Olga Ramanava
Key Facts
Former Residencies:
2021 December. Art-Residence in Kiiv, Ukraine
2021 September. Literary Residence in The Art Village Kaptaruny, Belarus
2020 February-March, Kiiv. Research Residence and the educational programme with the Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Centre "Culturfilm. Films and myths of the "fraternal republics" (Grant from the Prague Civic Center)
Project info
She is working on the book “Another History of Soviet Belarusian Cinema. Research Essays.” The book will consist of 15 chapters divided into four parts:
- A Red History of Belarusian Cinema. 1920s and early 1930s;
- “Soviet Belarusians” and the search for alternatives;
- “It’s going to be a long goodbye…”;
- “Significant Film Shots. Belarusian Collage”
The first three parts are conceived as a series of research essays, while the fourth part is structured as a sequence of – in her view – iconic film footage accompanied by commentary. This is the most visually intense part of the book and can also be presented separately as an art project.
During the residency, she plans to complete this part in full, as well as finish several chapters of Part 2.
The reinterpretation of Belarusian films from the Soviet period from new research perspectives makes it possible to reveal both the traumas and the contradictions of Belarusian twentieth-century history. The aim of the book is to analyze films within the framework of interdisciplinary methodologies, including film studies, Soviet studies, gender studies, and postcolonial studies. This approach allows for the formulation of new questions that address cinema from a contemporary perspective.
The essay format makes it possible to combine academic analysis of sources with a subjective selection of films and a free writing style.