The Soviet Woman I

The film program is connected with the exhibition Soviet Woman in Kumu Art Museum. When Soviet power was established in Estonia, the idea of a new type of woman began to be imposed, expressed and asserted in art, photography, film and other fields by specific character types. Released from gender limitations and given equality with men in all respects, the main task of the Soviet woman was to work – to build the new communist state. The Soviet woman was depicted as an energetic and strong-minded female Stakhanovite and collective farmer, teacher, scientist, war heroine and guerrilla fighter. All these new heroines were connected by ‘chaste femininity’ – masculinity and moral nobility – which was supposed to lead to new labour achievements. The film program is dealing with the influence of the past experiences on us today.

CHILDHOOD
Director Leida Laius, Estonia 1976, 29’
Thoughtful and sad documentary about babies in a nursery and a day group

LIFE WITHOUT…
Director Mark Soosaar, Estonia 1987, 30’
A film about a milkmaid’s family, in which grim reality deprives a young boy of love, home and affection, leading him to commit suicide.

ANNA AAVER'S EVERYDAY LIFE
Director Semjon Školnikov, Estonia 1981, 10’
A film about a delegate at the 26th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Anna Aaver, a progressive milkmaid in the collective farm ‘Energia’ in the Rakvere region.

Introduction by Katrin Kivimaa