Filmmakers from Africa and the Middle East at VGIK during the Cold War

Abstract

Part of a special issue devoted to the centenary of the Film Institute VGIK, this article aims to investigate the student flow between the Soviet Union, Africa and the Middle East in film studies during the Cold War. In the framework of Nikita Khrushchev’s new foreign policy vis-à-vis the Third World, some cultural and training agreements were signed from the late 1950s onwards, between the Soviet Union and countries such as Guinea, Mali, Syria and Iraq. Of the students who received support to study in the Soviet Union, the majority chose scientific training, but some of them applied to the famous Film Institute VGIK in Moscow. Several of these students made an international career for themselves, while others played an important role in the development of their national cinema. Through documents from VGIK’s archives and state archives, and thanks to interviews with filmmakers, this article explores the reasons that led students to choose film studies in the Soviet Union and the conditions of their training. The last part of the article considers the cultural and political engagement that these students demonstrate in their diploma films.