The Mother of Soviet Documentary: Esfir Shub Between Theory and Practice

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The Mother of Soviet Documentary: Esfir Shub Between Theory and Practice

Lecture by
Chaired by

Esfir Shub has become a mythic figure within Soviet film history as one of the founders of Soviet documentary cinema and a pioneer of the found footage film. Moreover, her importance extends beyond the boundaries of national cinema, as she has undoubtedly become a part of the documentary film canon and the canon of women’s film history. Despite her fame and importance, for a long time, Shub has been pigeonholed as a compilation filmmaker and rarely studied outside of her early found footage films. This talk seeks to reposition Shub and her contribution to the domain of documentary by exploring her theoretical thought. Shub conceived of documentary cinema not as a fixed category but as something perpetually evolving. She treated her films not as finished works but as a first step in a discursive process. Taking inspiration from Shub herself the talk reframes the idea of documentary film theory and focuses on the questions her films elicited and the conversations they generated. By analyzing Shub's documentaries in conjunction with her short publications and archival materials about the films’ production and reception, the talk discusses important theoretical notions explored by Shub in her works.

The Society of Fellows hosts the Thursday Lecture Series (TLS), which runs regularly throughout the academic year. During the Fall Semester TLS, our Fellows present their own work, chaired by Columbia faculty.

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Host or Publisher The Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities