Historian to reveal films shown in besieged Leningrad cinemas
On 31 January, a lecture titled «For the First Time About Blockade Cinemas» will be held at the Na Stremyannoy Library, where the book «Blockade Screen» will be presented. The event is free, with an age restriction of 16+.
Residents of besieged Leningrad knew actress Yanina Zheimo not only from the postwar «Cinderella» but also from her role as a cashier in the musical comedy «The Adventures of Korzinkina». The film«s premiere, with music by Dmitri Shostakovich, took place in November 1941, when the city was already under siege.
The adventure film «Treasure of the Sunken Ship», released in 1935, was also shown in cinemas. Viewers who saw it during the blockade surely recalled prewar life.
Cinema halls continued to operate, even though there was no heating, and screenings were regularly interrupted by air raid sirens.
As research by St. Petersburg local historians Alexei Dunaevsky and Vyacheslav Kokin showed, «cinema was not a random episode of the tragedy experienced by Leningrad, or a supplement to the work of its theaters, but an integral part of urban daily life, a special form of spiritual resistance.»
The publication «Blockade Screen» restores the details of film distribution from 1941 to 1943, including the organization of screenings, repertoire, as well as the fates of cinemas and their visitors.
On 28 January, at the Na Stremyannoy Library at 20 Stremyannaya Street, the book«s author Alexei Dunaevsky will give a talk about his work on it. It begins at 16:00, and registration on TimePad is required.
