On The Poetics Of Cinematic Influence: Grossmapping Gestures In The Films Of Kira Muratova And Eva Neymann

Abstract

Reflecting on the confines and the opportunities that the concepts of national identity and the artistic canon entail, this article offers a comparative analysis of two Ukrainian filmmakers with multicultural backgrounds: Kira Muratova and Eva Neymann. While film critics have speculated about Muratova’s ‘disciples’, frequently citing Eva Neymann among them, Neymann herself has openly dismissed any idea of being an epigone – a position perhaps rooted in the “anxiety of influence” that artists often experience with respect to heir forerunners. Nonetheless, a thread of continuity is discernible in Neymann’s oeuvre, not only through the shared backdrop of Odesa but also in the nuanced parallels in visual composition, narrative, and pacing that recall Muratova’s works while maintaining Neymann’s unique cinematic voice. Employing Harold Bloom’s theory of influence alongside Elizabeth Bronfen’s concept of crossmapping, this article aims to illuminate the dynamics of productive, albeit not necessarily conscious, influence within the cinematic worlds of the two filmmakers. Focusing on Neymann’s debut feature, By the River (2007), and her subsequent film House with a Turret (2012), the analysis reveals how Muratova’s iconography resonates within these works. It also examines how cine-poetic lineage is sustained through aesthetic formalisation, circulation, appropriation, quotation, and refiguration of images and gestures. This contributes to the development of a national cinematic canon and offers an understanding of national cinematic identity as an entity in flux.

Ukrainian cinema, Odesa, national identity, canon, multiculturalism, intercultural cinema, influence, crossmapping, gestures, image formulas, cinematic heredity, visual genealogy, female authorship, women filmmakers.