This class was very engaging and the professor took into account the pandemic. There were weekly quizzes based on the lectures (and occasionally one of the readings) but they were easy if you had taken notes on the lecture. Because of the pandemic, there was no midterm nor final. We had three short essays due by the end of the term. The instructions for these essays were vague because they said they wanted reflection papers but they actually wanted rhetorical analysis. There was also a "instagram style" slide show that required you do listen to a podcast or attend a seminar based on the class material but it was easy. The final project was very open-ended and leniently graded.

Writing this years later but I remember the class being ridiculously easy but also pretty boring - at least to me. It's good for people interested in film or Russian history, because the professor is also not the most engaging lecturer. So unless you're really interested in the subject matter you may get bored, but if you're looking for an easy GE . . . this is it.

Overall a good class. If you're looking for an A and don't care about anything else, I would consider this course. Professor Shneyder is very passionate and knowledgeable about Russia, but the lectures are very information heavy and he sort of talks like a robot. He does take attendance every lecture at the start. The final project was very easy and graded very leniently, basically as long as you do the project at all you'll get full credit. There are a few response prompts that are also graded easily, and a few MCQ quizzes that were a little tougher if you haven't been paying attention in class, but nothing crazy. I would skip/skim most of the readings. For me the lectures were insanely boring since I don't have that much interest in Russian history but I'll take it for an A.

If you consider yourself interested in movies, maybe you've flirted with the art-house genre, then it's imperative you take this class — you will get a lot out of it. A lot of people take this class cause they know it will be easy and they have no interest in watching old movies or talking about them, and for those people, I say: get out. You are going to be bored out of your mind, get nothing out of it, and overpopulate what would otherwise be a nice community of active and engaged students. Not that I discount other perspectives and people who don't like to speak up in discussion or class, but there were so many people I talked to who were extremely disinterested in the content, but knew it was an automatic A. It's just frustrating to see those kinds of people in a class such as this. Professor Shneyder is a gem, he is so kind, and I love the ideas he invoked in the survey of Russian film. 10 weeks is truly not enough, but I think he did a fantastic job curating the films we watch and provoking interesting questions about the material. My only critique is that I wish he interacted with the students more during lectures and lectured less. On the last day of class we had an inclusive conversation about the nature of "Russian film" and it was only then did I feel super excited to be surrounded by the film lovers in this class and we touched on some really interesting topics. This class would have worked much better with more hybrid seminar elements. The Slack page is a terrific addition to the class format, but I wish we could have had even more conversation during lecture and discussion, and it took a little while for people to get comfortable on Slack. Suryansu Guha is a funny and engaging TA, I enjoyed what he offered to the course as well. Both Shneyder and Guha are great during office hours I highly recommend you take advantage of those.

Professor Shneyder was a gem! he had great lectures and great assignments and was very passionate about what he was teaching.

My favorite UCLA professor so far; he helps students a lot. You do not need to care about your grade because the professor gives A to everybody. TAKE THIS CLASS.