Propaganda Film
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AGITPROP FILM
A propaganda film is a film, often a documentary, produced for the purpose of convincing the viewer of a certain political point. However, the propaganda is not limited to non-fiction films. Many of the dramatic war films in the early 1940s in the United States were designed to create consensus at the expense of "the enemy." In fact, one of the conventions of the genre that developed during the period was that of a cross-section of the United States which comes together as a crack unit for the good of the country. Arguably one of the earliest propaganda films is “The Birth of a Nation”, filmed in 1915.
In the years following the October Revolution of 1917, the Soviet government sponsored the Russian film industry with the purpose of making propaganda films. Under the direction of Nadezhda Krupskaya, Lenin’s wife, the Cinema Committee established a state film school to train directors, actors, and technicians, as well as to produce agitki, newsreel edited for the purpose of agitation and propaganda, or “agit-prop”. The development of Russian cinema in the 1920s by such film-makers as Dziga Vertov and Sergei Eisenstein saw consider-able progress in the use of the motion picture as a propaganda tool, yet it also served to develop the art of moviemaking. Eisenstein's films in particular are seen as masterworks of the cinema, even as they glorify Eisenstein's Communist ideals.
Leni Riefenstahl's “Triumph of the Will” (1935) serves as an example of a propaganda film. Its intent is to show the power of the Nazi party and the strong influence of Adolf Hitler. Riefenstahl illustrates the party's influence and its popularity through showing people cheering in response to speeches, people eagerly volunteering to join the party's efforts, and people participating in and watching the extravagant parades. She demonstrates Hitler's influence and power through his animated speeches. She also shows Hitler's arrival to Nuremburg – he descends from the clouds in a plane, an image akin to a god coming down to earth from the heavens.
SOURCES:
http://www.realityfilm.com/study/genreoverview.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_film
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_film
Richard Barsam. Nonfiction Film. A Critical History. p. 66