Mudflows in Qazaqstani cinema in the 1970–1980s: scientific study and cinematic depiction (based on one scientific film, three documentaries and one feature disaster film)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69567/3007-0236.2025.1.73.98Keywords:
mudflow, mudflows, mudflow protection, Mudflow commission, Soviet Qazaqstan, cinema, documentary film, disaster film, Chemolgan experimentAbstract
The article analyzes the history of scientific study of the nature of mudflows in the vicinity of Soviet Alma-Ata (Almaty), and the circumstances of the creation of the first films about mudflows in the cinema of Soviet Qazaqstan in the 1970–1980s. Soviet scientists have provided multiple explanations for the dangerous and elusive natural phenomenon of mudflows. The article is based on the stories of five films about mudflows, reflecting scientific discussions and the political will of the leaders of Soviet Qazaqstan around this topic. These include the first scientific film, "Mudstone Stream," shot by geographer Semyon Kavetskiy and engineer Ivan Smirnov in 1952, three documentaries – "The Creative Explosion" by Kulakov (1970), "A Word about the Mudflow" by Yuri Vinogradov (1972), and "Medeo: Days and Nights of Courage" by Asylbek Nugmanov (1973), as well as Leonid Agranovich's full-length feature film, "The City Shield" (1979). The article shows the conditions and circumstances under which Qazaqstani hydrologists managed to film a mudflow, which helped resolve a scientific debate about the nature and physics of mudflows. These film images created by scientists were used by filmmakers to create a series of documentaries. They promoted encouraging information about the ability of the Soviet leadership of Qazaqstan to control the risks of mudflows. Scientists and filmmakers were able to obtain impressive footage of mudflows and their destructive consequences, which led to the establishment of a new genre in Soviet cinema called disaster films. "Shield of the City" is a film created by political order of the Soviet leadership of Qazaqstan. It was intended to justify the construction of the Medeo anti-mudflow dam in retrospect, among other things
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