Loznitsa’s archival film Imperium about life in the USSR presented in Venice
In Venice, Italy, the documentary film Imperium by Serhii Loznytsia, edited from archival footage of everyday life in the Soviet Union in the early 1970s, was presented at a film festival. As The Guardian writes, the film uses material shot by an Italian film crew between 1970 and 1973.
Footage without commentary
The film has no interviews or voice-over narration: it consists of atmospheric archival footage. The screen shows everyday life in Moscow, Leningrad and Kyiv — shops, bustling avenues, fashion shows and performances by pop groups.
The selection also includes scenes of rural traditions in various Asian countries. The review’s author notes that these customs existed before the emergence of the USSR and persisted after its collapse. Loznytsia begins each segment with the sound of a funeral bell and a transition of the screen to a saturated red colour.
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What remained outside the frame
The film includes military personnel during parades marking the October Revolution in Red Square. At the same time, the Gulag and the activities of state structures, apart from these ceremonial scenes, are virtually not shown in the film.
The review draws attention to the ethnic diversity of the peoples of the USSR, documented by the archival materials. At the same time, the footage does not provide an unambiguous answer as to what the people in the frame thought and felt. The critic calls the close-ups of children looking into the camera, smiling or frowning particularly expressive.
