Scientific pursuits in Soviet Cinema of the 1920s–1930s and Anatoly Terskoy’s Parallel Filming

In this paper, we consider a unique period in the development of Soviet cinema, from 1928 to 1932, when the Geographical and Ethnographic Cinema-Atlas project was underway. It implied the making of a series of cultural films about the peoples and cultures of the USSR and, therefore, involved the search for scientific grounds for advancing cinematic art. In the second half of the 1920s, some Soviet filmmakers even worked out specific methods, based on real scientific research, which could be applied in the field of documentary. For example, one of the key trends in the theory and methodology of Soviet cinema in the 1920s–1930s was the study of the audience’s perception through decoding—with the help of psychology (reflexology)—of the recorded mimic reactions of viewers. We have analyzed the method of “parallel filming” of the audience, which was introduced by the Soviet film director and ethnographer Anatoly Terskoy within the scientific, cinematic, and ideological contexts. We believe that this overlooked concept is a valuable material for today’s documentary filmmakers. On the one hand, Terskoy’s works highlight the creative paradigms in which cinematographers were making their ethnographic and anti-religious films in the Soviet Union of the 1920s and 1930s. On the other hand, it was such scientific and creative searches that later became the theoretical basis for large-scale projects on the cinematic representation of different parts of the USSR on screen.