S2 Ep. 7: Poet (1956, Boris Barnet)

S2 Ep. 7: Poet (1956, Boris Barnet)

From Cold War Cinema by Jason Christian, Anthony Ballas, & Paul T. Klein

October 27, 2025 · 1h 22m · Season 2 · Episode 7

About this episode

The episode discusses Boris Barnet's film 'Poet' and its exploration of art's role in war and revolution.

This week on Cold War Cinema, we look at Boris Barnet's Poet (sometimes refered to as The Poet ) , a 1956 feature about the role of art and literature in war and revolution. Join hosts Jason Christian, Tony Ballas, and Paul T. Klein for a broad-ranging conversation about the film and the politics of form and style. Throughout, we consider: The challenges of context-dependent domestic filmmaking and international spectatorship How film narrative and aesthetic modes like Socialist Realism participate in the construction of national myths, imaginaries, and ideologies Barnet's dynamic use of framing, blocking, color, and light to advance Poet 's plot and politics _____________________ We love to give book or film recommendations on the podcast, so here are ours for this episode: Paul recommends A History of Russian Cinema by Birgit Beumers. Tony recommends, The Common Wind: Afro-American Currents in the Age of Haitian Revolution by Julius S. Scott. Tony emphatically does not recommend Literature and Revolution by Leon Trotsky. Jason recommends Miklós Janscó's 1967 Hungarian war film, The Red and the White . _____________________ Like and subscribe to Cold War Cinema, and don't forget…

People in this episode

Hosts: Jason Christian, Anthony Ballas, Paul T. Klein

Topics covered

  • art and literature in war
  • politics of film
  • Socialist Realism
  • national myths
  • film narrative
  • aesthetic modes

Keywords

  • Boris Barnet
  • Poet
  • Socialist Realism
  • film aesthetics
  • national ideologies
  • Russian cinema
  • Haitian Revolution

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Poet, The Poet, A History of Russian Cinema, The Common Wind: Afro-American Currents in the Age of Haitian Revolution, Literature and Revolution, The Red and the White

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