Girl from Kamchatka": the image of the region in the film of A. Litvinov

The article seeks to explore the first fiction sound film on Kamchatka ("Girl from Kamchatka", A. Litvinov, 1936) as a visual and ideological construct of the remoted and exotic region in the Soviet epoch. This aim frames new research questions that address the historical and political circumstances for this popular fiction film creation, the film representation in media, the debate about the standards of scenario as well as construction on screen the ideological image of the region. The theoretical foundations of the research include methodology of constructivism (because the image of the region on screen resonated with the ideological construct, and Soviet filmmakers attempted to "popularize" the remote and unknown territory among Soviet citizens), and cultural, and historical analysis. The article focuses on the film of Aleksandr Litvinov, nicknamed 'Russian Flaherty', who played a prominent role in establishing the expedition film practice in the Soviet Union and constructing of visual images of the Soviet Far East. The research based on previously unpublished archival material of Kamchatka, Primorye, and Sverdlovsk region. Analyzing sources related with "Girl from Kamchatka", authors came to the following conclusions. Throughout the 1930s, the Soviet film industry was actively engaged in developing particular images, which refashioned the way audience saw their own and other territories. Film "Girl from Kamchatka", on the one hand, elaborates a set of lasting visual topoi, describing the composite natural and cultural diversity of the region. On the other hand, the film of A. Litvi-nov is a valuable contribution to historical studies, because it reflects the parallels in the Soviet cultural policy, cinematography, and media. "Girl from Kamchatka" offers rich insights into evolution of the cinematographic representation of Kamchatka, from its picture as a distant and unknown region with borderland status, the so-called terra incognita, towards the developed region under Soviet-inspired changes. In fact, the film "Girl from Kamchatka" situated the area of Kamchatka within the broader Soviet universe. The Litvi-nov's case demonstrates that films of the 1930s in the Soviet Union provide insight into conceptual and discourse taming of the frontier regions as well as their full symbolic "inventing" and including in perception of the new Soviet state. The film of A. Litvinov also played a prominent role in publicizing and promoting the new Soviet heroicized role model.

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