Dr. Stephen Norris Presents "Stalingrad on Screen" Lecture and Film Screening

On Tuesday, March 22, in Room 101 of the Marrs McLean Science Building on the campus of Baylor University, Dr. Stephen Norris, the Walter E. Havighurst Professor of History and Director of the Havighurst Center for Russian and Post-Soviet Studies at Miami Univeristy in Ohio will examine the importance of the Battle of Stalingrad (1942) in the cultural-historical imagination of Russia.

At 3:30 p.m., Dr. Norris will present on the changing ways Soviet and post-Soviet film directors attempted to articulate the meanings of the Battle of Stalingrad. Focusing on four key films that span the late-Stalin era to the present, Norris will delve into the shifting narratives about the Battle and the significance the Stalinist, Brezhnev, Gorbachev, and Putin governments placed on these films. All four films - Vladimir Petrov's The Battle of Stalingrad (1949), Sergei Bondarchuk's They Fought for Their Motherland (1975), Iuri Ozerov's Stalingrad (1989), and Fedor Bondarchuk's Stalingrad (2013) - generated a great deal of discussion and controversy. Bondarchuk's blockbuster film - the first Russian film to be made in 3D IMAX and one that shattered box office records - sheds light on the patriotic culture and uses of history in the Putin era, topics that have become even more relevant in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

A brief reception will follow the presentation.

At 5:30 p.m., Dr. Norris will facilitate a screening of Stalingrad (2013) followed by a Q&A session. Baylor students can view this film online for CAE credit.

For more information, visit baylor.edu/library/stalingrad

This event is sponsored by the Baylor Departments of Modern Languages & Cultures, History, and Film & Digital Media, the Keston Center for Religion, Politics, and Society, and the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society.