NATIONAL CINEMA AND THE UKRAINIZATION: 1920s – early 1930s

Abstract

Ukrainization of cinema is associated primarily with an era of national and cultural revival in the 1920s. However,it should not be forgotten that the first steps in the process of Ukrainization of the "tenth muse" date back to at least1918. It is at that time when the cinematographic section of the Central Administration of Arts and National Culture of theUkrainian State developed a bill that obliged to title all films in Ukrainian language.

After several unsuccessful attempts, the Bolsheviks finally seized power in Ukraine in 1920, trying to keep it indifferent ways. The introduction of the New Economic Policy, which started in 1921 (replacing the "war communism"),and of the indigenization policy, were the forced temporary measures designed to weaken the resistance of the Ukrainians.

The indigenization policy (called Ukrainization in Ukraine) was sanctioned in April 1923 during the XII Congressf the Russian Communist Party (of Bolsheviks). The Congress recommendations included: to form the state bodies ofhe national republics primarily out of local people who know the language, customs and manners of the respective nations;o ordain special laws that would ensure the use of the native language in all state institutions.

On July 27, 1923, a decree "On implementation of the Ukrainization of the educational and cultural institutions"as issued in Ukraine. This decree undertook the obligation to secure the education and training of Ukrainian people inheir native language.

Meanwhile, within the sphere of the film industry it was planned to produce the titles in Ukrainian for foreignilms on agriculture, as well as for some scientific and agitational films. Out of the feature films, the Ukrainian titles werelanned for "Ostap Bandura" film.

The easiest task was to title the films in Ukrainian. Generally, the process of titling the films in Ukrainian languageas carried out quite successfully. Russian language appeared in the titles only in exceptional cases.

The lack of specialists in Ukrainian language and of the common rules of spelling negatively affected the qualityf titling. This problem was eliminated in 1928, when the spelling rules in Ukrainian language were approved.

In parallel with the films' titling, the transition to the advertisement in Ukrainian was carried out. According to theurrent legislation of the time, the advertisements and posters had to be submitted in Ukrainian, but simultaneously these of another language was allowed.

While no specific difficulties accompanied the production of the titles and promotional materials in Ukrainian, theituation of the thematic planning was much more complicated. Ukrainian history could inspire many potential film plots,owever there were not enough specialists, capable of writing the film script of the appropriate level. The problem of theack of screenwriters (there were only few Ukrainians among them) was pointed out by Mykola Skrypnyk, the Commissarf Education, in his speech on April 2, 1927.

The cutting back of the Ukrainization processes began in the early 1930s, although the official document on thisatter was not approved. At that time Ukrainian cinema lost its autonomy, which negatively affected the intensity of thekrainization process.

However, even under such circumstances the leaders of the Ukrainian Soviet State stood up to protect thekrainian language in cinema. For instance, on April 1, 1932, Stanislav Kosior, the Secretary of the Central Committee ofthe Communist Party of Bolsheviks of Ukraine, wrote in a letter to the Central Committee of the All-Russian CommunistParty of Bolsheviks about the negative consequences of the All-Union Cinema Assosiation's activity. The letter highlightedthe fact that the federal authorities avoided the production of films in Ukrainian.

Nonetheless, as a result of the Ukrainization, domestic cinema acquired distinct national features. Ukrainianthemes became the leading ones, but at the same time a lot of attention was given to other nationalities – Jews, Russians,Tatars. The titles in Ukrainian were produced not only for domestic films, but also for the foreign films that were screenedand used in the domestic market. The transition to Ukrainian language also took place in the motion picture advertising.

Proposed publication does not purport to be exhaustive. The in-depth studies of specific publishing trends (suchas the impact of the Ukrainization processes on personnel policies) are the promising areas of further scientific research.