This study aims to address the problem of the interrelation of religion and film in Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. In identifying the nature of the relationship of the cinema with the Orthodox Church, as well as with other faiths and religions, the historical development of this uneasy relationship is examined, as well as questions concerning the role of the depiction of religion and religious faith in film. The first part of this study outlines the nature of the problem and proceeds in a largely inductive manner from an examination of the early evolution of film through to its manipulation by the Soviet government as an ideological tool to promote anti-religious propaganda. In tracing the historical development of the connection between religion and cinema in the Soviet Union, factors such as the influence of legislation, censorship and propagandistic filmmaking are discussed. Next, attention is shifted to an analysis of the portrayal of religious faith in the Soviet cinema. Here, a representative selection of the films of three directors – Tengiz Abuladze, Sergei Paradzhanov and Andrei Tarkovskii – is examined in the light of its contribution to a ‘religious’ cinema, as well as the question of the extent of the representation of positive messages on religious life during the Soviet period. The work of these three directors as artists will lead to consideration of questions concerning artistic freedom, and the cultural politics of religion in the Soviet Union. In the third part of this study, the association between religion and cinema is explored in the light of post-Soviet filmmaking. Here, attention is paid to the effect of post-Soviet legislation on religious liberty on film creation in post-Soviet Russia, as well as the ‘religious revival’ that took place in the arts shortly thereafter.