College: Corpus Christi College
Email: Kg534@cam.ac.uk
Supervisor: Emma Widdis
About Me I have been researching various aspects of early Soviet documentary film since completing my MA at the Russian State University for the Humanities and my Candidate of Science degree at the State Institute of Art Studies in Moscow, Russia. My primary focus is the work of Soviet documentary filmmaker Dziga Vertov.
In 2020, I published the first book of Vertov’s poetry, Miru – Glaza. Dziga Vertov. Stikhi. In 2025, I published two books in Russian: Kinoki. Shkola Dzigi Vertova, which explores the Kinoks group that collaborated with Vertov in the 1920s, and Zhizn Vrasplokh. Istoriya sozdaniya Cheloveka s Kinoapparatom, which details the making of Man with a Movie Camera.
As a Fellow Researcher at the State Institute of Art Studies (2021-2024), I have presented at numerous academic conferences and contributed extensively to collective studies and scholarly journals. Additionally, I have worked as a film critic and reviewer for various Russian journals and film media for over eight years.
Research My PhD research focuses on female documentary filmmakers of the Stalin era, including Elizaveta Svilova, Esfir Shub, Lidiya Stepanova, Ottilia Reizman, Arsha Ovanesova, and Olga Podgoretskaya, among others. This project examines the role of women in the history of Soviet documentary film, highlighting their technical and artistic contributions to cinematic practice in the USSR. My aim is to address gaps in the historical record and bring to light the lives and work of these women, who often remained in the shadow of a male-dominated society.
Scholarships/Prizes
2024-2028 Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP
2021 Russian Guild of Film Scholars and Film Critics award
Teaching
I have taught film history at various Russian universities, film schools, and museums, including the Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH), the Institute of Modern Art (IMA), and the Museum of the History of the Gulag. Additionally, I have delivered lectures as a visiting fellow in multiple cities across Russia.
Conference papers
The image of Dziga Vertov's kinoki film group in Soviet mass culture of the 1920s. Soviet Art: Characters – Performers – Recipients. State Institute of Art Studies (SIAS), Moscow, 2023
The concept and script of the film "Man with a Movie Camera" by Dziga Vertov based on materials from his notebooks. Visual and verbal text in the film archive — Gosfilmofond, Moscow, 2023.
Stalin's quasi-folklore in Soviet cinema. Ideology, quasi-folklore and the substitution of folk culture — Museum of the History of the Gulag, Moscow, 2022.
Parody in Dziga Vertov`s films. Taking and Denying: Challenging Canons in Arts and Philosophy. – Ca Foscari, Venice, 2020.
Publications Books
«Жизнь врасплох»: История создания «Человека с киноаппаратом» ["Life Caught Unawares": history of The Man with a Movie Camera]. (Kinoartel 1895. 2025) to be published May 2025
Киноки. Школа Дзиги Вертова [Kinoks. Dziga Vertov`s school]. (Boslen. 2025)
«Миру — Глаза». Дзига Вертов. Стихи [Eyes to the world. Dziga Vertov. Poems]. (Poryadok Slov. 2020)
Selected Articles
Ottilia Reizman and the Marginalisation of Soviet Women Cinematographers, book chapter, On the Margins: Women Filmmakers and Critics in Central and Eastern Europe, 1918-1939 (to be published, Autumn 2025)
The Story of a Commission: How Esfir Shub and Dziga Vertov Worked on a Film for the Tenth Anniversary of the Revolution, journal article, Teatr. Zhivopis'. Kino. Muzyka. 2023, № 3. p. 158-172.
Dziga Vertov and Sergei Eisenstein: on the history of rivalry, journal article, Teatr. Zhivopis'. Kino. Muzyka. 2022, № 4. p. 119-131.
Dziga Vertov and Leni Riefenstahl: Representation of Reality in a Totalitarian Era, journal article, Art & Culture Studies, 2022. № 1. p. 108-133.
Vertov`s fairytale. The story of the unfinished masterpiece, journal article, Iskusstvo Kino 2022. № 5/6. S. 193-206.
Dziga Vertov and Walt Whitman: a poetic image in documentary films, journal article, Diskurs. 2022. № 1. P. 51-63.
Ankara - the heart of Turkey by Sergei Yutkevich and Leo Arnshtam: the script and the story of creation, journal article, Teatr. Zhivopis'. Kino. Muzyka. 2021, № 4. S. 102-115.
Elizaveta Svilova in the memoir-documentary heritage of Dziga Vertov, journal article, Teatr. Zhivopis'. Kino. Muzyka. 2021. № 3. S. 97-108.
