Cinema through the eyes of zoomers: national perception features

Cinema occupies a special place in a person's life. By observing the other people's lives, empathizing with them, and learning about the working and living conditions of different communities, a person forms an attitude toward surrounding world, his country, its traditions, and its ideals. This art form is really valuable to Generation Z (Zoomers), whose transition into adulthood coincided with the forced period of pandemic isolation and the sanctions policy of Western countries. Most representatives of Generation Z see cinema as a window to the world and a source of value formation.

In late 2025, the author of this article conducted the sociological study, included 474 respondents (427 participants in a mass survey and about 47 interviewees) and allowed to identify the factors of Generation Z’s consumer cinematic preference, the influence of these orientations on the awareness of national identity, and to assessed the quality of state policy in the field of cinema which perhaps is the most popular art form among young people. One of the important results of the conducted survey is the observation of a stable positive attitude among young people towards their national roots while maintaining a neutral and objective assessment of the quality of the film production. The study suggests that state policy in the sphere of increasing the national identity of contemporary Russian youth needs to take account of a deep study of value orientations that form outside traditional channels of state influence demonstrated by young people with the support of digital platforms.

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