Stages of development of the Yakut cinema: from "silent cinema" to the national film industry

Pavlova-Borisova Tat'yana Vladimirovna PhD in Art History Associate Professor, Department of Culturology, Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University 677000, Russia, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Yakutsk, Kulakovsky str., 42 pavlovaborisova@mail.ru Other publications by this author

Cinematography is a relatively young branch of professional art in Yakutia. As a phenomenon of modern culture, it appeared in Yakutia more than a hundred years ago. During this period, it became noticeable in the development of cinema in the Soviet and post-Soviet space. More than a century of the history of Yakut cinema is full of bright events, interesting facts, original development, which led to the now widely known phenomenon called "Yakut cinema". This process requires reflection in order to understand the patterns of its development.

The history of the study of Yakut cinema has several decades of its development. In the first essay articles relating to the 70s of the twentieth century, the process of the origin of cinema in Yakutia was considered ^{[5; 13]}. In subsequent works, the authors set themselves the task of understanding the existing experience and prospects for the development of Yakut cinema ^{[4; 10; 11]}. In the period from the late 1990s to the present, the history of Yakut cinema has been generalized and studied as a phenomenon of the film industry ^{[8; 14; 15]}. There are works in which this problem is studied in the context of the study of the dialogue of cultures ^[7] and the definition of the concept of regional cinema ^[6]. At the same time, issues related to the identification, in particular, of the main stages in the development of Yakut cinema and the understanding of its formation as an integral process remain unexplored.

This study is based on theoretical and methodological principles developed for the study of the periodization of Soviet and Russian cinema: its consideration in the context of the global process of nationalization of the film industry and the development of its artistic trends ^{[2; 16 p.144-170]}. At that time, there was a certain struggle between these two principles, but later it became obvious that a synthetic approach that takes into account the specifics of both is more constructive. In foreign publications, special attention is paid to the "visual sovereignty" of Yakutia in Russian cinema ^{[17; 18; 19; 20]}. It is noted that the ethnic flavor, based on Arctic traditions and adopted by modern professional figures of Yakut cinema, nurtured by the state cultural policy of Russia, has great international success in the regions and arouses sincere interest among viewers around the world. Nevertheless, the terms used in the practice of foreign studies - such as "fourth cinema", "decolonization project", etc. in relation to regional cinema in Russia and, in particular. they are not sufficiently substantiated for Yakut cinema. Yakutia was not a colony of the Russian state. Consequently, film projects created in the post-Soviet period cannot be considered "decolonial". We can only talk about the intensification of the processes started in Soviet times. As the history of patronymic cinema shows, the nature of the development of regional ethnic cinema in Russia has its own patterns. It is obvious that the emergence and successful development of the cinema industry in Yakutia is rooted in the implementation of the cultural policy of the authoritarian republic. Although the history of cinema in Yakutia in the pre-revolutionary years began as a private initiative - in the form of the first screenings of films by entrepreneurs, nevertheless decisive steps were already taken by the Soviet state. An extensive cinema network was organized in the republic, targeted training of specialists from among the indigenous population of the autonomy was conducted. Historiography has already attempted to periodize the history of cinema in Yakutia ^{[10;11; 14; 15]}, but these studies were based on formal criteria for the development of the main institutions in this field. In our study, a new approach is proposed that takes into account, in addition to the organizational forms of the film industry, as well as the development of genre diversity and special trends characteristic of a particular period in the creative searches of prominent figures of the film art of Yakutia.The sources of this research were materials published in special publications devoted to the history of the cinema of Yakutia ^{[4; 10; 11; 3]}.

The available materials are archival documents, memoirs, articles, studies of different years, etc., the consideration of which allowed the author to determine the main stages of the development of Yakut cinema: from the pre-revolutionary period to the present day and to identify the features characteristic of each of them.I. The pre-revolutionary stage in the history of the development of Yakut cinema (1911-1917)

The development of technological progress and new types of art is part of the global cultural process.

The Russian Empire did not stand aside and within a few months after the epoch-making cinematographic screenings in Paris in 1896, cinematographic devices appeared in Russia and "live photography" - as cinema was initially called, began its spread across the cities of Russia, from the center of the Russian Empire to its outskirts. The population of Yakutia also began to join previously unknown forms of cultural leisure, the most attractive, relevant and in-demand of which in those years was cinema.

 In 1911, retired Cossack P.I. Nikulin, who is considered the first projectionist in Yakutia, began to demonstrate in the Yakut Public Library-Museum of Cinema, organized film screenings on a regular basis. The cinema was sponsored by the mayor P.A. Yushmanov, merchants and entrepreneurs, director of the Yakut branch of the Russian-Asian Bank M.R. Morgulets, industrialist A.A. Semenov, merchant V.I. Silin ^{[3; 4; 10; 11; 15]}. As can be seen, in addition to individuals, not only the city authorities, but also the state through one of its commercial banks took part in finalizing this initiative even then.

 A few years later, a political exile, a former Socialist revolutionary V.P. Priyutov, whose wife P.P. Lozyanova owned a private photo studio, took up cinema. After marrying V.P. Priyutov, cinema became their family business. In 1913, V.P. Priyutov attached to his house on Bolshaya Street, now Lenin Avenue, a cinema booth that had autonomous electricity, which at that time was very rare in Yakutia, where he showed mainly foreign-made films, for example, world cinema classics starring Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford.

 In the same year, the combined cinema "Circus electro-Chernoberevsky Theater" with a show of circus numbers showed a series of popular films at that time. In Olekminsk, the same P.I. Nikulin also arranged film screenings. During the screening of the films, the orchestra played music, the choir sang, the summary of the films was retold - their annotations were given, the advertising of these events was well staged. The first experiments of cinematographic work began to be carried out.

Of course, these were paid screenings and the activities of the organizers of the first film screenings in Yakutia were of a pronounced commercial nature. The repertoire is typical for film screenings of those years – feature films, melodramas, chronicles. At the same time, it should be noted that, for example, V.P. Priyutov was also engaged in education - in addition to game and entertainment tapes, he presented educational films and films made as a film adaptation of Russian classics - literary works by L.N. Tolstoy, A.N. Ostrovsky, etc. to the audience. Focused on the younger generation.

The first appearance of cinema in Yakutia in the pre–revolutionary period aroused great, genuine interest among the local population, changed and expanded its national picture of the world, made it possible to compare its culture with the cultural achievements of the peoples of Europe and the world.

II. The Soviet stage in the history of Yakut cinema (1917-1991)Several periods can be distinguished in it.

1. The initial period - 1917-1940.;

2. The years of the Great Patriotic War - 1941-1945.;

3. The period of Soviet cultural construction – 1945-1991. The formation of the base of film classification.Let's look at each of them in more detail.

1. The initial period - 1917-1940.

In 1917-1919, the establishment of Soviet power in Yakutia took place. From that moment, a new Soviet stage in the history of Yakut cinema began. It is, perhaps, the longest stage of the development of Yakut cinema to date, as a result of which there are certain achievements in this field of Yakut art.

V.P. Priyutov's cinematography, which operated in Yakutsk even after the establishment of Soviet power, was nationalized and after a while resumed its work in a new status, since the Soviet government used the existing material base – the building and equipment for film screenings. Red Army soldiers and students got the opportunity to watch movies for free. In 1927, the legendary film "Battleship Potemkin" by S. Eisenstein was shown, which aroused great enthusiasm among the population, who needed to propagandize the main ideas of the Soviet government, its achievements and advantages.

The question "About the state and development of the cinema department in the YASSR" was raised at the Presidium of the YACIC in 1928, as a result of which the pace of film production in Yakutia began to accelerate noticeably.  In 1928, the People's Commissariat of Education, Health and Social Welfare of the YASSR bought a cinema from V.P. Priyutov, on the basis of which Yakutgoskino was located – the first state institution of cinematography in Yakutia, which was entrusted with the functions of enlightenment, leisure activities of the population and conducting state policy to the masses.

Cultural and educational work became part of the state policy pursued by the Soviet government. In the government structure of the Soviet government of Yakutia, the so-called extracurricular sub-department was created under the Department of Public Education, which took control of the activities of Yakut cinematographers. Propaganda work was actively carried out in the republic through cinematography. In addition to Yakutsk, where several film installations operated, films were also shown at the Aldan mines - in the Primitiv cinema.  D.T. Dubinin conducted film screenings in nearby districts – Namsky, Borogonsky, Bayagantaysky, Tattinsky, Boturussky, Meginsky, Vostochno-Khangalassky. In Yakutia, modern stationary equipment "Temp" and "GOZ" film transmitters appeared at that time. They began to be introduced into the activities of reading rooms, cultural and educational institutions that were operating everywhere at that time. Since 1925, K.O. Gavrilov's trade organization "Holbos" was one of the first to export films for showing to the rural population.

In 1929, courses for projectionists were opened in Yakutsk. Already in Soviet times, in 1931, in some areas of the republic, the Vostokkino trust group began to conduct filming. The film production in Yakutia came under the control of the Yakut branch of Vostokino, and in 1934 a trust for cinematography was established under the SNK YAASSR – Yakutkino. In 1939, the kinotrest was subordinated to the newly created Directorate of Cinematography under the SNK of the YAASSR ^[3]. Thus, already at this time, there was a coherent state management system in this area. On the one hand, union structures operated, and on the other, republican institutions and governing bodies were created. 

Until now, only "silent" movies have been shown, but since 1932, sound film editing has been established in Yakutsk. The technical equipment of cinema development in the republic was improving. In Yakutia, film projectors "Rus" began to be used, the prototypes of which were French cinema cameras "PATHE", and the cinema camera "Tomp-IV" began to be equipped with a sound unit. The cinemas received new equipment – sound devices "KZS-2".  The first Soviet projection film "Gekord" was also put into operation. Since 1937, the correspondent of the Irkutsk Newsreel Studio K.I. Shironin began to capture the labor process of workers in the North of Yakutia ^[3]. Thanks to the centralization of cinema management, modern equipment was rapidly distributed in Yakutia. Trained specialists who owned new equipment began to come to work in the republic.

In the late 1930s, summer cinemas began to open in Yakutia. So, in 1938, the first summer cinema appeared in the Sergeli area near Yakutsk, and the next year a similar cinema was opened in the Park of Culture and Recreation of Yakutsk. By 1939 , 82 film installations were already operating in the republic ^{[3; 4; 11; 15]}. In a short time, a network of cinemas equipped with the appropriate equipment was formed. These events were held as part of the ongoing cultural revolution, designed not only to raise the educational level of the population, but also to fulfill the ideological guidelines of the Soviet era.

In the 1930s, the first participation of Yakut artists in feature films was noted - N. Kharitonov, a student of the theater school, as a pioneer leader in the film "The Missing Link" (Vostokfilm, 1935) and N. Tabunasov, a student of the theater studio, as a hunter in A. Dovzhenko's film Aerograd (Mosfilm and Ukrainfilm, 1935) ^[15]. Attention is drawn to the fact that representatives of the Yakut population take part, and as representatives of indigenous ethnic groups, bearers of a bright ethnic origin and at the same time they were already practically professional artists, full participants in the cinematic process.

Thus, for the initial period of the Soviet stage in the development of Yakut cinema (1917-1940), it became important to solve the following tasks :

- formation of the republican film distribution network;

- technical equipment of the republican film distribution network; 

- cultural education of the population of the republic ;

- organization of cultural leisure of the population by watching movies;

- participation of Yakut dramatic artists in the creative film process of the country's leading film studios.

2. The years of the Great Patriotic War (from 1941-1945)

During the Great Patriotic War, the repertoire of Yakut cinemas changed from the very first days. As before the war, cinema continued to fulfill its important mission – to connect the most remote areas of the republic with the rest of the world, raising the cultural level and expanding the horizons of the population. This was especially important during the difficult war years.  Art and chronicle-documentary defense films were shown, for example, "Tanker Derbent", "Battalions are coming", "The Defense Revolution", "The Defeat of German troops near Moscow", etc.

Many film workers volunteered for the front and in view of the lack of projectionists, there were problems with the work of a number of regional film installations, but the film industry of Yakutia solved personnel issues quite quickly - the courses of projectionists continued to work and the number of film installations steadily grew ^{[3; 4; 11; 15]}.

    In 1942, a new building of the cinema "Central" ("Gorkino") was built  almost at the place where the photo studio and the cinema booth of V.P. Priyutov stood. "Tsentralny" is still one of the most famous cinemas in Yakutia and still operates according to its direct functional purpose. 

It should be noted that during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), the Yakut cinema mobilized:

- I not only retained my human resources potential, but also increased it by conducting training courses for projectionists;

- actively carried out propaganda and educational work on the formation of patriotic consciousness and strengthening the morale of the population of Yakutia;

- the selection of the demonstrated tapes was carried out, the priority place among which was occupied by films and videos of patriotic and military content

- the building of the first large specialized cinema – the flagship of the Yakut cinema – the Central Cinema was built, which undoubtedly strengthened the confidence of the population in the authorities of the autonomy and the country, which in such a difficult wartime found finances and manpower to strengthen the material and technical base of the Yakut cinema.

3.     The period of Soviet cultural construction (1945-1991)

   The post-war period was marked by an unprecedented cultural rise of the republic, including in the field of Yakut cinema. By the first half of the 1950s, the "silent" film installations were completely replaced by sound ones.  Family dynasties of film workers began to appear, such as, for example, the famous dynasty of the Pavlov family, in which parents and their three daughters devoted their entire lives to cinema, which indicates an increase in the prestige and attractiveness of the profession of a film worker among the broad strata of the indigenous population. New cinemas were built - "Cosmos" in Pokrovsk (1958), "Rainbow" in Olekminsk (1959), "Mir" (1959) in Yakutsk, etc. Many of them were wooden and inferior to the stone building of the main cinema "Central", but became real cultural centers for the population of the republic and performed the function of education and the organization of leisure of Soviet people.

During these years, the genre of the journalistic film has been actively developing. The films "Soviet Yakutia" (1948, A. Belinsky), "Yakutia" (1952, V. Pridorogin), as well as historical and documentary films of a scientific, educational and educational nature - "Ordinary Arctic", "Wings over the Pole" (1959, V. Mishin), historical and biographical – "The Story of the Yakut Land" (1958, A. Belinsky), through which residents of central Russia and the republics of the Soviet Union received reliable documentary information about the inhabitants of Yakutia, about the natural resources and beauty of the northern autonomy.

Yakut artists continued to act in Soviet films of those years - People's Artist of the YASSR P.M. Reshetnikov played in the film directed by A. Bergunker "Footprints in the Snow" (1956, "Lenfilm"), and M. Lobanov - in the role of olonkhosut in the film directed by M. Gaidai "The Long Way" (1956, "Mosfilm") ^{[3; 4; 11; 15]}. The roles offered by Soviet directors to Yakut artists were filled with national specifics and did not pursue the goal of dramatic development and showing the evolution of the characters of the personified characters. From their dramatic reincarnation on the screen at that stage of inclusion in the Russian cultural context, first of all, a bright ethnic paint representing the local flavor was required.

At the end of the 1950s, widescreen cinema appeared and the technical re-equipment of the republican cinema network took place. The Central Cinema was the first to be converted in 1957, where the screening of widescreen films with stereo sound began. In a short time, other cinemas of the republic were also re-equipped.

In the 1960s, other large cinemas appeared: "Lena" (1960) in Lensk, "Rodina" (1961) in Mirny, "Aikhal" (1962), "Lena" (1963) in Yakutsk, "Druzhba" (1963) in Olekminsk, etc. During this period, large-format cinema on 70 mm film is being distributed, using equipment of the "KPT-7" type. For the first time such a movie appeared in the newly converted cinema "Lena" in Yakutsk ^{[3; 4; 11; 15]}.

Since 1969, for the first time, on the basis of the East Siberian Newsreel Studio, the process of duplicating Soviet films into the Yakut language has begun. The first experiments of this kind were the feature films "Zosia" and "Doctor Vera". And although this experience was successful, it was rather declarative in nature, as a fact of respect for the Yakut language and culture. There was indeed a certain percentage of the older generation among the audience who did not yet speak enough Russian and work in this direction made sense, but required the involvement of specialists in simultaneous translation, which entailed the need for additional funding.

In the 1960s, they continued to make publicistic films about the republic: "Yakutia. March" (1966, N. Savvinov, L. Surin), "The Basic Law of my Republic" (1978, N. Savvinov), historical documentaries: "Vegetable Growers of Yakutia" (1965, N. Savvinov), "On the Lena River" (1967) and "In the delta Lena" (1972, V. Zak, N. Prozorovsky), "In the Yakut tundra" (1968, L. Surin), "My Lena" (1970, B Vinokur, A.Vilkens), etc., historical-biographical and historical-ethnographic films: "The Art of the Olonkho country" (1967, V. Mishin), "Choron" (1968, L. Surin), "We are from Churapchi" (1970, A. Vilkens), "The Task" (1974, N. Savvinov). The first professional cinematographer from Yakutia, N.E. Savvinov (1933-1993), a graduate of the VGIK, Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences, worked in this genre for many years. Participated in the release of 20 documentaries (among them "Song of Yakut", "Sonata", "Yakutia", "Golden Link", "Hello, Neryungri", "Order of...", etc.), 36 special issues of the magazines "Eastern Siberia", "News of the Day", "Pioneer", etc. In total, more than 500 films about the people and nature of Yakutia were filmed – and this was part of the implementation of the cultural policies of those years, which declared the success of the northern regions, which were actively involved in the process of Soviet cultural construction ^{[3; 4; 15]}.

Feature films on the Yakut theme continue to be shot. Yakut artists X. Maximov, S. Grigoriev, F. Sofronov, N. Khristoforova, M. Krivogornitsyna participated in the filming of the movie "The Morning of a Long Day" (1969, Riga Studio, directed by A. Neretnietse) based on the story of I.Ya Stroda "In the Yakut taiga", which tells about the events of the establishment of Soviet power in the republic. In 1972, the role of Sediuk in the film "The Secret of the Ancestors" based on the novel by the writer N. Yakutsky (Tajikfilm, directed by M. Aripov) according to the script by L. Gabyshev was played by the People's Artist of the USSR D.F. Khodulov, continuing the Yakut ethnographic theme in Soviet cinema.

It was during these years that the amateur movement was actively developing in the republic, as a form of organizing leisure activities of the population, including amateur film studios and clubs. By 1979, 31 amateur film studios were registered, in which 350 people were officially engaged ^{[11; 15]}.

In 1980, the hitherto existing "Directorate of Cinematography of the Council of Ministers of the IAASSR" was renamed the "State Committee of the IAASSR for Cinematography", which was abolished in 1992.

The 1980s are considered the peak in the development of the cinematography of the republic, the cinema network of which consisted of 740 film installations, 28 cinemas operated. A new video direction was developing - in 1987, a video library of Reskin Rental in Yakutsk and video halls in the capital of the republic and in Mirny were opened ^[15].

This period is marked by the appearance of the first Yakut director A.C. Romanov, a graduate of the VGIK, who worked as the artistic director of Sakhafilm, chairman of the Union of Cinematographers of the RS (Ya), who shot more than 20 films, including the first feature short film "Maappa" (1987) based on the novel of the same name by the Yakut writer N. Zabolotsky.

The achievements of the period of Soviet cultural construction – 1945-1987 should include the following points:

- Yakutia has become the focus of attention of the authors of the genre of the Soviet journalistic film, the main task of which was to record the achievements and successes of the YASSR on the path of socialist construction along with other peoples of the USSR;

- an extensive base of cinematography was formed, which reached its peak in 1980 in terms of the number of cinema installations operating in the republic and cinemas put into operation;

- the technical level of the republic's cinematography of this period was at the level of the achievements of this industry – widescreen cinema with stereo sound, the demonstration of films of this kind required appropriate equipment and construction of cinemas that meet technical parameters;

- the prestige of the profession of a film worker has increased, family dynasties have appeared - more and more often young people have chosen this profession as their life's work;

- the practice of translating Soviet films into the Yakut language for showing to the population of the republic was introduced, however, it did not become widespread during this period;

- national dramatic artists are attracted to participate in the filming of films about the development of Siberia and the establishment of Soviet power in Yakutia;

- an amateur movement of film enthusiasts and cameramen was developing in the republic;

- the first Yakut professional director A.Romanov appeared, whose activity gave the development of the national cinema of those years a directional vector and in many ways generalized a large stage of its development.

III. Post-Soviet period (1991-present)3.1. Transition period (1991-2004).

 Since 1991, the situation in the cinematography of the country has completely changed, since the Soviet state cinema management system was abolished.  The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) was no exception. In the late 1990s, the Goskino YAASSR ceased to exist. To coordinate actions, the Union of Cinematographers of Yakutia was established in 1992. Its first chairman was the Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation, honorary cinematographer of the Russian Federation, a graduate of the VGIK became N.M. Santaev, who worked in cinema for 50 years. He is the author of about 50 films - "Morning of the Diamond Land", "Ysyakh", "Malgins Live", "Song of Yakut", "Gold of Yakutia", "No one is forgotten, nothing is forgotten", "Stars of the Yakut Land – Ivan Stepanov", "Republic of Sakha", etc. ^[4]

In 1996, by a decree of the Government of the RS (Ya), the "State National Repository of Film and Photographic Documents" was established. As of 2011, its fund totaled more than 22 thousand storage units (in the period since 1926).

The creative association "Severfilm", created in 1990, marked the beginning of the production of Yakut films proper. Special equipment was purchased, a workshop was organized where props and props were made. Dozens of young people were sent to study at leading universities in the specialty of cinematography. The shooting of films of various genres has intensified: short films, game films, the newsreel "The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)". In 1992, on the basis of the creative association "Severfilm", the state national film company "Sahafilm" was established. Director of the film company V.Ya. Parfenov (1939-2007), a graduate of VGIK, shot more than 120 films at the Kazakhfilm studio. He was interested in the topic of small peoples: Yukagirs, Nivkhs, Orochi. His films are known - "Teacher", "Korzhun", "Aral", "Labunmedenu – the land of Vaduls". He taught at the AGIKI and the branch of the St. Petersburg State University of Cinema and Television ^[4].

The production of artistic, popular science films and videos in Yakutia has become widespread. Some were announced at international film festivals and were awarded diplomas and personal prizes. Film festivals of Yakut cinema, Film Days in cities and villages of the republic are held.

Among the paintings of the 1990s-2000s, films of the following genre orientation are especially noticeable:

- artistic, ethnographic and popular science films: "The Middle World", "Uraanhai Sakhalar", "Yakutia - cognition and acquisition" directed by A. Romanov, "On the Land of Oyunsky" by S. Vasiliev, "War Far and Near" by V. Parfenov, "Yakut Tapestry" by S. Andreev, etc.;

- feature and documentary films: "Korkin's Path", "Our Fedor" directed by N. Arzhakov;

- feature films on everyday melodramatic plots: "There are only mountains around us", "Yakutsk - lullaby" by N. Arzhakov, "Fracture", "Matchmaking" by G. Bagynanov, "Let me go to my native lands" by S. Ermolaev, etc.;

- films based on artistic works: "The Settler" based on the story of V. Seroshevsky (directed by N. Arzhakov), "That Summer" based on the story of N. Zabolotsky (directed by V. Semenov), "Light in the Dark" based on the stories of Suorun Omolloon (directed by E. Novikov), "Black Mask" (directed by N. Arzhakov) based on the script of the writer E. Neimokhov;

- the artistic and ethnographic film "The Middle World" (1993) in July 1994 at the film festival of the Peoples of Russia received a diploma and became a laureate, director A. Romanov received invitations to International film festivals in Italy, the USA and Germany;

- socio-psychological videos: "Letnik" (1993) directed by A.I. Vasiliev, based on the script by E. Ermolaev and "My People" (1996) based on the comedy of the same name by Aisen Doidu ^[4].

As it appears from the above, there is a wide variety of genres and styles in Yakut cinema in artistic terms. The authors do not focus exclusively on the ethnographic theme, do not exploit the Arctic exotic theme, put topical universal problems related to everyday life in their native republic in their works and philosophically comprehend the meaning of being, referring to the classics. In this case, it is not necessary to mention the so-called "decolonization project" in the Yakut cinema ^[19]. Yakut cinema has organically moved to the next stage not only of its development, but also within the framework of the development of domestic and world cinema.

Thus, the Yakut cinema of this period is characterized by:

- the collapse of the well-established system of Soviet cinema, in which the Yakut cinema was built and developed quite well;

- formation of a new infrastructure of the Yakut cinema in the realities of the post-Soviet space;

- creation of the state national film company "Sahafilm", which marked the beginning of Yakut film production;

- the activities of Yakut filmmakers in the genres of artistic-ethnographic and popular science films, artistic and documentary films, socio-psychological films, using different stylistic techniques and means of artistic expression that did not go beyond these genres and the standard methods used in them;

- reaching the federal and foreign level with the achievement of certain results - awards, awards, etc.

3.2. Formation of the school of national Yakut cinema (from 2004 to the present). Development of the Yakut film industry.In 2004, independent Yakut film companies and film studios such as Almazfilm, Arctic Cinema, Urgel V, Art-line, Argys-film, DetSat, Tuima-film, Magdis, ART Doydu and others began to be created.

The films created by these small auteur film companies were targeted for consumption primarily by the local audience, on the domestic market, but began to be successful with Russian and foreign viewers.

Among the large-scale paintings that have already proven themselves by older directors, the feature film "Cranes over Ilmen" (2005) by film director N. Arzhakov based on the script by E. Neimokhov stands out. The plot was based on the tragic events of the Great Patriotic War that occurred on Lake Ilmen in 1943, when more than seven hundred Yakuts, fighters of the 19th ski brigade, died. Against the background of these harsh events, the plot of the love of the two main characters of Aramaan unfolds (F.Lviv) and Vari (N.Mikhailova). The thematic channel of the painting is based on the artistic contrast of the youth of the main characters and the trials of wartime.

N. Arzhakov's film "Sniper Sakha" (2010), also dedicated to the theme of the Great Patriotic War and the participation of Yakut snipers in it, was filmed for the 65th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. The main idea of the film is that only life begets life, it is read on the relationship between a Yakut sniper and a German soldier, the roll call of times between the events of the war and today. The traditional theme of the Great Patriotic War is interpreted from the perspective of living people. 

"The Secret of Genghis Khan" by theater director A.S. Borisov based on the novel by N. Luginov "At the Behest of Genghis Khan" (2009) is a sensational film in the Yakut cinema ^[9]. The well-known plot is played out in a new reading of the character and events of the life of the great warrior and his military affairs. The entertainment of the film was achieved due to full-scale filming in various places in East Asia: the Mongolian steppe, the Gobi Desert, Lake Baikal, Altai, etc. For the first time in the history of Yakut cinema, the composition of the film crew was international.A whole galaxy of Yakut people, who later became representatives of a new generation of national cinema, studied at the leading film universities of the country – the S.A. Gerasimov VGIK and the St. Petersburg University of Cinema and Television.

It was they who began to create a very special, new Yakut cinema - films with access to the All-Russian and foreign film market, which forced the Russian and international film community to speak about themselves, as well as broad segments of the population of their native republic.

From that moment on, the phenomenon of Yakut cinema appeared in the vast Russian cultural space,  the so-called Yakut "kinoboom", the national school of Yakut cinema. Talented Yakut youth masters various genres of cinema and presents to the viewer their vision of the surrounding reality, which is undoubtedly very interesting.

The success of Yakut cinema is due to several factors:- the original folk culture of the Sakha people;

- a strong Yakut theater school;

- great interest from the Yakut audience, which prefers watching local films of various genres. Every year, about 15 films of independent film companies are released to the republican rental. Most of them are low–budget (from 500 thousand to 1 million rubles), which nevertheless have good box office receipts.

The republic is successfully developing its own Yakut film festival movement. The Republican festival "Cinema of the Arctic" was first held in Yakutsk in 2011. It was attended by famous figures of Russian cinema - producer and director S. Selyanov, screenwriter, director and actress R. Litvinova, sound engineer A. Hasan-Zadeh, film critics A. Dolin and S. Anashkin. In 2013, this event received the status of the "Yakut International Film Festival". Since that time, it has been held with the participation of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and the Union of Cinematographers of the Russian Federation and aims to strengthen cultural exchange, creative cooperation with foreign cinematographers.

 The festival's programs featured films from Russia, the USA, Canada, Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. The film festival included round tables on the development of the film industry of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), lectures, seminars, master classes, creative meetings with the invitation of leading figures of domestic and foreign cinema. The president of the Yakutsk International Film Festival is the famous cinematographer, General Director of the Lenfilm studio Eduard Pichugin (St. Petersburg). Snow goggles were chosen as the emblem and prizes of the film festival – an element of the fishing equipment of northern hunters, a characteristic feature of which are narrow slits for the eyes in order to preserve vision  from the glare of snow-white glare in the spring sun. They are a symbol of the "special view" of the surrounding world of modern Yakut cinematographers. Yakut jewelers make the prizes of the film festival from silver interspersed with zirconium in the form of the constellation Ursa Major and a small diamond symbolizing the North Star.

In recent years, the Yakut cinema has achieved major successes ^[12]. So, in 2018, the film "The Tsar-Bird" by E. Novikov won the Grand Prix of the Moscow International Film Festival, and then the prize of the Montreal Film Festival. The film "The Sun does not Set over Me", shot in 2019 by L. Borisova, won the Best Feature Film award at the Greenland International Film Festival, "Nuuk International Film Festival 2020". The epic film "Tygyn Darkhan" by N. Arzhakov (2020) took the main prizes of the XIV All-Russian Festival of Historical Films "Veche" (Veliky Novgorod, 2020), the VI Russian-British Sochi International Film Festival and the film award "IRIDA" (SIFFA), (Sochi, 2021), the Russian Festival of Patriotic Cinema "Malaya Zemlya" (Novorossiysk, 2022). This film became the first historical film of the Yakut cinema, which makes a revolution in modern cinema before our eyes. Its success was due to the fact that its creators relied on the Yakut traditions ^[1].

Nowadays, we are talking about the formation of the Yakut film industry, which requires special attention ^[8]. Yakutia, according to the unanimous recognition of Russian film experts, is among the leading regions of the national rental. There is more and more talk about the emergence of a high-tech film industry in the republic - competitive not only in the domestic, but also in the international market. In 2009, the first three-hall cinema "Cinema Center" in Yakutia was created, equipped with the latest foreign technology, in 2016 - the cinema "Asia".  Private cinemas and entrepreneurship in this field of art are actively developing in the ulus centers of the republic.

Thus, summing up the material presented, it should be noted that the Yakut cinema has passed four stages in its more than a century-long history of development:

1) pre-revolutionary (1911-1917); 

2) Soviet (1917-1987), which is divided into the initial period (1918-1940), the years of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), the period of Soviet cultural construction (1945-1991).;

3) the post–Soviet period is divided into a transitional period (1991-2004) and the period of formation of the school of national Yakut cinema (from 2004 to the present).

Each period corresponded to certain achievements and characteristic features. So, if in the first period, which developed later than global trends, the Yakut people had the opportunity to get acquainted with a new kind of art, then at the second stage, which came during the decades of Soviet power, Yakutia was engulfed by a massive process of spreading the achievements of domestic cinema throughout the vast republic by the process of entering the space of Soviet cinema.

At the third stage, the foundations of modern Yakut cinema were laid, expressed in the massive training of professional personnel and its material and technical base. This stage is characterized by the rapid formation and development of the Yakut cinema, its successful, active entry into the world film process. The formation of the national high–tech film industry is the task of the modern cinema of Yakutia.