Vladimir Vysotsky’s image in Russian documentary and fiction cinema: peculiarities of genre formation and historical memory

The article aims to determine the place and role of Russian cinema in the commemorative practice of historical memory of the poet, musician and actor Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky in the social and urban space of the country. Comparative-historical, problem-chronological, observational and descriptive methods, as well as theoretical methods (analysis and synthesis, content analysis, analogy) are used to analyze the commemoration of historical memory. The research is based on the historical-situational principle and interdisciplinary approach. For detailed analysis, documentary cinema as a phenomenon is divided by the author into two components: fact – as a historical phenomenon and image – as a subjective commemorative construction. Documentary films are considered as a «screen embodiment of time» in the context of the historical narrative of V.S. Vysotsky’s life and activity. The prerequisites for the emergence and development of the documentary genre about V.S. Vysotsky’s life and activity are determined. The chronological framework of the emergence of this phenomenon is established. On the basis of the analysis of genre classifications of non-fiction films a set of theses on the basis of which the documentary film about V.S. Vysotsky is formed is revealed and characterized. Twenty documentaries are used as the source base of the article, which allowed us to reconstruct the main scripts of non-fiction films about V.S. Vysotsky, to determine their specifics and distinctive features on the basis of specific examples. Documentary film festivals are considered as a constituent part of commemorative practice in the context of the documentary genre of films about V.S. Vysotsky. Several elements of biographical myth in fiction cinema are highlighted. The ways of reconstructing V.S. Vysotsky’s image in fiction and non-fiction cinema are established. This problematic has not been subjected to a special systematic study in historical science before. The results obtained in the course of the work reveal the importance of cinema as an effective tool for preserving the historical memory of V.S. Vysotsky in the mass consciousness of the Russian people.