In the Fictional Shadow of Post-Production? The Silenced Creative Community and Gender Hyper(in)visibility Among Film Editors in Contemporary Russia

Abstract

<p>In this essay, I analyse the autobiographies of three female Russian editors in order</p><p> </p><p>to explore the issue of editors’ invisibility in the Russian filmmaking community and among</p><p> </p><p>average cinemagoers by tracking editors’ own reasoning for this matter. Here, the invisibility</p><p> </p><p>is understood as average audiences’ failure to recognise the creative input and agency of film</p><p> </p><p>editors, fueled by the lack of attention from festivals and professional film critics. In addition,</p><p> </p><p>this essay attempts to assess the relations within the professional community of editors and</p><p> </p><p>filmmakers at large by commenting on any potential linkages of the (self) identification of the</p><p> </p><p>female gender to the hierarchies within the community. My guiding question is whether there</p><p> </p><p>are any similarities or analogies between the hierarchisation processes and practices within</p><p> </p><p>the narrow professional community and the hierarchised relations among all the Russian</p><p> </p><p>filmmakers or within the today’s Russian gender ecology.</p><p> </p><p>Keywords: Anna Mass; Dasha Danilova; Julia Batalova; Andrei Zviagintsev; Anna Melikian;</p><p> </p><p>Vasilii Sigarev; Boris Khlebnikov; Avdot’ia Smirnova; editor; female editor; rezhisser</p><p> </p><p>montazha; editor’s agency; gender relations; gendered hyper(in)visibility.</p><p><br /></p>