Saga - 2006, Page 121

Abstract
T I N N A G R É T A R S D Ó T T I R A N D S I G U R J Ó N B . H A F S T E I N S S O N
T H E C O L D WA R A N D A M E R I C A N
A N D S O V I E T F I L M S C R E E N I N G S , 1 9 5 0 – 1 9 7 5
During the Cold War, films and film screenings played a major role in the poli-
tics of the Soviet Union and the United States. The two superpowers attempted
to exploit the cinema as a medium for creating a positive image of their respect-
ive ideologies, political systems and cultures, not least abroad. Although it may
be said that the superpowers were waging a „cultural war“ in the field of poli-
tics, fighting with cultural weapons such as films, this description of the situation
needs re-evaluating with a view to people’s experience of the screenings. In this
article, we outline intervention by the American and Soviet governments in their
countries’ film production and their perception of its importance for foreign pol-
icy. We also explain how films from the superpowers were distributed in Iceland,
where it was particularly the Cultural Liaison of Iceland and the USSR (MÍR) and
the United States Information Service (USIS) which held regular screenings and
distributed their films and projection equipment around the country. Finally, we
direct our attention to the work of MÍR and the USIS in rural Iceland, to how
Icelandic screening organisers perceived their efforts, to the image these pro-
grammes acquired out in society, and last but not least, to the experience of
Icelandic audiences at these screenings from 1950 to 1975. We argue that the cin-
ematic experience is not limited solely to each individual’s perception while the
picture is moving on the screen. Rather, the film experience also comes into exist-
ence and gains new aspects through social interaction both inside and outside the
venue of screening. Social relations in connection with the theatre, the screenings,
and whatever the location has to offer are in themselves important factors in
understanding what meaning films have in culture and society.
K A L D A S T R Í Ð I Ð O G K V I K M Y N D A S Ý N I N G A R 121
Saga vor 2006-NOTA-2 26.4.2006 17:26 Page 121