{{Short description|Agency in charge of film production in the Soviet Union}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2015}} {{russianterm | russian = Госкино<br>(Государственный комитет по кинематографии) | rusr = Goskino<br>(Gosudarstvenyy komitet po kinematografii) | literal meaning = State Committee for Cinematography }} '''Goskino USSR''' ({{langx|ru|link=Yes|Госкино СССР}}) is the abbreviated name for the '''USSR State Committee for Cinematography''' (Государственный комитет по кинематографии СССР) in the Soviet Union. It was a central state directory body for Soviet film production.
==History== The first main film production and distribution organisation in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic until 1924 was Goskino. This was succeeded by Sovkino from 1924 until being replaced by Soyuzkino in 1930 chaired by Martemyan Ryutin,<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://culture.gov.ru/upload/mkrf/mkdocs2013/21_01_2013_2.pdf|title=History of the film industry in Russia: management, film production, rental / comp. V. I. Fomin and others – M .: VGIK, 2012. – S. 367-370. – 2759 p}}</ref> which had jurisdiction over the entire USSR until 1933. It was then replaced by GUKF (The Chief Directorate of the Film and Photo Industry, largely headed by Boris Shumyatsky), which, again, was replaced in 1939 by the Central Committee for Cinema Affairs until 1946, when it was replaced by the Ministry of the Cinema.
=== The responsible heads of Soviet Cinema === Source:<ref>{{Cite web|title=State and domestic filmmaking.|url=http://www.proficinema.ru/questions-problems/articles/detail.php?ID=144181}}</ref> * 1919–1921 Dmitry Ilyich Leshchenko (head of the photo-film department of the People's Commissariat for Education) * 1921–1922 Pyotr Ivanovich Voevodin (head of the photo-film department of the People's Commissariat for Education) * 1922–1923 Lev Arkadyevich Lieberman (head of the State Committee for Cinematography) * 1923–1925 Erasmus Samuilovich Kadomtsev (chairman of the Board of the State Film Agency) * 1925–1927 Stefan Alekseevich Bala-Dobrov (director of the State Film Agency) * 1926–1929 Konstantin Matveyevich Shvedchikov (chairman of the Board of Sovkino) * 1929–1930 Jan Ernestovich Rudzutak (Chairman of the Film Committee) * 1930–1930 Martemyan Nikitich Ryutin (chairman of the Board of Soyuzkino) * 1930–1938 Boris Zakharovich Shumyatsky * 1938–1939 Semyon Semyonovich Dukelsky * 1939–1953 Ivan Grigorievich Bolshakov
== Goskino == Subsequently, in 1963 Goskino USSR was created by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of USSR on March 23, 1963, as the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on Cinematography.<ref>[http://www.russiancinema.ru/template.php?dept_id=3&e_dept_id=3&e_orgdept_id=2&e_org_id=7 Encyclopedia of the Homeland Cinema] {{in lang|ru}}</ref> From 1965 to 1972, its name was simplified to the Committee on Cinematography of the Council of Ministers. From 1972 to 1978, the committee regained its original name. From 1978, until its dissolution in 1991, it was called the State Committee of the USSR on Cinematography.
In 1991 Goskino USSR was abolished by a statement of the State Council USSR of November 14, 1991 (No. ГС-13).<ref>[http://www.russiancinema.ru/template.php?dept_id=3&e_dept_id=3&e_orgdept_id=2&e_org_id=7 Encyclopedia of the Homeland Cinema] {{in lang|ru}}</ref>
== Presidents of Goskino ==
* 1963–1972 Alexei Romanov<ref name="birb2">{{cite book|author=Birgit Beumers|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5T0UMRZ_Ro0C&pg=PA20|title=Directory of World Cinema: Russia|publisher=Intellect Books|year=2011|isbn=978-1-84150-372-1|page=20|access-date=2 February 2017}}</ref> * 1972–1986 Fililp Ermash * 1986–1991 Aleksandr Kamshalov
==Reanimation== In 1992 the Roskino/Roskomkino<ref>[http://www.russiancinema.ru/template.php?dept_id=3&e_dept_id=3&e_orgdept_id=2&e_org_id=86 Encyclopedia of the Homeland Cinema] {{in lang|ru}}</ref> was created, which was later renamed the State Committee of the Russian Federation for Cinematography (Государственный комитет Российской Федерации по кинематографии) in modern Russia as the supreme government organ in charge of filmmaking.<ref>http://www.panorama.ru/prav/goskino.shtml (Russian)</ref> Both performed general management and censorship functions. Roskino was disestablished in May 2008, after Vladimir Putin's decree N 867.<ref>[http://www.mnogozakonov.ru/catalog/date/2000/5/17/16328/ President of Russian Federation. Order (Указ) May 17, 2000, N 867]</ref>
== Sovkino ==
=== Founding === In December 1924, Sovkino was established, beginning its official work in January 1925. Founded by Sovnarkom, Sovkino was one of many Soviet film studios which sought to streamline the film-making process. This was similar to an assembly line where different parts are allotted different tasks. Goskino was another soviet film studio, which was subsequently replaced by Sovkino by 1926.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Cinema & Soviet Society, 1917-1953|last=Kenez|first=Peter|date=1992|publisher=Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge|location=Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge|pages=43-84, 88, 89|language=English}}</ref> Sovkino would form the overarching organization over all Russian cinema, excluding Proletkino – whose primary concern was appealing to the working class <ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Film Propaganda: Soviet Russian and Nazi Germany|last=Taylor|first=Richard|date=1979|publisher=Croom Helm|location=London|pages=54-59|language=English}}</ref> – and Mezhrabpom-Rus <ref>{{Cite book|title=Film Propaganda: Soviet Russian and Nazi Germany|last=Taylor|first=Richard|date=1979|publisher=Croom Helm|location=London|pages=54-55}}</ref>.
=== Purpose === The goal of Sovkino was simple: decrease Russia’s reliance on foreign imports (with the logical endpoint of eventually removing the need for them economically) and increase the quality, that is, ideological accuracy, of Soviet films. As part of the larger role of cinema in Russia, the primary purpose of Sovkino was “to be the only book that even the illiterate can read”.<ref name=":1" />
An editing bureau called the ''Sovkin reediting bureau'' (called, unofficially, motalka-"editing table") comprised an elitist group of people called reeditors whose task it was to reedit imported films.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Norris, Zara M |first=Stephen M, Zara M |title=Insiders and Outsiders in Russian Cinema |date=2008 |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington, IN |pages=32}}</ref> There was growing concern in Soviet Russia of the negative influence of exported films on the proletariat or working-class.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Insiders and Outsiders in Russian Cinema|last=Norris, Zara M|first=Stephen M, Torlone|date=2008|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington, IN|pages=32,33,36}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
=== Limitations === A financial loophole, to the benefit of the proletariat, became apparent and displeasing to those working at Sovkino, and at the broader sphere of political education. This loophole entailed a cheaper fee to watch movies, if they were watched at local clubs. This was spearheaded by the Cultural Department of the Trade Unions. For only 15 – 20 kopecks (roughly $.07 to $.09 USD, not adjusted for inflation) workers could go see a film nearly every night.<ref name=":0" /> Concerns arose regarding the overall profitability of these films, and it didn’t help that Sovkino aided in these rental fees. This tension between financial and political concerns within the Soviet Union at the time reiterated the end goal of all Russian activities, even clubs, which “... was not merely to amuse and entertain.” <ref name=":0" /> but to be “a weapon of class enlightenment for the proletariat”.<ref name=":1" />
=== Criticism === Many Soviet films being produced by Sovkino had a clear priority of profit over messaging. Critics accused them of caring about 90% towards profit and 10% towards ideology,<ref name=":1" /> suggesting that the socialist project to them was ''not even worth a kopek'' (''cela ne vaut pas un kopek'' in French). Both the working class and the peasantry were less willing to even pay 10 kopecks to see a politicoeducational film, however.<ref name=":0" /> Yet, it didn’t help Sovkino’s case that 85% of their gross revenues came from foreign, not Soviet, films.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Movies for the Masses: Popular Cinema and Soviet Society in the 1920s|last=Youngblood|first=Denise J|date=1999|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|pages=29–48}}</ref>
This apparent financial priority, among other things, led to further criticisms against Sovkino. One notable critic was Adrian Piotrovsky, who advocated for the Five-Year Plan <ref name=":1" />. The Cultural Revolution would later spread throughout the Soviet film industry, echoing the Five-Year Plan, and subsequently leading to the disbandment of Sovkino. It would later be replaced by Soiuzkino.<ref name=":2" />
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Departments of the USSR|state=uncollapsed}}
Category:Film censorship in the Soviet Union Category:State Committee for Cinematography Category:People's Commissariat for Education Category:Film organizations in the Soviet Union Category:1922 establishments in Russia