ANKARA - THE HEART OF TURKEY" BY SERGEI YUTKEVICH AND LEO ARNSHTAM: THE SCRIPT, THE CONCEPT, AND THE HISTORY OF PRODUCTION
For the first time, the article introduces archival documents related to the production of the debut documentary film of Sergei Yutkevich and Leo Arnshtam "Ankara - the Heart of Turkey" (1934). Using the surviving correspondence of the two directors, a notebook with the original script by Arnshtam and other sources, the author reconstructs the film's initial concept as well as the details of its production. At first, the film dedicated to the 10th anniversary of Turkey's independence was supposed to have an emphatically fictional character. Arnshtam came up with many comedic and eccentric episodes, introduced several characters and storylines. The parade in the center of Ankara and the meeting of the head of Turkey Mustafa Kemal Ataturk with the Soviet delegation unfolded in the background and were presented through musical design, songs, and marches. However, the difficulties of filming on location and pressure from "above" forced Yutkevich to change the original idea and to focus on the documentary. "Ankara - the Heart of Turkey" reflected the "nonacted" aesthetics of the 1920s: montage structure, artistic expressiveness of the shot, and the poetry of the landscape. But the film also clearly exhibits the influence of socialist realist tendencies: the leaders become the main characters, city festivities are captured with due-pomp, folklore stylistics and the desire to achieve utopian conventions are felt throughout. Thus, the author concludes that "Ankara - the Heart of Turkey" is an important document on the history of Soviet documentary cinema and the evolution of its aesthetics.