Imagine Otherwise Film Series: Aelita (dir. Yakov Protozanov, 1924, 113 min)

Aelita (dir. Yakov Protozanov, 1924, 113 min)

September 19 | 7 p.m. | 301 Julis Romo Rabinowitz

One of the pioneering films of the science fiction genre (released three years before Fritz Lang’s Metropolis!), Aelita follows the story of Los, an engineer who escapes the harsh realities of the Soviet’s New Economic Plan by travelling to Mars and helping to foment a popular uprising against the harsh rule of the Martians. While the film is technically an adaptation of Alexei Tolstoi’s novel of the same name, filmmaker Yakov Protazanov takes liberties in his translation to the screen, significantly complicating the politics of the Martian revolution, which is riddled with ambiguities. 

Providing a concrete image to the dreaming of the Russian cosmists, the film played a highly significant role in popularizing space travel in the Soviet Union. Especially of note are the constructivist set design of Victor Simov and the costume design of Isaac Robinovich and Aleksandr Ekster, which sparked the imaginations of science-fiction filmmakers for the century to come.  

Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies | View More Events

Kimberly Bitterman

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