The Daily Life of Soviet Athletes in Cinema: Representations and Discussions (1940s - 1950s)

Successes on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War made it possible in 1943-1944 to resume national championships in a number of sports. Sports competitions returned both as a phenomenon of urban everyday life and as preparation for international competitions, including the Olympic Games. In the spring of 1944, the head of Soviet cinematography, Ivan Bolshakov, set the task of making a comedy film based on sports material. In the representation of sports in Russian cinema of the post-war years, there is a turn from attention to amateur practices, characteristic of films of the 1930s, to professional sports. This turn was accompanied by meaningful discussions about the ways of development of Soviet sports among the creative intelligentsia and the sports community.