Best Propaganda

We Can Do It! is an American wartime poster created by graphic artist J. Howard Miller in 1943 for the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. The image depicts a female factory worker wearing a red polka-dot bandana and flexing her right bicep, accompanied by a bold yellow speech bubble. I...

I Want YOU for U.S. Army is an American military recruitment poster created by illustrator James Montgomery Flagg in 1917. The image features a stern, top-hatted personification of the United States known as Uncle Sam, drawn with his index finger pointing directly at the viewer. Flagg initially crea...

Battleship Potemkin is a 1925 Soviet silent film directed by Sergei Eisenstein. The narrative depicts the events surrounding a mutiny among the crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin in 1905, as dramatized by Mosfilm. It portrays a specific historical incident involving rebellion against naval offi...

The Unknown War is a twenty-part documentary series examining the conflict between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union during World War II. It utilizes over 3.5 million feet of film footage shot by Soviet camera crews from 1941 to 1945, largely unseen until this presentation. The series was produced f...

I Am Cuba is a 1964 film showcasing four distinct stories about Cuban society in the decade before the 1959 Revolution. Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov, this Soviet-Cuban co-production utilizes experimental filmmaking techniques to depict varied experiences including political upheaval and social chan...

El Lissitzky was a prominent 20th-century Russian painter whose work significantly influenced Constructivism. He explored geometric abstraction and spatial concepts through series like Proun, aiming to reshape perception of space and form. His graphic designs, including the iconic “Beat the Whites w...

World War II represents the period of major global conflict from 1939 to 1945. American involvement began with the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and fundamentally reshaped the nation’s role as a world power. The U.S. contribution was critical to Allied success, particularly through industrial produ...

The 1942 film depicts the experiences of Mrs. Miniver, a British housewife in rural England, as her daily life is disrupted by the events of World War II. Directed by William Wyler and starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon, the movie explores the impact of the war on an ordinary family. It featur...

Olympia is a 1938 German documentary that meticulously records the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics. The film provides valuable historical insight into the event, showcasing performances and celebrating the Nazi regime’s propaganda efforts during this period. It includes footage of key moments like the t...

Vsevolod Pudovkin’s *Storm over Asia* is a 1928 silent war drama exploring Russian involvement in the Chinese Civil War during the 1920s. The film utilizes propaganda techniques to depict Soviet support for the Kuomintang against warlords and anti-communist forces. Featuring Valéry Inkijinoff, it re...

The End of St. Petersburg is a 1927 silent film directed by Vsevolod Pudovkin. The historical-political drama spans from 1913 to 1917, depicting events including the Tsar regime’s injustices and the Bolshevik revolution. It solidified Pudovkin's reputation as a key figure in Soviet montage filmmakin...

October: Ten Days That Shook the World is a 1928 Soviet propaganda film commemorating the tenth anniversary of the 1917 October Revolution. Directed by Sergei Eisenstein and Grigori Aleksandrov, it dramatizes key events surrounding the revolution. The film was initially released in the USSR as “Octo...

Earth is a 1930 Soviet Ukrainian silent film directed by Alexander Dovzhenko. The narrative depicts the implementation of collectivization policies and portrays conflict arising from resistance among kulak landowners during the First Five-Year Plan. It forms part of Dovzhenko’s “Ukraine Trilogy,” fo...

This pamphlet, produced in 1942, is a wartime propaganda piece designed to bolster national resolve. Artwork by Abram Games presents a vision of Britain’s future—a technologically advanced and prosperous nation—in stark contrast to the realities of wartime hardship. It was intended for widespread di...

Man of Marble depicts the decline of Mateusz Birkut, a celebrated bricklayer in Nowa Huta, Poland, following his rise as a Stakhanovite figure. A filmmaker investigates Birkut’s disappearance two decades after his initial prominence, referencing marble statues created to commemorate him. The film ex...

James Montgomery Flagg was a prominent American illustrator known primarily for his impactful imagery during wartime. His artwork, frequently utilizing pen-and-ink techniques, achieved widespread recognition through posters like “I Want You for U.S. Army.” These pieces served as crucial propaganda p...

49th Parallel is a 1941 British film directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, featuring an ensemble cast including Leslie Howard and Laurence Olivier. The story centers on a German U-boat crew’s efforts to infiltrate neutral United States territory after becoming stranded in Canada. It exp...

No is a 2012 drama focusing on the political campaigns surrounding the 1988 Chilean plebiscite. The film portrays advertising techniques employed during this period, examining the efforts to influence public opinion regarding Augusto Pinochet’s continued rule. It earned a nomination for Best Foreign...

Erected by East Germany in 1961, the Berlin Wall was the most potent physical symbol of the Iron Curtain. It physically divided a city and represented the ideological chasm between communist East and democratic West. Its eventual fall in 1989 was a monumental moment, signaling the irreversible decli...

Howard Chandler Christy (1873–1952) was an American illustrator and painter. He gained widespread recognition for creating the "Christy Girl" archetype, a portrayal of idealized American womanhood similar to the contemporary Gibson Girl. During World War I, he designed recruitment and propaganda pos...

Triumph of the Will documents the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg, attended by over 700,000 supporters. The film features speeches from key Nazi leaders like Hitler and Rudolf Hess alongside footage of paramilitary groups. It presented a vision of Germany’s resurgence under Adolf Hitler follow...

Wake Island depicts the defense of Wake Island by a U.S. military garrison against a Japanese invasion force in 1942. The narrative focuses on the events surrounding the island’s strategic importance after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The film portrays the struggle of American forces attempting to wi...

Launched by the USSR in 1957, Sputnik was the first artificial Earth satellite. While primarily a scientific achievement, its launch sent shockwaves through the West, triggering the 'Sputnik Crisis.' It dramatically escalated the space race and spurred massive US investment in science education and...

Moscow Strikes Back is a Soviet documentary film examining the Battle of Moscow, which took place from October 1941 to January 1942. Directed by Ilya Kopalin and Leonid Varlamov, the film was recognized with a 1942 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature alongside three other productions. It offe...

Winston Churchill's 1946 speech famously declared that 'an iron curtain' had descended across the continent. This speech crystallized the emerging geopolitical division of Europe, providing the defining rhetorical framework for the Cold War. It moved the conflict from a localized post-war dispute to...

“Let Poland Be Poland” is a 1982 documentary produced by the US International Communications Agency. It explores the political climate in Poland during the 1980s, referencing the patriotic song “Żeby Polska była Polską.” The film was created to communicate American perspectives on Soviet influence a...

Hearts of the World was a 1918 silent melodrama directed by D.W. Griffith. The film was produced with support from the British government who sought to influence public opinion about World War I through Griffith’s established cinematic talent. It served as wartime propaganda aimed at shifting attitu...

The Soviet Story is a 2008 documentary examining Soviet Union history from 1941 onwards. It incorporates interviews with historians, political figures, and individuals impacted by Soviet actions and the period’s events. The film was produced with sponsorship from the Union for Europe of the Nations...

The North Star is a 1943 war drama directed by Lewis Milestone and featuring an ensemble cast including Anne Baxter and Dana Andrews. Produced by Samuel Goldwyn Productions and distributed by RKO Radio Pictures, the film’s production design was overseen by William Cameron Menzies and featured origin...