Esfir SHUB
Эсфирь ШУБ
Esfir CHOUB
USSR, 1932, 55mn 
Black and white, speaking, documentary
Komsomol: Patron of Electrification
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КШЭ / Комсомол – шеф электрификации

 

 Komsomol - chef de l'électrification

 KSHE / Komsomolya - shef elektrifikatsii

 
Directed by : Esfir SHUB (Эсфирь ШУБ)
Writing credits : Esfir SHUB (Эсфирь ШУБ)
Music : Gavriil POPOV (Гавриил ПОПОВ)
Editing : Esfir SHUB (Эсфирь ШУБ)
Production : Mosfilm
 

Plot synopsis
In this pioneering documentary, one of the earliest Soviet sound films, Shub shot a contemporary chronicle of the progress of establishing electricity across the Soviet nation, a struggle spearheaded by the Komsomol (the Young Communist League).
 

Commentaries and bibliography
 
<...>Direct sound recording and dubbed sound were combined with the symphonic music Popov scored for the film. The opening sequence - an "overture" that corresponds to the first movement of Popov's Suite - takes place in a studio where a musical performance is seen being recorded. Appropriately, the performance features a theremin, an electronic instrument invented in Russia in the 1920s. In his score, Popov offset the unusual sound of the electric theremin with human voices of soprano and tenor.
Popov's music attracted attention. Though it occupied a modest amount of time in the film, the score was viewed as a significant factor in its artistic impact. After seeing KShE, Sergei Eisenstein fired off a telegram to the composer, congratulating him on the "marvelous sound-sight victory."
Source : www.laphil.com

Selected in the following festivals or events :
- Pionnières du cinéma soviétique à la Cinémathèque française, Paris (France), 2020
- Intégrale Sergueï Loznitsa au Centre Pompidou et carte blanche au réalisateur, Paris (France), 2020
- 'Il Cinema Ritrovato' Festival, Bologna (Italy), 2020
- The USSR of filmmakers at the Cinémathèque française. 1917-1945 : first and second part, Paris (France), 2017

Photos and videos