One of the many artifacts that can be found in the Bill Douglas Cinema museum is a photo of the tomb of Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein, who was a very innovative figure in film history, who made films such as Strike, Battleship Potemkin and the Ivan the Terrible trilogy, which Potemkin being considered in the top 10 best films among all time. He was crucial to ‘Avant Garde’ filmmaking in constructivist cinema. Despite being a pillar of constructivist cinema in the Soviet Union, Eisenstein was disliked by Stalin who preferred more traditional forms of media. Eisenstein was a very iconic figure in Russian cinema and portrayed the revolutionary nature of the Bolsheviks very well throughout these films, and has had a fandom across the world, but one thing that stands out to us is the Tomb of Sergei, located in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow, Russia.

The tomb itself is rather different to a normal tomb, as there is a plaque that is featured on the tomb, which is mostly black marble which is somewhat shaped like a wall that has been broken through. This could symbolise two things. The first meaning could be that the creators of the tomb recognise the breakthrough Eisenstein made in film innovation, being a pioneer in the use if montage, which is a specific use of film editing. The other meaning could be to show how Eisenstein was iconic in Russian history and was a very good creator for the Soviet propaganda and spreading the revolutionary idea to the masses of peasants that occupied Soviet Russia as they were mostly illiterate, therefore meaning that film was the best was to promote the Soviet ideals, and Eisenstein has this plague to show that he understands the hard work and suffering his people have been through as he did not like the old Tzarist system like his fellow Russian people.

Novodevichy Cemetery holds many famous political leaders and creative poets. It is notable that Eisenstein was buried there as this was an honourable place to be buried. So, despite his feud with Stalin later in life, he was still seen as a respected figure in Soviet cinema. Along with Kuleshov, he was one of the fathers of montage in cinema. Many limitations to photography means that it does little to tell us about the subject matter of the films he made and how they impact film history. Although it is implied from his tomb being high status that he was popular…

Limitations of the way it is presented in the catalogue, it does not tell us why his tomb is in the Novodevichy Cemetery and why that decision was made. It tells us little about his place in film history