LOS ANGELES — As Angelenos commemorate the 25th anniversary of the L.A. urban rebellion, ignited by the beating of Rodney King, the 1927 documentary The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty, about Russia’s 1917 urban uprisings, is being screened as part of the “Ten Films That Shook the World” series, a cinematic centennial celebration of the Russian Revolution. The L.A. Workers Center and Hollywood Progressive are the co-sponsors of this series.
The screening takes place on Friday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m. at the L.A. Workers Center, 1251 S. St. Andrews Place, Los Angeles 90019. This location, about three blocks west of Western Ave., is accessible only from Pico Blvd.
In this 1927 nonfiction film, The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty, filmmaker Esther (or Esfir) Shub chronicles the breakup and demise of the doomed dynasty of the Czars from 1913 until 1917 by skillfully editing together existing archival footage. Historical figures including Czar Nicholas II, Czarina Alexandra, Aleksandr Kerensky and V. I. Lenin are shown. Using found footage Shub constructed a new 101-minute film out of old newsreel clips, creating the compilation film genre. This is one of the series’ two documentaries and the only film directed by a woman.
All ten films screened during these ten months are Soviet cinema classics, among the greatest political films ever made. Ed Rampell, author of Progressive Hollywood, A People’s Film History of the United States and a frequent contributor to People’s World, is the series’ programmer/co-presenter. Screenings take place on the fourth Friday of each month at 7:30 pm, except for the last screening on Tuesday, Nov. 7, the actual hundredth-year anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution.
For information contact: laworkersedsoc@gmail.com.
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