O.G. Gerasimova VGIK (All-Russia State Institute of Cinematography) as cinema stock production. The 1950-1960-ies

Abstract: The paper attempts to examine the unique life of students of the Soviet school during the “thaw.” With help of the archival documents (most of which are being introduced into the scientific circulation for the first time), memoirs, newspaper and magazine articles and interviews, the author recreates a picture of the difficult and sometimes dramatic situation in VGIK, when for telling a joke or hosting a home concert party students could be arrested, expelled from the institute and their diploma film works exposed to harsh criticism or failure. In the country as a whole, and in the film industry in particular, there was a unique situation. On the one hand, since March 1953, and especially after the Twentieth Party Congress, there appeared a certain amount of freedom, on the other there remained tight control. Despite the ideological dictates, in the 1950-1960-ies there were films made that largely determined the creative direction of their creators: students and graduates of VGIK, who later created the “gold” fund of the national cinema.

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