Special joint issue of Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema and Culture of Ukraine (Kul’tura Ukrainy)

Abstract

This introduction is aimed at both those reading the Ukrainian version, published in Culture of Ukraine and the English-language version, published in Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema. This collaboration between a Ukrainian and a UK-based journal is intended as an expression of support for Ukrainian culture, and specifically, scholarship on Ukrainian film history, in the context of Russia’s full-scale invasion against that country, launched in February 2022. Over one hundred years after its beginnings, Ukrainian cinema remains as relevant domestically as it does for the whole world. To illustrate this, we begin with a brief essay on the history of Ukrainian cinema, especially its political context, before setting out an overview of the state of film scholarship on the various key periods of Ukrainian film history.