Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Date of Degree

4-2026

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Program

Liberal Studies

Advisor

Jerry W. Carlson

Subject Categories

Film and Media Studies | Slavic Languages and Societies

Abstract

This thesis aims to assert the Soviet New Wave into the global New Wave cinema movements of the late 1950s and 1960s. Focusing on three Soviet films—Marlen Khutsiev's I Am Twenty (1965) and July Rain (1967), and Georgiy Daneliya's I Walk the Streets of Moscow (1964)—this study proposes that these works fully commit to the New Wave expression in form, sensibility, and content, despite the aggressive censorship of Soviet authority. By comparing the Soviet films with the French Nouvelle Vague, as well as with British, Polish, and Czechoslovakian New Wave cinemas, the thesis identifies recurring motifs: the centering of young adults, urban flânerie, engagement with contemporary culture, and generational tension. The study situates these films within the post-Stalin Thaw of 1953–1968, a brief period of relative liberalization that promised a greater artistic freedom, while simultaneously suppressing them through indirect censorship. Drawing on close formal analysis, Soviet film criticism, and written observations from filmmakers of the era, this thesis demonstrates that the Soviet New Wave emerged not as an imitation of French cinema but from shared material realities such as post-war economic booms, urbanization, increased globalization, and a determination for honesty and realism in art. The films examined portray an intellectual Moscow life absent from the grim Iron Curtain narrative, allowing viewers to imagine a different Russia. Ultimately, this study argues that, despite their limited number and distribution, these three films have exerted a lasting influence on Russian cinema and deserve inclusion in the global New Wave canon.

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