Soviet Film Posters In The Silent Era @ The National Film Center

The other day I popped along to the National Film Center in Kyobashi, which is just a short walk from Tokyo Station. The centre has cinema screens, a library and, on the seventh floor, an exhibition hall. It costs just 200 yen to go to see the exhibition and the first half is a permanent collection of memorabilia from Japanese cinema history dating, including camera equipment, posters, short film clips and animation plates.

The second half of the exhibition space is given over to the temporary exhibition, a collection of more than 140 Soviet film posters from the silent era, and so also from the early days of the revolution.

The graphic art of the early Soviet period is very distinctive with its blocks of colours, stark angles and heroic poses, with many of the posters also featuring machinery or agricultural equipment as the films obviously reflected the political mood of the times.
Many of the posters featured in the exhibition were designed by the Stenberg brothers, who started out as architects in the Constructivist movement, but gained greater renown through their graphic works.

The exhibition runs until March 29th.