with John Cloud, Doctoral
Researcher, Peace Studies
A romantic love triangle involving two nuclear scientists,
this film "is a grim and gleaming, angst-ridden nocturne.
Set in an unknown realm of secret laboratories and installations
and released shortly after the cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became
the first man to orbit the earth, Nine Days of One Year
is the Soviet equivalent of On the Beach or Fail-Safe.
It was not long before it was attacked...as 'alien to socialist
humanism.'" (J. Hoberman, New York Times) Directed
by Mikhail Romm. 1961, Russia, 110 minutes.
Screening as part of the Cornell Cinema Series Soviet
Cinema in the 60s: Revolution in the Revolution
John Cloud is a geographer
working as a postdoctoral researcher in Peace Studies. At UC
Santa Barbara, his dissertation research was on the CORONA reconnaissance
satellite program (1958-72). "I was also closely related
to the Film Studies department, and Constance Penley was on my
dissertation committee. 'CORONA was film in space,' she said,
'so it's all Film Studies.' I happen to think 'Faster, Pussycat!
Kill! Kill!' is one of the greatest films."
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