“New Sincerity” in Contemporary Russian Cinema: On the Way to Dialogism
https://doi.org/10.69975/2074-0832-2026-67-1-114-137
Abstract
The article studies some important artistic peculiarities of Russian films from 2000 to 2020s, which can be classified as belonging to the “New Sincerity” trend. Based on several representative feature films (including those not previously analyzed in this respect), the author shows a gradual transition from postmodern irony to post-irony as the hallmark of the “New Sincerity” cinema and considers combining personal existential lines with relevant, socially significant issues in the plots of the “New Sincerity” films as a promising dramaturgical approach required by the audience.
About the Author
Ju. V. Mikheeva
Russian State University of Cinematography n. a. S.A. Gerasimov (VGIK)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Julia V. Mikheeva - Dr. Sci. (in Art History), Professor, Sound Design Department
References
1. Aleksej Balabanov nachal poiski Kolokol'ni Schast'ya [Alexey Balabanov began his search for the Bell Tower of Happiness]. KinoPoisk. Available at: https://www.kinopoisk.ru/media/news/1832738/ (Accessed 14 December 2025) (In Russ.)
2. Buber, M. YA i Ty. Dva obraza very [Me and You]. Moscow, Respublika Publ., 1995. 464 p. (In Russ.)
3. Kuznecova, M.O. Motiv “otcepriimstva”: ot kinematografa ottepeli k rossijskomu kinematografu “novoj iskrennosti” [The motive of “accepting the father”: from the cinema of the “thaw” to the Russian cinema of the “new sincerity”]. Teatr. ZHivopis'. Kino. Muzyka. no. 2, 2019, pp. 161‒177. (In Russ.)
4. Kuznecova, M.O. Motiv dvojnika v kinematografe “novoj iskrennosti” [The motif of the double in the cinema of the “new sincerity”]. Vestnik VGIK, no. 3 (37), 2018, pp. 86‒96. (In Russ.)
5. Kuz'mina, L. Snachala vse umerli… [First, everyone died]. Hroniki kinoprocessa [Chronicles of the film process]. Moscow, VGIK Publ., 2013. 247 p. (In Russ.)
6. Lavreckij, N. YA takaya meta-meta: postironiya kak glavnyj trend v kino 2010-h godov [I'm such a meta meta: Post-irony as the main trend in cinema of the 2010s]. Iskusstvo kino, no. 3, 2019. Available at: https://kinoart.ru/texts/ya-takaya-meta-meta-postironiya-kak-glavnyy-trend-v-kino-2010-h-godov (Accessed 14 December 2025). (In Russ.)
7. Man'kovskaya, N.B. Postpostmodernizm [Post-postmodernism]. Leksikon nonklassiki. Hudozhestvenno-esteticheskaya kul'tura HKH veka [The Lexicon of Non-Classics. Twentieth-Century Artistic-Aesthetic Cuiture.]. Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Centr gumanitarnyh iniciativ Publ., 2021. 608 p. (In Russ.)
8. Prigov, D.A. Preduvedomlenie k tekstam “Novaya iskrennost'”, 1984 [Foreword to the texts “New Sincerity”, 1984]. Slovar' terminov moskovskoj konceptual'noj shkoly [Dictionary of Moscow Conceptualism]. Moscow, Ad Marginem Publ., 1999. 224 p. (In Russ.)
9. Ruzaev, D. Interv'yu s Borisom Hlebnikovym: “Nacional'naya ideya dolzhna byt' napravlena na unichtozhenie provincii” [Interview with Boris Khlebnikov: “The national idea should be aimed at destroying the province”]. Available at: http://archives.colta.ru/docs/19441 (Accessed 21 December 2025). (In Russ.)
10. Epshtejn, M. Katalog novyh poezij [Catalog of new poetry]. Available at: http://modernpoetry.ru/main/mihail-epshteyn-katalog-novyh-poeziy (Accessed 21 December 2025). (In Russ.)
11. Wallace, D.F. E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction. Review of Contemporary Fiction, 1993. Available at: https://jsomers.net/DFW_TV.pdf (Accessed 21 December 2025).
Review
For citations:
Mikheeva J.V. “New Sincerity” in Contemporary Russian Cinema: On the Way to Dialogism. Vestnik VGIK. 2026;18(1(67)):114-137. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.69975/2074-0832-2026-67-1-114-137
Views:
247
JATS XML
Email this article 