FROM TIKHIE TO GROMKIE: THE DISCURSIVE STRATEGIES OF THE PUTIN-ERA AUTEURS JUSTIN WILMES wilmesj15@ecu.edu Russian Studies, East Carolina University Abstract The Putin-era filmmakers sometimes referred to as the Russian “New Wave” or “Novye tikhie” (“New Quiets”) explore sensitive social issues while Russian so- ciety and culture are subject to increasing, soft-authoritarian ideological controls that (in contrast with the late Soviet period) rely on circumscription rather than coercion. This article examines the paradoxes arising from this, and the artistic and discursive strategies used by these auteurs, from avoidance of taboos, to Aesopian, highly encoded texts, to overt confrontation. It considers recent films by Boris Khlebnikov, Andrei Zviagintsev, Iurii Bykov, and others, engaging theories of Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, and José Muñoz, in terms of hegemonic and counter-discourses. Keywords: Russian Cinema; Post-Soviet; Cultural Studies; Censorship; Khlebni- kov; iagin sev; Bykov Очень правильно Сергей Шнуров назвал наше поколение – “новые тихие”. Это очень точное название. Мы ругаемся и боимся всех этих ментов – пятимся назад и как бы шепчем: сволочи, ублюдки и т. д. На мой взгляд, кино должно быть уже намного более громким и свободным. 1 (Khlebnikov 2011) Zv t Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Russian Literature 96–98 (2018) 297–327 0304-3479/© 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. www.elsevier.com/locate/ruslit https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ruslit.2018.05.012