Enthusiasm (film)

Enthusiasm: The Symphony of Donbas
Film poster
Directed byDziga Vertov
Written byDziga Vertov
Produced byUkrainfilm [uk]
CinematographyB. Cejtlin
Edited byElizaveta Svilova
Release date
  • 1931 (1931)
Running time
65 minutes
CountrySoviet Union
LanguageRussian

Enthusiasm: The Symphony of Donbas (Russian: Энтузиазм: Симфония Донбасса, romanizedEnthusiasm: Symphony of Donbass, Ukrainian: Ентузіязм: Симфонія Донбасу or Entuziiazm: Symfoniia Donbasu), also referred to as Donbas Symphony or The Symphony of the Donbas Basin,[1] is a 1931 sound film directed by Soviet filmmaker Dziga Vertov.[2] The film was the director's first sound film[3] and also the first of the Soviet production company Ukrainfilm [uk]. The film's score is considered experimental and avant-garde because of its incorporation of factory, industrial, and other machine sounds; human speech plays only a small role in the film's sounds.[4]

Vertov himself described Enthusiasm as "the lead icebreaker in the column of sound newsreels."[5] He considered the film's "complex interaction of sound with image" to be the work's most significant achievement.[5] The director viewed the film as an extended experiment in which the juxtaposition and misalignment of sound were completely intentional. The film is also notable for the fact that it is a documentary filmed on location.[5] Like many of his other films, Vertov worked on Enthusiasm with his wife Elizaveta Svilova.

  1. ^ "Enthusiasm Release Info". IMDb. Retrieved 4 May 2017.
  2. ^ Peter Rollberg (2009). Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema. US: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 213. ISBN 978-0-8108-6072-8.
  3. ^ "Enthusiasm (Symphony of the Donbas) Dziga Vertov". Archived from the original on 7 August 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  4. ^ Fore, Devin (2010). "Dziga Vertov The First Shoemaker of Russian Cinema". 18 (3). {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ^ a b c Annette Michelson, ed. (1984). Kino-Eye: The Writings of Dziga Vertov. Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press.