“This prize should be given for a gigantic, selfless feat...”: documents from the discussion of candidates for the Lenin Prize for the film epic “Liberation” (1971-1972)

The film epic “Liberation” is one of the most significant and outstanding films about the Great Patriotic War created in the Soviet Cinema. For the first time in history, the cinematographers showed the events from the Battle of Kursk to the capture of Berlin, from 1943 to 1945, on a fairly full scale and with a huge scope. The significance of the film epic was understood by the vast majority of contemporaries. Veterans of the Great Patriotic War and military leaders paid special attention to the film. The special interest of government agencies in the sphere of culture was connected with a fair assessment of the cinematographers’ activity. In the article, based on previously unknown documents of the Committee for Lenin and State Prizes of the USSR, the author demonstrates the course of discussions and deliberations related to the nomination of candidates for the Lenin Prize of the USSR for the film “Liberation” directed by Yuri Ozerov. The proposed documentary materials show what was the range of candidates, what guided the participants of the discussions when approving or rejecting these or those candidates. Fragments of transcripts kept in the archive of the Mosfilm Stidios and the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art are introduced for the first time. They allow us to understand the attitude of creative workers of the authorities to the film “Liberation”. The sources show that the circle of candidates for the prize was much wider, revealing the motives that guided the participants in the discussion in limiting it. The author concludes that the attitude towards the authors of the film epic was complex and ambiguous, despite the general official recognition of the importance of the film in society after its premiere.