2004). Lithuanian cinema in 1990–2004. Lithuanian Film Center. Retrieved from http://www.lfc.lt/en/Page=ArticleList&ID=1118&Y=2004

Petric, V. (1978). Dziga Vertov as Theorist. Cinema Journal, 18(1), 29-44. https://doi.org/10.2307/1225210

Professional Film Union. (1975a). Meeting of committee of professional film union protocol. Vilnius. Lithuanian Film Studio.

Professional Film Union. (1975b). Protocols, reports and plans of permanent Committee of Professional Film Union. Vilnius: Lithuanian Film Studio.

Professional Film Union. (1978). Annual plans and reports of Committee of Professional Film Union. Vilnius: Lithuanian Film Studio.

Lithuanian Film Studio. (1975a). Protocols of Committee of Professional Film Union Sessions. Protocols. Vilnius.

Lithuanian Film Studio. (1981). Protocols of Committee of Professional Film Union Sessions. Protocols. Vilnius.

Lithuanian Film Studio. (1982). Protocols of Committee of Professional Film Union Sessions. Protocols. Vilnius.

Lithuanian Film Studio. (1985). Protocols of Committee of Professional Film Union Sessions. Protocols. Vilnius.

Lithuanian Film Studio. (1975b). Annual statistical reports of Committee of Professional Film Union. Reports. Vilnius.

Lithuanian Film Studio. (1978a). Reports and plans on creative employees and workers in training. Reports. Vilnius.

Lithuanian Film Studio. (1978b). Report about the Lithuanian Film Studio’s ongoing Work on the Legal and Moral Education and Fight with Alcoholism. Reports. Vilnius.

Pukšta, E. (2009). Edvinas Pukšta: „Aš asmeniškai nesuprantu, kam tokie filmai kaip ‚Duburys‘ ir ‚Perpetuum mobile‘ yra reikalingi. Obuolys. Retrieved from Internet www.obuolys.lt/labas/naujiena/8041/

Pukšta, E. (2010). Lietuvos žvaigždės užgesta užburtame kino rate. Valstybė, 12(44), 122-125.

Pukšta, E. (2013). Lietuvių kino renesansas pažers rekordinį filmų derlių. Delfi pramogos. Retrieved from www.delfi.lt/pramogos/kinas/e-puksta-lietuviu-kino-renesansas-pazers-rekordini-filmu-derliu.d?id=61466028

Rakauskaitė, R. (2010). Šoblė: atsiminimai apie dokumentinio kino klasiką Henriką Šablevičių. Vilnius: Dominicus Lituanus.

Reports. (1975). Annual statistical reports of Committee of Professional Film Union. Vilnius: Lithuanian Film Studio.

Reports. (1978a). Reports and plans on creative employees and workers in training. Vilnius: Lithuanian Film Studio.

Reports. (1978b). Report about the Lithuanian Film Studio’s ongoing Work on the Legal and Moral Education and Fight with Alcoholism. Vilnius: Lithuanian Film Studio.

Sagaitytė, B. (2013). E. Pukštos nuomonė apie kino padėtį Lietuvoje įsiutino kino kūrėjus. Delfi pramogos. Retrieved from www.delfi.lt/pramogos/kinas/epukstos-nuomone-apie-kino-padeti-lietuvoje-isiutino-kino-kurejus.d?id=60373585#ixzz3N5gv4lmy

Siefert, M. (2017). Film and television genres of the late Soviet era: Book review. Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema, 11(3), 264-265. https://doi.org/10.1080/17503132.2017.1366062

Sputnitskaia, N. (2017). The Politics of Outer Space: Colonisers and Missionaries in Russian Fantasy Film of the 1930s, Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema 11(2): 134–145. https://doi.org/10.1080/17503132.2017.1300426

Tapinas, L. (2009). Laiškanešys, pasiklydęs dykumoje. Vytauto Žalakevičiaus gyvenimo ir kūrybos pėdsakais. Vilnius: Alma littera.

Taylor, R. (1983). A “Cinema for the Millions”: Soviet socialist realism and the problem of film comedy. Journal of Contemporary History, 18(3), 439-461. https://doi.org/10.1177/002200948301800305

Taylor, R. (2006). Film propaganda: Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany. Series: KINO: The Russian and Soviet cinema series. R. Taylor (Series Ed.). London, New York: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd.

Taylor, R., & Christie, I. (Eds.). (1994). The film factory: Russian and Soviet cinema in documents, 1896–1939. London, New York: Routledge.

UNIC. (2015). UNIC Annual Report 2013–2014. Brussels: International Union of Cinemas.

UNIC. (2016). UNIC Annual Report 2014–2015. Brussels: International Union of Cinemas.

Žižliauskaitė, L. (2011). Algimantas  Puipa: „Jei susėsčiau su rašytojais, jausčiausi kaip per Niurnbergo procesą“. Bernardinai.lt. Retrieved from http://www.bernardinai.lt/straipsnis/2011-06-29-algimantas-puipa-jei-susesciau-su-rasytojais-jausciausi-kaip-per-niurnbergo-procesa/65151