Violeta Demeshchenko
Institute for Cultural Research, National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Kyiv
ORCID ID 0000-0001-8296-4628
DOI:
Keywords: documentary film, ideology, censorship, Sovietism, art, avant-garde, socialist realism, the “Sixtiers”.
Abstract.
This article examines the peculiarities of the development of Ukrainian documentary cinema in the second half of the 20th century during the USSR (Soviet period), when there were specific ideological canons in art, which were dictated by a totalitarian state, the interests of which were protected by strict censorship. Censorship did not allow artists to go beyond the scope of socialist realism and the policies of the communist party. This approach restrained the innovative and creative potential of artists, but despite such conditions, the creative intelligentsia put up “cultural” resistance and created new art.
A vivid example of such resistance is the movement of the young generation of Ukrainian creative intelligentsia, the “Sixtiers”, which grew into an active opposition to state power structures and acquired nationwide significance. In the late 1980s, documentary filmmaking became a mouthpiece for “perestroika” and acquired new features.
Author’s biography.
Violeta Demeshchenko, Ph.D. (Theory and History of Culture), associate professor, head of the Department of Cultural Anthropology, Institute for Cultural Research, National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Kyiv
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The article was received by the editorial office on 18.06.2026.
The article was accepted for publication after review on 22.06.2026.
The article was published on 30.06.2026.
Vol 29 No 1 (2026)
Section: UKRAINIAN CULTURE