Stalin's death in 1953 marked the beginning of the heyday of Soviet cinema. The Thaw became a time of liberalization of both political and cultural life in the USSR; The films released in those years, with their characteristic formal innovation and social engagement, found themselves at the center of international film discourse. In his book “Cinematography of the Thaw. Space, materiality, movement" Lida Ukaderova offers an analysis of some films shot in the USSR in 1958–1967 to prove: space - both as a visual component of films and as a socially significant topos - played a leading role in the cinema of these years. Opening with a discussion of the reception of the little-studied panoramic cinema of the USSR in the late 50s, Ukaderova's study pays close attention to the films of Mikhail Kalatozov, Georgy Danelia, Larisa Shepitko and Kira Muratova. The author shows that the works of all these directors were inspired by the desire to explore the most important problems of ideology, social progress and the role of the individual in post-Stalin culture through the prism of cinema.