Iskusstvo Kino Digital Archive

The leading journal of Soviet and Russian cinema.

With more movie screens than any nation at any time, the Soviet Union’s cinematic legacy helped shape the artistic and social agenda of the socialist world for most of the twentieth century. Iskusstvo kino (Искусство кино, Art of Cinema), founded in 1931, chronicled that cinematic legacy with its devotion to art in Russian film.

Renowned as one of Russia’s premier journals of cinema, Iskusstvo kino offers Russian and foreign movie reviews, articles on filmmaking and cinema culture, criticism, and essays. More than that, Iskusstvo kino traces Russian arts and culture from the ‘socialist realism’ era — when film became the prime propaganda tool (“agitki”) for instilling Communist fervor in the masses — all the way through contemporary filmmaking.

Iskusstvo kino was first published under the title Proletarskoe kino (Пролетарское кино, Proletarian Cinema, 1931–1932), then Sovetskoe kino (Советское кино, Soviet Cinema, 1933–1935), and finally under its present name (since 1936). A monthly publication from 1931–1941, Iskusstvo kino went on hiatus during World War II and then was published irregularly during 1945-1947 and bimonthly during 1947–1951 before resuming monthly publication in 1952.

The Iskusstvo Kino Digital Archive offers scholars the most comprehensive collection available for this title, and features full-text articles, with full page-level digitization and complete original graphics. The archive has searchable text, and is cross-searchable with numerous other East View digital resources.