Obraz voiny na ekrane: (Na materiale fil’mov i arkhivnykh dokumentov stran-uchastnits Vtoroi mirovoi voiny), ed. by V. S. Malyshev (Moscow: Izdatel’stvo VGIK, 2015).

A collection of articles prepared by a group of professors of Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography deals with the cinema in the years of World War II, both in the Soviet Union and several other countries. The authors do not pretend to write a full history of film-making during the war; instead, they investigate its the most important aspects, first of all the developing of the war theme in fiction and nonfiction films, as well as in the animation, interpretations of various images of the war in different historical periods up to the present, the influence of politics on cinematography.

The book consists of a short preface and twelve theme-based articles. The first article by L. A. Zaitseva deals with the Soviet fiction films of the war years. G. S. Prozhiko analyses the documentary films of the Second World War—mostly the Soviet ones, but also, shortly, German, American and British films.

Documentary films are also the subject of the article by D. L. Karavaev. He investigates the interrelation between informative and propagandistic functions in the Soviet military news films through the example of Soiuzkinozhurnal issues of 1941. The author comes to a conclusion that this newsreel failed to inform the audience about the events at the front, due to various causes, but attempts to use in for propaganda purposes were unsuccessful either. The situation changed only partially in 1942–44, that finally caused the liquidation of Soiuzkinozhurnal. Another newsreel, Novosti dnia [News of the day] was established instead.

The songs in films produced in the years of the Second World War are analyzed in the article by E. A. Rusinova.

Several articles deal with the foreign movies. The first one in this part of the collection is the article by V. V. Vinogradov ‘If the war is tomorrow’, with an analysis of propagandistic images in prewar German, British, and French cinematography. German, Italian and Spanish films of the war years are described in the article by O. K. Reizen. S. K. Kapterev examines in his work the evolution of the image of the USSR in American movies after 22 June 1941 when the Soviet regime became an ally of Western democracies in their struggle against Nazism. The article by M. L. Terakopian deals with the reflection of military operations in the Pacific in the Japanese cinema.

The enemy images in animation films in the years of the war are analyzed in the article by N. G. Krivulia. The both sides of the conflict tried to use the art of animation in their propaganda purposes, regarding it as an effective tool for manipulating the young minds. The article contains a comparative analysis of Soviet, German, and American animation films.

Images of the war in contemporary Russian and eastern European cinema are analyzed in the articles by N. A. Tsyrkun and S. A. Smagina. The last article in the collection, by V. S. Malyshev, the rector of Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, describes the history of the Institute in the years of World War II.