Inside Russia - Siberia (1948)

• 76%
• 1948
• Documentary

focuses on the area of Siberia around Irkutsk city. The materials shown depict the lives of Buryat people in the modern city, as well as in the countryside – as hunters, herders, and workers. The mainstay agricultural animals depicted are sheep, yak and reindeer. We see city scenes – people playing tennis, soccer, and working, in the postwar Irkutsk, as well as an shot of a research institute - "Ginzoloto", which played a key rôle in the postwar Soviet re-industrialization, discovery and use of the mineral ores, crucial for the nuclear industry. The movie shows the traditional culture and crafts of the Buryat people, particularly their pipe-smoking tradition, and the belief systems they practice – an animist ceremony at the local shaman's house and a Lamaist Buddhism prayer at an unidentified dazan-monastery.