In 1952, the widescreen revolution in American cinema began with the introduction of Cinerama, a film projection system that engaged audiences by means of an enormous, deeply curved screen and multichannel stereophonic sound. Several years later, the Soviet Union unveiled its own panoramic process known as Kinopanorama. While Cinerama's travelogues took viewers to exotic locales throughout the non-communist world, Kinopanorama focused on the achievements of the Soviet Union. Both Kinopanorama and Cinerama impressed viewers in their own countries and won recognition in many others. In particular, the first two Kinopanorama films had a six-week run in New York City in the summer of 1959 as part of an official Soviet exhibition, itself the product of a cultural exchange agreement. Kinopanorama and Cinerama later added dramatic features to their repertoire, which originally consisted solely of documentaries. But the systems were too costly and cumbersome to maintain, so, after travelling a remarkably similar path, they ceased to exist in the mid-1960s. The rivalry between Kinopanorama and Cinerama represents a characteristic episode from the cultural Cold War.