Best Soviet Films on the Great Patriotic War
St Petersburg University Representative Office in Spain invites you to the lecture "Best Soviet Films on the Great Patriotic War" delivered by Ekaterina Morilova, PhD in Philology, Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Philology at SPbU.
The Great Patriotic War had influenced not only the course of history but also the evolution of Soviet cinema. This lecture will examine the most significant films produced in the USSR between 1941 and 1991, exploring how the cinematic portrayal of the war transformed over time — why some films achieved truly national resonance while others remained as personal revelations. The discussion will also address how these films enabled society not just to remember the war, but to develop historical consciousness.
The lecture will explore production of films that have won prestigious awards at international film festivals and achieved commercial success. These films have been featured among the highest-rated war films by such popular platforms such as IMDb and Kinopoisk. The discussion will also examine the influence of these films on the evolution of the war genre in Russian filmmaking, and which of them were recommended for viewing at the S. Gerasimov All-Russian State University of Cinematography (VGIK).
The directors that will be discussed during the lecture are renowned both in Russia and internationally: Andrei Tarkovsky, Mikhail Kalatozov, Elem Klimov, and Aleksei German. Each of them brought a distinctive vision to Soviet cinematography, interpreting war through their unique lenses: philosophical contemplation, visual poetry, psychological depth, or documentary realism.
Special attention will be given to the role of music in films about the Great Patriotic War. Many songs featured in these movies have become an integral part of cultural memory, enduring far beyond the screen. These melodies and lyrics unite generations, preserving an emotional connection to the past while giving it personal resonance.
Lecturer In 1998 Ekaterina Morilova graduated from the Faculty of Philology at St Petersburg University with a degree in German Philology and Translation. She is an author of research papers on stylistics and translation issues, and teaches the course «Film Text: Interpretation and Translation» for undergraduate students.
E. Morilova is a film translator. She works with several international film festivals such as "Message to Man", "Catharsis", "Pechka" and others.
She is an initiator and Jury Chair of the International Film Translation Contest "Babylon V" (2020–2022). Editor of educational video materials on cinema history. She also works as a screenwriter, director and cinematographer of short films that have screened at multiple international film festivals in Russia.
The lecture will be delivered in Russian with simultaneous translation into Spanish.