Marina Filipovic
Visiting Lecturer in Russian
About
Education
- Ph.D. Russian Literature and Film, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- M.A. Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Illinois at Chicago
- B.A. Yugoslav and Serbian Literatures, University of Belgrade, Serbia
Previous Employment
Visiting Assistant Professor of Russian, Department of Modern Languages & Literatures, William & Mary, VA (2019-2021)
Teaching and Research Interests
My teaching at Bates College spans nineteenth-century to present-day Russia, covering all periods of Soviet culture, Russian language at all levels, as well as Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav literatures, cultures, and film. My research encompasses Russian, Soviet, post-Soviet, Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav literatures and film, with a particular focus on technology and gender, the Russian avant-garde, socialist realism, the Soviet history of science.
Recent Publications
Book contributions:
- “Neo-Noir after Yugoslavia: The Fourth Man and A Balkan Noir” in The Haunted Present: Slavic Neo-Noir Cinema and Television, edited by Alexander Prokhorov, Elena Prokhorova, and Rima Salys. Academic Studies Press, Film and Media Studies Series. Boston, 2026, 27-48.
Recent Book Reviews
- Anna Batori, The Extreme Cinema of Eastern Europe: Rape, Art, (S)Exploitation. Edinburgh University Press. 2024. Apparatus: Film, Media and Digital Cultures in Central and Eastern Europe, No. 20, 2025 DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.17892/app.2025.00020.384
- Ilana Shub Sharp, Esfir Shub: Pioneer of Documentary Filmmaking, Bloomsbury, 2022, Slavic Review, Vol. 82, No. 2, Summer 2023, p. 567-568.
- Ruptures and Continuities in Soviet/Russian Cinema: Styles, Characters and Genres Before and After the Collapse of the USSR, eds. Birgit Beumers and Eugénie Zvonkine, New York: Routledge, 2018, Slavic Review, Volume 79, Issue 4, Winter 2020, p. 886-888.
Interviews and Public Scholar Events:
- “Staging the Real of Power: NSK History and Continuity” A Conversation with Neue Slowenische Kunst artist Eda Čufer. Bates College Museum of Art, September 19, 2024.
Courses Taught at Bates College:
- RUSS 102 Elementary Russian II
- RUSS 201 Intermediate Russian I
- RUSS 301 Advanced Russian I
- RUSS 313 / EUS 313 Hard & Soft Socialism: Literatures, Films, and Cultures of the USSR and Socialist Yugoslavia
- RUSS s27 Myths and Legends in Russian Culture
- RUSS 247 / EUS 247 Contemporary Russia on Film
- RUSS 317 / EUS 317 / GSS 317 Beyond Human: Cyborgs and Technology
- RUSS 233 / EUS 233 Russian Myths and Legends
- RUSS 259 / EUS 259 Against Happy Endings: Love in Russian Literature (Winter 2027)
Expertise
Current Courses
Fall Semester 2026
Contemporary Russia on Film
The course engages students with contemporary Russia through cinema and discusses a European culture that is, at the same time, non-Western in its political make-up. Topics discussed include the colonial center and its contemporary political and cultural ambitions, imperial periphery and Russia’s …
Intermediate Russian I
This course, offered in the fall semester, is a continuation of Elementary Russian, with an emphasis on fostering all four language competencies. Students focus on more detailed study of grammatical issues; vocabulary building and intermediate fluency; reading more complicated, unedited Russian pros…
Advanced Russian I
This course, normally offered in the fall semester, focuses on advancing students’ fluency in Russian in all four competencies. Students are exposed to a variety of unedited materials and registers and work closely with contemporary Russian culture. Emphasis is placed on engaging students in advan…
Winter Semester 2027
Against Happy Endings: Love in Russian Literature
What happens when love doesn’t save anyone? This course invites students into the world of Russian literature, where stories of romance, adultery, betrayal, prostitution, and moral transgression probe the deepest tensions of Russian culture. Focusing on intimate relationships as sites of conflict,…
Elementary Russian II
This course, offered in the winter semester, is a continuation of RUSS 101 with an emphasis on acquiring all four language competencies. The course continues to foster building basic fluency and ability to read simplified passages in Russian. Students continue their immersion in Russian culture thro…