College Course File: EASTERN EUROPEAN CINEMA

Author(s): Peter Lev and DINA IORDANOVA

Source: Journal of Film and Video , Spring 1999, Vol. 51, No. 1 (Spring 1999), pp. 56-76
Published by: University of Illinois Press on behalf of the University Film & Video
Association

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College Course File
Peter Lev, Editor
EASTERN EUROPEAN CINEMA
DINA IORDANOVA

The end of the Cold War and the emancipa good for a narrow area studies course and
tion of the former Eastern Bloc has renewed does not adequately address specific issues
interest in Eastern European cultures. This of film form. A brief note on the national cin
course file provides a structure for a course emas approach is offered in the appendix to
that highlights the best cinemas of Poland, this course file. I also believe that a course in
Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Eastern European cinema cannot be success
former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, and ful if structured around periods in filmmak
Albania. The cinema of Germany is not ing or the textual analysis and application
included, but it could be considered as well. of various critical methods. In the case of
The course has two goals: first, to acquaint foreign film, the specific context cannot be
students with the best in Eastern European overlooked and therefore textual analysis
filmmaking and, second, to enable them to often ends up a contextual one.
better comprehend the specific cinematic
traditions of the region. To reflect the complexity of ideas, debates,
and concerns in Eastern European filmmak
Courses in foreign film are usually taken by ing, the best course structure combines the
two types of students: those majoring in area exploration of topics and styles. I tentatively
studies who want to learn about the cinema, call this approach Eastern Europe s experience
and students who are interested in production in its films. I believe that it provides the best
and would like to know more about non opportunity for a meaningful discussion of
Hollywood filmmaking. Students of the cinematic texts because it remains cognizant
second type often have been so impressed by of their sociocultural origins and messages.
some Eastern European film that they are
inspired to see more films from the region Course Activities
(these films are commonly works of the Czech
new wave, of Jancs?, or of Makavejev). Some universities allow film screenings only
during regular class periods, which leaves
Given the goals and student profile, I have almost no time for discussion and lectures.
abandoned the idea of structuring the course Ideally, screenings should be scheduled in
by national cinemas. That approach is only addition to the class meetings, or the films
should be available on reserve, for viewing at
Dina Iordanova is the editor of the British Film students' convenience.
Institute's Companion to East European and
Russian Cinema (London: BF1, 2000) and of the Class time can be separated into lectures that
forthcoming Film, Mass Mediation, and the supply background information and discus
Balkan Crisis. She teaches in communication at
sions of the cinematic text. These should be
the Univerisity of Leicester in the U.K. and writes
structured either as two separate class meet
on Eastern European and Balkan cinema.
[email protected] ings per week or as one longer session that
naturally divides into two parts. I favor the
Copyright ? 1999 by Dina Iordanova latter option for its intensity. Class is then a

56 JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 51.1 (Spring 1999)

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combination of presentations and discus Readings: Goulding, Daniel, ed. Post New-Wave
sions, focusing mostly on the films students Cinema in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
have seen preceding the meeting. Since the Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1989. Liehm, M, and
A. Liehm. The Most Important Art: Soviet and
subject material is broad, one should con
strain oneself and be selective in what infor
East European Film After 1945. Berkeley: U
California P, 1977. Paul, David, ed. Politics, Art,
mation is offered in lectures and movie clips, and Commitment in the East European Cinema.
always remembering to allow enough time New York: St. Martin's, 1983. Slater, Thomas J.,
for discussion. ed. Handbook of Soviet and East European Films
and Filmmakers. New York: Greenwood, 1992.
Course Work and Evaluation Graffy, Julian, Dina Iordanova, Richard Taylor,
and Nancy Wood (eds.) Companion to East
European and Russian Cinema (London: BFI,
Assignments and grading ultimately depend 2000).
on the number of students in the class. I have
Special issues of film journals devoted to Eastern
used quizzes, but they have proven an inade
Europen cinema: Cin?aste 19.4 (1992). Film
quate form of evaluation since no concrete Criticism 21.2 (Winter 1996-1997). Journal of
knowledge is required. For the same reason, Film and Video 44.1-2 (Spring-Summer 1992).
I never give a final exam.
I also provide each student with a copy of
Students are assigned individual topics that "East European and Soviet Videos," a
they choose from early in the semester (e.g., filmography about the video resources avail
Romanian film, K. Zanussi, sci-fi, anima able on campus and in town. A limitation is
tion, shelved films) or from topics they that not all of the best films are in official
suggest themselves (I have had students distribution. Besides the well-known clear
work on dream sequences, violence, music inghouse for foreign films?i.e., Facets?
in Yugoslav cinema, the treatment of mother distributors specializing in Eastern European
hood in Polish film, and so on). Around films are Polart (Polish), Video El (Czech),
midterm the students give short ungraded and Worchester (Albanian). A helpful
presentations intended to give them a chance resource is the Film Cultures International
to focus their own work. They then develop website?http://www.cultures.net.
this into a 15-page paper, worth 60 percent of
the final grade. The rest of the grade is based Depending on time, I try to organize a library
on two one-to-two-page essays on assigned tour for the students with the media and film
topics such as "Why Are Eastern European librarian, since he or she can teach them best
Films So Gloomy?" or "What Film Language about the resources in film studies.
Devices Did I Come Across for the First Electronic resources librarians can be asked
Time in This Course?" to teach a class about on-line resources in
foreign film. A useful site is the East
Resources European Media and Cinema Studies web
site?http://www.utexas.eduyftp/depts/eems/
There are no textbooks on Eastern European main.html.
cinema so I always use a custom-designed
course packet. Most of the readings are either Structuring the Course by
by or about filmmakers whose films are National Cinemas
shown. Depending on their personal assign
ments, students are individually advised The common practice is to offer courses that
about bibliographies and filmographies. focus only on individual national cinemas.
This approach has the advantage of provid
ing insight into particular traditions, but it

JOURNAL OF FILM AND VIDEO 51.1 (Spring 1999) 57

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usually fails to draw a general picture of the the chance to learn from their mistakes. After
cinema of the region. However, an all we identify each country, we discuss issues
encompassing course on Eastern European such as which countries have belonged
film structured by country faces the difficult entirely or partially to the Ottoman Empire,
task of doing justice to all deserving works. to the Austria-Hungarian Empire, and to the
If one still prefers to organize the course by former Yugoslav republics. We identify the
country, in a 11-13 week semester, the first biggest countries and biggest cities by terri
one to two weeks should be devoted to gen tory and population and the least populated
eral background exploration and the rest of countries. We identify the major mountain
the time as follows: two weeks each for chains and common geographic names that
Poland, Czecho-Slovakia, Hungary, and do not coincide with country names (e.g.,
Yugoslavia and one week each for Romania, Transylvania, Carpathians, Danube, Dinaric
Bulgaria, and Albania. Suggestions for a Alps, Balkan Mountains, Ruthenia, Bohemia,
country-by-country approach (films, readings, Moravia, Thrace).
websites) may be found in the appendix of
this course file. We discuss the ethnolinguistic tapestry of the
region?the groups of languages spoken in
Structuring the Course Around the Film Eastern Europe?Slavic, Romance, Germanic,
of Experience of Eastern Europe and others (e.g., Hungarian, Albanian,
Romani, Turkish) and what is spoken where.
This is the structure of the course which I We identify which minority languages are
strongly favor. The course is designed to go spoken in which countries (e.g., Hungarian
by topics rather than by national cinemas and and German in Romania), the main minority
directors. Thus, it offers insight into the cul groups and where are they located, and the
tures of Central Europe and the Balkans, and major religions represented in each country.
simultaneously offers the best of their cine We briefly discuss particular features of
mas. Students become familiar with major Orthodox Christianity and Islam. In some
schools of filmmaking and with important what more detail, we discuss major minority
stages of development in the Eastern groups such as the Jews (Sephardic and
European film tradition. This approach Ashkenasim) and the Romani (Gypsies). I
includes discussion of film as a form of mass also discuss some rules of spelling and pro
communication and as an industry. There is nouncing Eastern European names. Usually
also opportunity for extensive comparisons this is done in the form of an exercise that
between American and Eastern European requires student involvement. I supply stu
film traditions. dents with fact sheets on each country only at
the end of the introductory classes.
Unit 1. Background
The historic background is also delivered in
The brief introduction to Eastern Europe the form of an exercise. I usually ask the stu
comprises three parts?geographic, ethno dents to match a long list of dates with a ?st
linguistic, and sociohistoric. It is not neces of events of particular importance to the his
sary to go into much detail, only to provide tory of Eastern European countries; for
relevant background. example, the Molotov-Ribbentrop agree
ment (1939), the Yalta conference (1945),
For the geographical part, I often show a map the establishing of communist regimes in
of Eastern Europe that is missing names of Eastern Europe (1945-1948), Khruschev's
the countries and cities. I ask the students to denunciation of Stalinism (1956), the Prague
fill them in. They rarely succeed, but they get Spring (1968), and the launch of glasnost

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 (1986). We also discuss such issues as which ones in Bucharest and Tirana. In most cases,
Eastern European countries were monarchies the work of the studios was organized within
and which were republics before World War the so-called units run by well-known film
II, which "superpowers" had the most impact makers?a team of directors, screenwriters,
on the history of these countries, and so on. DPs, set and costume designers often sharing
Issues that are likely to be unfamiliar to similar artistic visions, such as the film units
American students include the dissolution of run by Wajda (X) and Zanussi (TOR).
Austro-Hungary and the Ottoman empires,
Soviet and German expansionism between The national TV companies also were
the wars, who participated on which side in involved in film production and often ran
World War II, the dynamics within the their own studios. The released productions
spheres of influence, and the role of were picked up by the state-run distribution
Gorbachev's perestro?ka. I also give a brief organization and were exhibited within the
overview of the contribution of these coun system of state-owned theaters. A system of
tries to world literature, fine and performing exchange of feature films among the Eastern
arts, and humanities in general and make Bloc countries was in place, so that the films
sure to mention the names of recognized got at least some exposure abroad. A state
Eastern European writers and artists. appointed commission decided which films
would be sent to which international festi
Screening: If there is a screening during the first vals. Filmmakers' unions were controlled by
week of the course, use it to schedule an important the state and were strong trade organizations,
film that is on the roster of screenings. I always
in which membership was by election and
make two critical statements to prepare the stu
dents for the works that they will see during the was considered prestigious. Film schools
course?one, regarding the pace of the films, and were operating in Lodz, Prague, Budapest,
the other, regarding the tradition that equates film Belgrade, and Sofia.
with entertainment.

The brief outline of film industry operation

Unit 2. Film Production under state socialism should not aim solely
before 1989: Censorship to underline the totalitarian omnipresence of
the state. Besides the elements of propaganda
To understand the specifics of film produc and control, the underlying intent was to
tion and distribution under state socialism, rationalize, streamline, and facilitate the pro
one should look at the structure of its admin duction-distribution-exhibition mechanism.
istration. Each country had a government
body in charge of filmmaking (i.e., Ministry When discussing censorship, it is most
of Culture, Film Commission), and budget important to explore exactly how censorship
allocations were centralized and came exclu operated. Many students have heard about
sively from the state. Major studios in Poland the elaborate censorship mechanisms under
were located in Lodz, Warsaw, and Krakow; communism and are often puzzled when
in Czechoslovakia, in airando and Kratky exposed to actual works of art. How was it
Film in Prague, and Koliba in Gotwaldow, possible, they ask, to make and release films
mostly producing documentaries and shorts; of such mastery and aesthetic quality in
in Yugoslavia, Avala Film in Belgrade, and in repressive states? In the West these films
studios in the capitals of the constituent would not be censored, but they would not
republics of Zagreb, Sarajevo, Skopje, and be shot either.
Ljubljana. Other well-known studios across
Eastern Europe were Mafilm in Budapest, To address this issue, I use the excellent trea
DEFA in Berlin, Boyana in Sofia, and the tise by Miklos Haraszty, The Velvet Prison.

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Haraszty's text is especially interesting permitted subject matter. The censors cer
because it originated in Hungary, which did tainly bothered filmmakers, and they made
not even have a censorship body and thus sure to portray them in their fdms?in the
was considered to have had the most sophis absurdist Czech Report on the Party and the
ticated censorship mechanisms. Haraszty Guests (1967) and in Trnka's animation The
explains that under state socialism there is Hand (1963), in the Polish Man of Marble
relative permissiveness?glorification of the (1976), Blind Chance (1981), and Escape from
state is not expected, even criticism is per Cinema Liberty (1991), the Hungarian
mitted, only one should not doubt the good Another Way (1982), and many more. It is
intentions of the socialist construction. It is a worth considering showing a film that was
Marcusean "repressive tolerance," in which banned, such as Makavejev's WR: Mysteries of
the state-run system makes sure that all the Organism or Bugajski's The Interrogation.
"socially relevant" art is given equal repre Each of these films was shelved, and the
sentation. The state becomes something like directors were forced to go into exile.
a co-author in artistic creation; audiences
know who is "a permitted author with a per The 1971 WR: Mysteries of the Organism is
mitted message," and dissent is co-opted. an avant-garde work that uses a wide array of
The limitations of the artist working under cinematic techniques?musical collage
state socialism are comparable to those to (from German Lili Marlene through Soviet
which the corporate artist is subjected, Isaak Dunaevskiy's hymns to the intellectual
except that under state socialism there is songs of Bulat Okudzhava), associative col
nothing beyond the state, whereas in the con lages of documentary and feature film (from
sumer society the artist has at least the choice documentary footage of crowds cheering
to not become a corporate artist and to Mao to feature excerpts from the 1948 Soviet
remain free, obscure, and independent. glorification of Stalin The Vow to "shock cor
ridors-style scenes from an American mental
institution). The film has a unique narrative
structure (opening with a 20-minute docu
mentary on the American period in the life of
Frankfurt School's Wilhelm Reich), combin
ing feature and documentary to make a non
conformist statement on social and sexual
liberation, totalitarianism and imperialism,
communism and free love, Eros and
Thanatos, all expressed through meshing
images and subplots from Yugoslavs,
The 1971 Yugoslav WR: Mysteries of the Organism Soviets, Chinese, Americans, and Germans.
(dir. Dusan Makavejev) is a work of avant-garde
quality which uses a wide array of cinematic
techniques. The film was banned in Yugoslavia for The Interrogation (1982) was released in
indecencies like this scene, showing a secondary 1989. The film is set in the first half of the
character, Jagoda, relaxing after a heated sex session 1950s to the 1956 "thaw." The story is about
on the background of communist Milena and the
a young cabaret actress (Kr. Janda, best
prudish Russian ice-skater Vladimir Illich.
actress at Cannes) who is arrested for an
Issues of subtle artistic conformity obtain unknown reason and then kept in jail for
primary importance within the discussion of years, where she is subjected to endless inter
censorship. We also discuss the various rogations and brutalized in every way. The
mechanisms that filmmakers deployed to superb use of the hand-held camera empha
avoid interference, as well as forbidden and sizes the claustrophobic setting consisting

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mostly of prison interiors. The Interrogation spiracies around the Reichstag fire. A subplot
is an impressive Kafkaesque tale of the para features a Viennese Jewish psychiatrist
noia embraced by totalitarian regimes?no (Erland Josephson) who, ironically, escapes
matter what, one is always at fault. to Germany while fleeing Nazi vandals at
home.
Readings: On censorship: Haraszty, Miklos. The
Velvet Prison. New York: Noonday, 1987. Havel, Today's students rarely know much about
Vaclav. "The Power of the Powerless." Without
cinematic depictions of the Holocaust
Force or Lies. Voices from the Revolution of
Central Europe in 1989-90. Eds. W. M. Brinton beyond Sophie's Choice or Schindler's List.
and A. Rinzler. San Francisco: Mercury House, Instead of taking a shortcut from those to the
1990.43-128. Vaculik, Ludvik. A Cup of Coffee with Eastern European works, contextualize at
My Interrogator. London: Readers International. least by commenting on some of the other
1987. On WR: Mysteries of the Organism, see major works. I discuss Alain Resnais's Night
Cin?aste 5.1 (1976): 18-21; and 6.2 (1977), as well
and Fog or Claude Lanzman's Shoah, from
as Herbert Eagle's chapter in David Paul's volume.
which I usually screen the interview with
Screening: WR: Mysteries of the Organism, The barber Abraham Bomba, originally from the
Interrogation.
Polish town of Czenstochowa. The Swedish
Architecture of Doom (1991, dir. Peter
Unit 3. Nazism/Eastern European Holocaust Cohen) is also suitable; moreover, it includes
clips from the 1940 German anti-Semitic
There are many remarkable Eastern propaganda film The Eternal Jew and briefly
European films on the Holocaust, and they discusses the important concepts of phrenol
are not as well known as they should be. ogy and eugenics. This discussion provides a
Several focus on Eastern European Jewry suitable context for showing a clip from A.
before the war. Poland, for example, had Holland's Europa, Europa, in which a
well-established Yiddish-language film pro teacher at an elite Nazi school unknowingly
duction in the 1930s. Recent works also illustrates superb Aryan purity using a Jew as
explore Jewish life and anti-Semitism, an example.
including Polish Austeria (1988, dir. J.
Kawalerowicz) and the Hungarian The Raft Many films from Eastern Europe focus on
(1991, dir. J. Elek). life in the ghettoes. The notorious model city
of Terezin appears in Alfred Radok's work,
Eastern European filmmakers also have in Zbinek Brynych's Transport from
explored the Nazi period. These include the Paradise (1963), and in Karel Kachyna's
Yugoslav Balkan Express (1986, dir. Br. The Last Butterfly. Alexander Ford's Border
Baletic) and That Summer of White Roses. Street (1948) and early Wajda's Samson
(dir. R. Grlic, 1989) and Wajda's A Love in (1961) also show aspects of ghetto life. A
most remarkable work set in the Warsaw
Germany (Germany, 1983). Best known is
Istv?n Szab?'s award-winning Mephisto ghetto and offering an unforgettable portrait
(1981). Based on Klaus Mann's novel, it tells of moral self-sacrifice is Wajda's portrait of
the real-life story of German actor Gustav educator Janusz Korczack (1991).
Gr?ndgens (Klaus-Maria Brandauer), notori
ous for his conformity to the Nazi regime. Films focusing on the camps and the final
solution are Wanda Jakubowska's The Last
Szab?'s 1988 Hanussen, again with
Brandauer, reprises the Mephisto motif, but Stage (1948) and Peter Solan's The Boxer
this time the story is of a Berlin clairvoyant and Death (1962). Hungarian Cold Days
who became prominent in the early 1930s (1966, dir. Andr?s Kovacs) is a postfactum
because of his involvement in political con reconstruction of the tragic massacre of the

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Jews in the Serbian town Novi Sad, reveal flashbacks?daydreams of women, after
ing the horrible rational approach to the noon fa?ades, sidewalks, and streetcars. The
extermination process. extreme exhaustion of the protagonists
deletes the boundary between the grim reali
In the melancholic Sweet Light in a Dark ty of confinement and the vision of glorious
Room (a.k.a. Romeo, Juliet, and Darkness, salvation.
1962, dir. Jiri Weiss), claustrophobic Angry
Harvest (Germany, 1986, dir. Agnieszka Readings: Avisar, lian. Screening the Holocaust.
Holland), and theatrical Holly Week (Poland, Cinema's Images of the Unimaginable. Indiana
UP, 1988. chapters 2-3.
1996, dir. Andrzej Wajda), the focus is on
people who helped Jews and their moral Screening: Many films are worth screening. My
dilemmas. The Shop on Main Street (Czecho first choice is Diamonds of the Night, followed by
slovakia, 1965, dir. E. Klos and J.Kadar) is Shop on Main Street. Other recommended films
probably the best work about moral ambigui are Korczack or Mephisto.
ty and indecisiveness. Starring Ida Kaminska
as an old Jewish shopkeeper and Joseph Unit 4. Historic Film History
Kroner as her newly appointed Aryan super and the Individual
visor, it is the story of a reluctant Nazi sup
porter who is hesitant strictly to take sides. An important issue for discussion is the sig
nificance of World War II as the event that
The war traumas are the subject of Dita shapes Europeans' historic thinking about
Saxova, based on Arnost Lustig (Czecho the twentieth century; it is considered the
slovakia, 1967, dir. A. Moskalyk) and dividing experience even by generations
Landscape After Battle, based on Tadeusz born long after the war. Young Americans do
Borowski (Poland, 1972, dir. A. Wajda), and not think of the century in these terms, and
indirectly of The Fifth Seal (Hungary, 1976, thus it is necessary to state the war's impor
dir. Zoltan Fabri), Father and Confidence tance. Another important issue is the con
(Hungary, 1966 and 1979, dir. I. Szab?). sciousness of historic limitations prevailing
in Eastern European cultures.
Jan Nemec's masterpiece Diamonds of the
Night (1963) is based on a work by Arnost Eastern European cinemas produced massive
Lustig and was shot with a dynamic camera historic epics usually chronicling episodes in
by Hynec Bocan and Miroslav Ondrzicek. the history of the given country, for example,
Two teenage boys have escaped from a Polish Knights of the Teutonic Order (1960,
transport and are now running through a for
est, desperate to stay alive. The boys are fully
dependent on nature and experience hunger,
cold, and exhaustion. Everybody is an
enemy, but the urge to live overcomes and
lessens their sense of danger. A girl who
gives them food then reports them, and the
men of the local hunting squad soon hunt
them down.

Shot in black and white with no dialogue, the

film contains surrealist elements, such as
Some films used history metaphorically, like the
juxtaposing the contrasting dark shots of the visually impressive Jerzy Kawalerowicz's Mother
escape and the shining shots of silent sunny Joan of the Angels (Poland, 1960).

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dir. Al. Ford) or Jerzy Hoffman's Colonel Another study of recent history through indi
Wolodyjowski (1969) and Deluge (1973), or vidual fates is Wajda's early war trilogy. A
Bulgarian Lyudmil Staykov's Asparukh Generation (1954) depicts the underground
(1981) and Time of Violence (1988). These struggle of a group of young Poles. Kanal
productions involved elaborate props and (1957), based on J.S. Stawinski, chronicles
costumes, and thousands of extras engaged the 1944 Warsaw uprising by focusing on the
in massive battle scenes with cavalry and doomed escape of a group of rebels through
artillery. Within the centralized film industry, the Warsaw sewers. Shot amid an unseen
the directors usually had the army at their scale of destruction, the film depicts the grim
disposal and the superproductions were not realism of postwar desperation. Yet, it is a
as expensive as their Western counterparts. tale of the passion for life among ruins.
Other films explored history as a metaphoric Ashes and Diamonds (1958), Wajda's mas
concept (Kawalerowicz's Mother Joan of the terpiece based on Jerzy Andrzejewski, is set
Angels, 1960; Pharaoh, 1966; Wojciech Has'sin Poland on the last day of World War II. It
Saragossa Manuscript, 1965) or an allegory is another treatise on individual limitations
(Hungarian A. Jeles's Annunciation, 1988), and the flow of history.
an interesting but pretentious work. The spirit
of Austro-Hungary has also attracted East Based on the work of Bohumil Hrabal,
Central European directors, and it is remark Closely Watched Trains is a tongue-in-cheek
ably captured by Szab? in his Colonel Redl story seemingly about petty personal con
(1985). cerns but actually about the intersection of
individual fate and history. Preoccupied with
Several Eastern European films explore indi his sexual coming of age, the shy protagonist
vidual fate versus history, and for this I usu gets involved with the resistance and dies an
ally recommend the work of Mikl?s Jancs?. absurd and unnecessary death. With its fine
Some of his best known films are set in the ly crafted humor and scattered sexual refer
past: Round Up (1966), The Red and the ences, it shows the atmosphere in a small
White (1967), and Hungarian Rhapsody Central European town during the Second
(1978). Round Up takes place in 1868 and World War better than any specifically his
features a minor episode of Hungarian histo toric film.
ry, however, it allows the director to explore
moral problems: the relationship of public Screening: Round-Up, The Red and the White,
and private interest, and concepts: betrayal, Ashes and Diamonds, Kanal, Closely Watched
Trains.
honor, power, humiliation, leadership, devo
tion, individual guilt, and responsibility. The
elliptic plot shows confined men repeatedly Unit 5. Stalinism and the 1950s
bargaining for their lives, sometimes brutal
ly. It pits father against son and explores the For Eastern Europe, Stalinism occurs from
making of a traitor. The film's aesthetics glo the late 1940s to the mid-1950s and coin
rify the barren landscape of the Hungarian cides with the early years of state socialism.
puszta, bearing a de Chirico-like quality. The Emphasis in this unit should be placed on
camerawork juxtaposes extreme low and repression, staged trials and unexplained
high angles within a persistent, medium disappearances, and the phenomenon of the
close range. Multiple visual and semantic cult of personality. Stalin appears in person
layers coexist within each frame as does the mostly in Soviet-made films?glorified in
interplay of light and shadow, an approach the earlier ones (The Vow, 1948, and The Fall
that Jancs? perfects in his next film, The Red of Berlin, 1949, both directed by M. ChiaureH),
and the White. and vilified in the later ones (The Feasts of

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Balthazar or a Night with Stalin, 1991, dir. Y. historic context and makes the film a truthful
Kara). He is also portrayed in American depiction of everyday life in the 1950s.
films directed by Eastern Europeans (The
Inner Circle, 1991, dir. A. Konchalovsky), In Balkan cinema, the totalitarian spirit has
or Stalin (1993, dir. Ivan Passer). been tackled in various films. WR: Mysteries
of Organism (1971) is built on scattered ref
Other Soviet films (Tarkovsky's The Mirror, erences to Stalinism and other forms of
1975 and Georgian Repentance, 1986, dir. T. repression. The Romanian Hotel de Lux
Abuladze) depict the spirit of Stalinism, the (1992, dir. Dan Pita) relies on allegorical ref
predominant trend in Eastern European film erences to totalitarianism; the Bulgarian The
making. Man of Marble (1976, dir. A. Well (1992, dir. D. Bodzhakov) and The
Wajda), for example, includes a mock docu Canary Season (1993, dir. E. Mikhailov) are
mentary about a model worker whose glori chronicles telling straightforward tales of
fication is the epitome of 1950s propaganda. deprivation and humiliation. The absurd
Janusz Zaorski's Mother of Kings (1985) demands of class-conscious behavior is the
chronicles the fates of several brothers, eachtopic of Melody Haunts My Reverie (a.k.a.
affected by the gloomy political situation. You Only Love Once, Yugoslavia, 1981, dir.
One of them is jailed and eventually reported R. Grlic).
dead; another gets a job with the secret serv
ices. The absurd story of The Interrogation Because of political particularities (the
(1982) is possible only under the Stalinist Stalin-Tito split), the Yugoslav cinematic
regime. Andrzej Lipicki's Suspended (1986) explorations of the period have been devoted
tells another depressing story in which the to the cult of personality or to Titoism (1992,
protagonist, who has escaped custody, is forced Tito and I, dir. G. Markovic). The Cannes
into another confinement; he has to hide for winner When Father Was Away on Business
years in the basement of his lawful wife. (1985, dir. E. Kusturica) is about one of these
moments in life when politics overwhelms
As a result of the shattering events in everything in personal life and is a direct
Hungary in 1956, Hungarian cinema of the consequence of politics. The story, told by
1950s has been the subject of intense atten the six-year-old Malik, is about an adulterous
tion by filmmakers. The best films are not affair that turns nasty and bears political
available in official distribution?P?l repercussions. The child's point of view
Gabor's Angi Vera (1978), a great study of gives complexity to the exploring of the
conformist adjustment, and Marta absent father, the arbitrary repression, the
M?szar?s's personal 1980s Diary Trilogy. relatives reporting on each other, and the
The subtle Love (1979, dir. K. Makk) depicts ambiguity of what is done out of personal
the repercussions of Stalinism by showing motives and what is done out of alleged
the old protagonist whose son is jailed. social commitment.
I. Szab?'s Father (1966 ) uses the subtle
approach of a child's point of view. The story Readings: Goulding, D., ed. Post New-Wave
tells of a boy's attempt to reconstruct the Cinema in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe,
relevant chapters.
image of his dead father, an ordinary medical
doctor who functions as a role model in
Screening: When Father Was Away on Business,
building the boy's self-esteem and is fit into Father, Interrogation, Mother of Kings, Angi
a range of socially sanctioned roles. Father is Vera.
a study of personality formation in a society
that demands conformity. Documentary
footage from the period enhances the socio

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Unit 6. State Socialism and Everyday Life and displays of explicit political commit
Cinema of Moral Anxiety ment. His Scar (1976) was about a small
town facing industrial intervention and
The cinema of moral anxiety is usually asso possibly an ecological disaster. Camera Buff
ciated with the names of Polish filmmakers. (1979) was a study of mechanisms of an indi
If one looks closely, however, one can find a vidual's manipulation. Blind Chance (1981)
similar trend in the cinemas of all Eastern played around three plausible but politically
European countries from the 1970s and the opposed scenarios of the life of a single pro
first half of the 1980s?the concern about tagonist. No End (1984) dealt with trauma
obscured moral sensitivity, and the petty and depicted the depressing reality of subtle
adjustments to state socialism (which at this political persecution.
point seemed permanent). The intricacies of
everyday life controlled by the elaborate In these last two films, however, Kieslowski
bureaucratic state were becoming a preoccu moved from everyday-life-as-crippled-by
pation for many people. No drastic changes repressive-bureaucracy to concepts such as
were expected and, unless one chose to destiny, transcendence, and reincarnation.
become a dissident, it was difficult not to slip Under communism, Kieslowski claims in his
into conformity. Filmmakers encoded politi autobiography, choices were simple and
cal meaning in screen images of dull rou straightforward. Around the mid-'80s, how
tines. This moviemaking was a political ever, he got tired of his one-dimensional
opposition; it exposed the regime by show political engagement:
ing the boring realities of helpless people
involved in petty combinations while strug I'd already started to travel abroad a bit
gling to acquire a one-bedroom apartment or by this time, and observed a general
a used Trabant, or to overturn a demeaning uncertainty in the world at large. I'm not
intrigue at their work place. even thinking about politics here but
about ordinary, everyday life. I sensed
Since 1989, along with the disappearance of mutual indifference behind polite smiles
the concerns addressed in the cinema of and had the overwhelming impression
moral anxiety, there is a dangerous tendency that, more and more frequently, I was
to forget these films and to overlook their watching people who didn't really
importance. They do not just chronicle a for know why they were living, (qtd. in
gotten time but represent one of the most Kieslowski on Kieslowski 143)
important periods in Eastern European film
and contain elements that eventually influ Around that time Kieslowski met Krzysztof
enced international cinema. Piesiewicz, who became his constant co
writer, and they set off to create a remarkable
This can be illustrated by the career of a series of films that made Kieslowski known
filmmaker such as Krzysztof Kieslowski. He worldwide until his untimely death in
began as a pupil of Zanussi and, until the 1996?The Decalogue (1988), Double Life
mid-1980s, was a typical representative of of V?ronique (1991), Three Colors: Blue,
the cinema of moral anxiety. Then he went White, Red (1993, 1994, 1995). Kieslowski
on to become one of the internationally moved only a step beyond the confining pre
acclaimed Polish filmmakers and by far occupation with state socialist politics and
surpassed his mentor's popularity. Kieslowski adopted a more existential approach. And
started in documentaries, then moved to there he was, making essentially the same
making features that dealt with issues typical movies but supplying them with a more far
of the period: the concerns of everyday life reaching message. All he did was to abandon

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the straightforward politics and to venture Feliks Falk's Top Dog (1978) and Hero of the
into the apprehension and uncertainty that Year (1985); Janusz Kijowski's Kung Fu
govern the lives of people both in the East (1979); Ryszard Bugajski's A Woman and a
and in the West?an apprehension that was Woman (1980), and from Hungary: Andras
essentially the preoccupation of all filmmakers Jeles's Little Valentino (1979); Zsolt Kezdi
associated with the cinema of moral anxiety. Kovacs's The Nice Neighbor (1979); Peter
Gothar's A Priceless Day (1980); and Janosz
In Double Life of V?ronique, Kieslowski Rozsa's Sunday Daughters (1980).
explored issues of destiny and transcendental
affinities. The Three Colors trilogy focused Readings: Stok, Danusia, ed. Kieslowski on
Kieslowski. London/Boston: Faber and Faber,
on a lonely post-traumatic recovery (Blue),
1993; Michalek, B. and Fr. Turaj. Modern Cinema
on double-crossing schemes (White), and on
of Poland. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1988.
predetermined encounters and attractions Website?http://wwwpersonal.engin.umich.
(Red). edu/~zbigniew/Kieslowsld/kieslowski.html.

The 1988 made-for-TV Decalogue embodies Screening: Kieslowski's A Short Film about
Kieslowski's transformation from a socialist Love/A Short Film about Killing.

politics filmmaker to one preoccupied with

universal ethics. Still set in the gray court Unit 7. Village Life: Minorities
yard of a Warsaw housing project, the
Decalogue deals with god's will and wrath, Filmmakers from the Balkan countries have
right and wrong, Ufe and death. The two best maintained a persistent attention to village
known parts of the Decalogue were also life, tradition, folklore, and minorities. Thus
released in screen versions. Short Film About this unit is an opportunity to focus on the cin
Killing tells the story of a meaningless mur ema of the Balkans. This is not to say, how
der of a taxi driver by a young man who is ever, that village life has not been a subject
then tried, sentenced to death, and executed. for filmmaking in the other countries of the
The seven minute violent scene of the killing region. On the contrary. Jan Rybkowski's
is juxtaposed with the equally violent scene adaptation of Reymont's The Peasants
of execution sanctioned by law. The austere (1973) is an epic of village life in nineteenth
story is Kieslowski's powerful plea against century Poland. Wajda's Birch Wood (1970)
the death penalty. Short Film About Love and Wedding (1973), based respectively on J.
tells of a voyeuristic loner who is obsessed Iwaszkiewicz and St. Wyspianski, reveal
with a free spirited neighbor. It is about aspects of the subtle tensions between village
alienation, troubled communication, and and city cultures. Two quintessential Czech
subtle power struggle. films are set in small villages and deal with
the intricacies of village mores?Vojtech
Some of the available works that are partial Jasny's All My Good Countrymen (1968) and
ly or fully related to the cinema of moral anx Jiri Menzel's My Sweet Little Village (1986).
iety are from Poland: Andrzej Wajda's Man Well-known Hungarian political satires take
of Marble (1976), Conductor (1980), place in a village setting?Peter Bacs?'s The
Without Anesthesia (1980) and Man of Iron Witness (1968) and Witness Again (1995)
(1981); Krzysztof Zanussi's The Structure of and Laszlo Vitezy's Red Earth (1993).
Crystals (1969), Family Life (1971), Balance
(1974), Illumination (1973), Contract (1975), Although industrial development in East
Camouflage (1977) and The Constant Factor Central Europe led to the growth of cities,
(1980); Agnieszka Holland's Provincial Balkans villages remained the predominant
Actors (1979) and A Lonely Woman (1981); mode of living until much later in the twen

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tieth century. The village is a special com (1978). Present-day village life is depicted in
munity where traditions are nurtured, where the Macedonian Before the Rain (1994, dir.
patriarchy is often intact, where reputation M. Manchevski).
falls prey to ill-intended gossip, and where
hard agricultural labor is everyday reality. Films featuring village life often reveal
These dimensions of village life are reflected meticulous attention to folkloric detail and
in Balkan cinema. Visually stunning works reward the viewers with rare visual treats.
such as Jovana Lukina, set in Montenegro One can show, for example, a series of clips
(Yugoslavia, 1980, dir. Z. Nikolic) or The featuring village weddings. These can be
Goat's Horn, set in the Rhodopi mountains found in Stone Wedding (Romania, 1972, dir.
(Bulgaria, 1972, dir. M. Andonov) tell tales D. Pita and M. Veroiu), Time of violence
of proud mountain dwellers. Patriarchal cul (Bulgaria, 1988, dir. L. Staykov), The
ture is the topic of the Albanian mother-in Wedding (Poland, 1973, dir. A. Wajda).
law-as-oppressor picture A Tale from the Elaborate wedding scenes are characteristic
Past (1985, dir. D. Anagnosti), of the for all films of Emir Kusturica, and the con
Bulgarian bride-snatching story Manly Times cluding one from Underground (1995) bears
(1982, dir. Ed. Zakhariev), and of the an important symbolic message. Almost
Yugoslav "padre padrone"-style Virgina entirely set at a village wedding, the
(1991, dir. Sr. Karanovic). Bulgarian The Patent Leather Shoes of the
Unknown Soldier (1979, dir. R. Vulchanov)
shows authentic village life through a child's
point of view and is full of magic realist
elements that make this complex film
especially enjoyable.

Various minority groups inhabit the Eastern

European region?Vlahs scattered in pock
ets across South Eastern Europe, Germans in
Poland and Romania, Hungarians in
Romania and Serbia, ethnic Turks and
Pomaks in Bulgaria, and Albanians in Serbia
Balkan cinema offers great works on village life. The
Bulgarian bride-snatching story Manly Times (1982,
and Macedonia. Numerous documentaries
dir. Edward Zakhariev) is set in the beautiful
Rhodopi mountains.

Some films deal with the difficult years of

the village during and after the wars and with
the period of forced collectivization in the
1950s. Economic progress and industrial
developments in the second half of the
twentieth century led to the physical destruc
tion of villages and to massive village-city
migrations that have been explored in many
of the region's masterpieces?e.g., in the
Bulgarian migration cycle films from the The Gypsies are an ethnic group scattered across all
1970s such as L. Kirkov's The Peasant with East Europe, and they appear in many films from
the region. Award-winning Alexander Petrovic's /
the Bicycle (1974) and Matriarchat (1977), Even Met Happy Gypsies (Yugoslavia, 1966) uses
and in Hr. Hristov's A Tree with No Root mostly non-professional actors.

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have been made about these minorities, and for distribution such as Virgina, Petria's Wreath,
they often appear in features as well. Besides Manly Times, Goat's Horn, and The Patent
the Jews, a group that is found in all Eastern Leather Shoes of the Unknown Soldier.
European countries are the Gypsies (Roma),
and many films were made about them: Unit 8. Women in Filmmaking
Gypsies (Hungary, 1962, dir. S. Sara), I Even
Met Happy Gypsies (Yugoslavia, 1967, dir. Women traditionally have been restricted
Al. Petrovic), Who Is Singing Out There? from taking the leading directorial role in
(Yugoslavia, 1976, dir. SI. Sijan), Gyuri cinema. This is why this unit should show
(Hungary, 1977, dir. P. Schiffer), Koportos the participation of women on various levels
(Hungary, 1979, dir. L. Gyarmathy), Time of of the filmmaking process, not only as direc
the Gypsies, (Yugoslavia, 1989, dir. E. tors, but as screenwriters, DPs, set and cos
Kusturica), Devils, Devils (Poland, 1991, dir. tume designers, actresses, film critics, and so
D. Kedzierzawska), The Black Swallow on. General background questions should be
(Bulgaria, 1995, dir. G. Dyulgerov), Marian discussed pertaining to the position of
(Czech Republic and France, 1996, dir. P. women in Eastern Europe and the changes it
Vaclav), Gypsy Magic (Macedonia, 1997, is undergoing in post-communist times
dir. St. Popov). (detailed in works by Slavenka Drakulic,
Nanette Funk, and Anna Reading).
Many other films may not focus exclusively Deserving special consideration is the fact
on the Roma, but have a significant Roma that many women in Eastern Europe chose to
subplot?e.g., the Hungarian Sunday dissociate themselves from articulate femi
Daughters (1982, dir. J. Rosza), Child nist causes at the same time women's
Murders (1993, dir. I. Szab?), Woyzeck activism on all levels and women studies
(1995, dir. J. Szacz), or the Czech Larks on a programs are being established across the
region.
String (1969, dir. J. Menzel). There are also
some interesting shorts about the Roma?
Polish Wladysalw Slezicky's Gypsies (1961) A close look at the work of women directors
and Kusturica's Black Cat, White Cat (1996). from Eastern Europe reveals that they have
managed to address the major concerns of
Readings: Books that claim to cover Balkan women in general?lack of opportunity, abu
cinema are MJ. Stoil. Cinema: Beyond the
Danube. Metuchen: Scarecrow, 1974, and Balkan
sive relationships, the glass ceiling, and so
Cinema. Evolution after the Revolution. Ann on. Not only female directors, however,
Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1982; but they are focused on women. Some of the finest por
far from representative studies. No particular text trayals of women in Eastern European
deals exclusively with the representation of cinema came from male directors. From
Gypsies in cinema; the issue is usually treated in Hungary, for example, came works such as
a wider sociopolitical context. Authors who have
Karoly Makk's Love (1971) and Another
published books on the Roma are Ian Hancock,
Way (1982), Peter Goth?r's A Priceless
Angus Frasier, and Isabel Fonseca, and Diane
Tong compiled a bibliography on the Gypsies. Day (1980), and Janosz Rozsa's Sunday
Daughters (1980).
Screening: Among the best available films featur
ing the Roma are Who Is Singing Out There? and Hungarian M?rta M?sz?ros (b. 1931) is
Time of the Gypsies. Another, / Even Met Happy
probably the most productive and deserved
Gypsies, is difficult to find. Available films featur
ing village life or folklore tradition titles include ly best known figure among the Eastern
Stone Wedding and A Tale from the Past. European women filmmakers. She should be
However, the most interesting ones have been given most attention in this unit. After grad
shown at festivals but have never been picked up uating from film school in Moscow in the

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mid-1950s, she worked in documentaries age, questions of motherhood, abortion,
and made her feature film debut at the age of adoption, love and loveless marriage, com
35 with the 1966 The Girl, which focuses on munal confinement, victimization. It also
the painful search of the protagonist for a includes explorations of eroticism and
mother who has rejected her. women's sexuality, nurturing friendships,
loneliness, and aging.
M?szar?s's filmography includes more than
20 titles, and besides Hungary, she has Other active women directors from Hungary
worked in France, Canada, and in interna are Judit Elek (Marias Day, 1985) whose
tional co-productions. Her films deal exclu recent work is devoted to exploring various
sively with problems of women. Naturally dimensions of anti-semitism (The Raft, 1991 ;
she is classified as a feminist filmmaker?a To Speak the Unspeakable, 1996), and Ildik?
qualification which she herself refutes vigor Enyedi whose 1990 My Twentieth Century is
ously (see her interviews with Portuges in a black-and-white stylish discourse on the
Screen Memories). At the same time, intersections of history and personal fate.
M?sz?ros commits to statements that square Her 1995 Magic Hunter confirmed her repu
ly place her with other feminists: tation as an original and innovative figure
within European filmmaking. Ildik? Szab?
In Eastern Europe films ought to be (Child Murders, 1993) and Ibolya Fekete
made not only by male directors. I don't (Bolshe Vita, 1996) enjoyed a deserved inter
want to make speeches about women's national acclaim for their recent work.
emancipation, because I am not part of
that movement, but filmmaking by
women represents a different kind of
sensitivity. If you interpret my films as
strictly political, you see that I approach
power relations differently from the way
they are portrayed by male directors.
Not because my films are necessarily
better, or theirs worse, but because they
are different. One must be aware of this,
(qtd. in Portuges, 130-31)
Dadaist Daisies (dir. Vera Chytilova, Czechoslova
M?sz?ros is an intellectual director who kia, 1966) is a great example of subversive feminist
often chooses to work in black and white. filmmaking.
Besides her other films, the 1980s autobio
graphical Diary Trilogy (Diary for My The major female figure in the Czech cinema
Children, Diary for My Loves, Diary for My is Vera Chytilova (b. 1929). Her best feature
Mother and Father) is a work of extremely is the experimental dadaist Daisies, 1966.
skillful camerawork and performances, fea Other works revealing an uneven career
turing exquisite dream sequences and finely include Apple Game, 1976, Panelstory,
crafted flashbacks. Her 1975 Adoption is the 1979, Calamity, 1979, The Very Late
most accessible (and available) work that can Afternoon of a Faun, 1983. Screenwriter
be screened in this unit. In a simple low-key Esther Krumbachova is one of the most
narrative, this film encompasses a wide important figures of the Czech New Wave,
range of issues affecting women of various having among her credits the scripts for such
generations?tensions between teenagers surrealist features as Report on the Party and
and parents, between women of the same the Guests and Martyrs of Love.

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The most noted women in Polish filmmaking Cernaianu, L. Ciolac, and A. Garbea, and
include the veteran and Holocaust survivor film critics E. Oproiu, A. Dar?an, and M.
Wanda Jakubowska (b. 1907) who made her Cern?t. In Albania is director Anisa
personal account on the death camps, The Markajani, in Serbia are director Gordana
Last Stage, in 1948. Her life and career have Boskov, and scholar N. Dakovic, and
been recently "rediscovered," and her work in Macedonia is critic J. Mihajlova
has been featured at many international film Georgievska.
festivals. Magdalena Lazarkiewicz (By
Touch, 1985) and Barbara Sass (Without Readings: Portuges, C. Screen Memories. The
Love, 1980, The Debutante, 1982, The Girls Hungarian Cinema of Marta M?sz?ros.
Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1993. For a brief
from Nowolipki, 1986) have displayed a con
overview on the subject, see Quart, Barbara.
tinuous commitment to making films about "Eastern European Women Directors." Women
women, and their works are especially ger Directors. New York: Praeger. 1988. 191-239.
mane within the 1980s Eastern European
sociopolitical context. Screening: In addition to the aforementioned
films, worth showing in full are Chytilova's
Agnieszka Holland's early work presents Daisies, 1966 (generally unavailable but a great
example of early experimental feminist film
some interesting portraits of women (e.g., A
making), Enyedi's My Twentieth Century (1989)
Lonely Woman, 1981) but she does not seem or Fekete 's 1996 Bolshe Vita, or clips from Otto
to have a preference for women's issues. Weininger women-bashing lecture in My Twentieth
The work of younger filmmaker Dorota Century, the cancer-ward scenes from By Touch,
Kedzierzawska (Devils, Devils, 1991; Crows, and female dorm scenes from M?sz?ros's The
1995) won international acclaim. Girl or Riddance (1973).

Two women filmmakers from Bulgaria have Unit 9. Emigr? Directors

made films on women's topics. Like
M?sz?ros, Binka Zhelyazkova (b. 1923) Sometime in the 1980s Andrzej Wajda
received her film education in Moscow and wrote:
then went back to make a long succession of
films, many of which deal with the problems Films made in Eastern Europe seem of
of women. Her best works are the absurdist little or no interest to people in the West.
The Attached Balloon, 1967, and the innova The audiences in Western countries find
tive, form-driven The Last Word, 1973, them as antediluvian as the battle for
which features a group of women political workers' rights in England in the time of
prisoners in fascist Bulgaria of the 1940s. Marx. Thus our efforts here in Eastern
Roumiana Petkova started a career in cinema Europe have nothing to show audiences
committed to the problems of women in the West who look upon the world
(Reflections, 1985), and her work in the they live in as permanent. Those of our
1990s is focusing on the problems of ethnic Eastern European film colleagues who
minorities (Burn, Burn, Little Flame, 1994, A have chosen emigration can?if they are
World In-Between, 1995). Eli Mikhailova young and talented and after they have
and Svetla Ganeva are well-known DPs, and spent years in the West?come up with
V. Naydenova, a film critic. some works of startling beauty, such as
Milos Forman's Amadeus, but they will
Women working in cinema in Romania are not find audiences attuned to the same
directors Malvina Ursianu and Elisabeta concerns that we in the Eastern Bloc feel
Bostan, producer V. Marinescu, screenwriter are vital. And that is a pity, for I am cer
E. Sirbu, documentarists A. Pistiner, F. tain that those concerns are not ours

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 alone but apply to the world at large, or designers, and actors.
will in the very near future. (Wajda 7)
High profile directors such as Milos Forman
Such a statement sets the stage for discussion must be covered, but also great are Czech
about the perception of Eastern European Ivan Passer, Vojtech Jasny, and Karel
works in the West. This large topic, however, Reisz in the United Kingdom (The French
can best be discussed if one looks at the evo Lieutenant's Woman, 1981). One exercise
lution of ?migr? filmmakers. might ask students to compare the later
works of Forman with his Czech ones, and to
Although filmmakers from all Eastern
European countries emigrated during the
years of communism, their success patterns
were quite different. Most of the best
Hungarian filmmakers, such as Jancs?,
Szab?, or M?sz?ros, made films in the West.
No recent Hungarian exile filmmaker of
international stature, however, comes to
mind, with the exception of the recent move
to the United States of Gyula Gazdag. One
should not forget, though, to mention Mih?ly
Kert?sz/Michael Curtiz, Alexander/S?ndor In 1963, several years before emigrating to the West,
Korda, and actors Bela Lugosi and Peter Czech New Wave top cameraman Miroslaw
Lorre, who came to prominence much earlier. Ondrzicek and beginner Milos Forman made The
Competition, shooting the rehearsals of wannabe
pop-stars
Romanian Liviu Ciulei is much better known
in his own country than in his adoptive United observe the continuity in his filming tech
States. No Bulgarians or Albanians have niques. Looking into the camerawork of a
achieved real international prominence, film such as The People vs. Larry Flint
although exceptions can be found?like the (1996), for example, gives an opportunity to
Canadian-Bulgarian filmmaker Ted Kotcheff rediscover characteristics of Forman's early
(The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, period of Black Peter (1963) or Firemen's
1974). When planning a unit on Eastern Ball (1967). But why only Forman? Why not
European filmmakers in the West, important show clips from Lindsay Anderson's If
factors to cover are the historic patterns of (1969), shot by Czech New Wave top
emigration out of the given country, the size cameraman M. Ondrzicek, and compare this
and the location of the diaspora, the percep work with the cinematography that he
tion patterns set by other ?migr? intellectuals realized under Forman, Nemec, and other
of international stature (such as Czechs directors back home.
Milan Kundera or Josef Skvorecky and the
Polish Czeslaw Milosz), and the emigration The most commonly discussed and most
of other film-related professionals such as closely studied career of an Eastern
producers (e.g., Romanian-born French European ?migr? is that of Roman Polanski.
Marin Karmitz who launched Kieslowski in It is certainly worthwhile to study his earlier
the West), distributors (e.g., Milos Stehlik, works, particularly Knife in the Water
the man behind Facets, a Czech-American), (1962), but other great Polish directors who
screenwriters (e.g., the former-USC script live and work abroad should be considered in
guru Frantisek Daniel, earlier of FAMU in this context?Jerzy Skolimowski or Ryszard
Prague), cinematographers, set and costume Bugajski, for example. The instructor should

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 decide what consideration to give to Karanovic, Lordan Zafranovic. Sometimes
Kieslowski's later period. I believe that the term "cosmopolitanism" is more accurate
Kieslowski's case is valuable as an overview than "emigration" and "exile." The
focusing on motifs found in his Polish-made Macedonian Milcho Manchevski (Before the
features that he eventually recycled in his Rain) best fits this description. Internationally
French-funded work, which received much acclaimed Emir Kusturica also seems to
higher visibility. have landed in a cosmopolitan career with
films such as Arizona Dream and
In answering the question about which of the Underground.
many facets of this unit to highlight, I have
chosen the career of Polish Agnieszka The large number of international co-produc
Holland (b. 1948). The story of her success is tions with significant involvement in the
complex, and she is an example of overcom West that have appeared since 1989 may be
ing unfavorable marginalization through considered here, but I think they logically
exceptional motivation, hard work, and belong to Unit 11, Eastern European film
talent. Besides directing, she has credits in making since 1989.
screenwriting (Wajda's Without Anesthesia
and Korczack) and acting (Bugajski's The Readings: Indiana University Press's Five
Interrogation). She has made films not in Filmmakers (1994), edited by Daniel Goulding,
includes essays on Forman by Peter Hames,
just one but in various Western countries?
Polanski by Herbert Eagle, Szab? by David Paul,
Germany (Angry Harvest, 1986, and Europa, and Makavejev by Goulding. Some essays are rel
Europa, 1991), France (To Kill a Priest, evant in Before the Wall Came Down: Soviet and
1988, Olivier, Olivier, 1992, and Total East European Filmmakers Working in the West.
Eclipse, 1995), and the United States (The Eds. Graham Petrie and Ruth Dwyer. Lanham:
Secret Garden, 1993, and Washington UP of America, 1990. Writings on and by Forman
are listed in the section on Czech cinema. Of the
Square, 1997). She can work in low-key
many books written on Polanski, Virginia Wright
dramas, lavish productions, and period
Wexman's Roman Polanski (Boston: Twayne,
pieces. Her Polish films (Provincial Actors, 1985) is the most insightful. Visit the website
A Lonely Woman) have been well noticed http://www.perfectnet.com/holland/ahpl.htm.
and have had political resonance (Fever won
at the Gdansk film festival during the crucial Screening: One way to structure this section is to
year of 1981). She is currently the only show early films of directors who came into
international female director whose name prominence in emigration. Some available titles
are Forman's The Competition (1963), Polanski's
can guarantee pre-sales in production financ
early shorts and Knife in the Water (1962),
ing. Skolimowski's Hands Up (1967/1981), Holland's
Provincial Actors (1979). Also important to
Exiles from former Yugoslavia are a bit dif screen is Forman's 1965 masterpiece Loves of a
ferent, and in most cases represent a more Blonde. Another option is to show films made in
recent migration. Best known is the contro emigration and to compare them with earlier fea
tures and home concerns such as Skolimowski's
versial and cosmopolitan Dusan Makavejev,
Moonlighting (1981), Bugajski's Clearcut (1993),
who left the country in 1971 and made films
or Makavejev's Montenegro (1981).
such as Sweet Movie (Canada/Switzerland,
1975), Montenegro (Sweden, 1981), Coca
Cola Kid (Australia, 1985), and Gorilla Unit 10. Animation
Bathes at Noon (Germany, 1992). Many
more Yugoslavs now live and work abroad. Eastern Europeans have made a significant
Worth considering are the members of the contribution to the development of anima
Prague Group, Rajko Grlic, Srdjan tion art. Until the events of 1989, animation

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 in Eastern Europe was almost exclusively and compilations of his earliest shorts The
financed, produced, and distributed within Alchemist of Prague and Scenes from the
the elaborate state studio system. During that Surreal are available. The most interesting
time several studios produced numerous short works of Svankmajer are Dimensions
award-winning animation, and turned of Dialogue (1982) and Death of Stalinism
Eastern Europe into a world leader. The in Bohemia (1990). Svankmajer's work has
Zagreb Animation Festival remains one of been covered in a special 1989 issue of the
the two most important animation venues in British Afterimage, and in the recent Dark
the world, alternating every other year with Alchemy. The Films of Jan Svankmajer.
the Annecy Film Festival. It is worth visiting Hames, Peter, ed. Westport: Praeger, 1995.
its well-maintained and richly illustrated
website: http://animafest.hr. Among the Poles, the most important are Jan
Lenica (b. 1928; see Passek, J.L. Jan Lenica.
Eastern European animation issues to be Paris: Centre Georges Pompidou, 1980),
considered are major animation studios; Walerian Borowczyk (b. 1923), Piotr
particularities of the state-run animation pro Dumala, Daniel Sczechura, and the ?migr?
duction and distribution system; schooling Zbig Rybczinski (whose work is featured on
for animators; specifics of style; innovation a tape called Media). Major Hungarian
in various techniques?puppet animation, animators include Czaba Varga, Csaba
cut-outs, cell animation, computers; crisis in Szerda, and the Los Angeles-based Gabor
animation in post-communist times; clashing Csupo, founder of the animation production
noncommercial and box-office-oriented company Klasky-Csupo.
approaches in production and distribution;
recent migrations of Eastern European Readings: Besides the works already mentioned,
animators to the West. texts can be found scattered in all major film and
animation-related journals. Authors who have
written extensively on Eastern European anima
The most important animators to consider tion include David Ehrlich, Marcin Gyzicki,
are: Yugoslavia?the members of the Zagreb Michael O'Pray, and Ronald Holloway (see in
school whose work is discussed in the book particular his "The Short Film in Eastern Europe:
is for Zagreb (1972) by R. Holloway, Art and Politics of Cartoons and Puppets" in Paul,
notably Dusan Vukotic (b. 1927), Vladimir David, ed. Politics, Art, and Commitment in the
East European Cinema. New York: St. Martin's,
Kristl (b. 1923), Nedeljko Dragic
1983. Website: http://www.awn.com/heaven_and
(1936-1992), Borivoj Dovnikovic-Bordo (b. Jiell/ SVANK/svankLhtm.
1930), and Vatroslav Mimica (b. 1923);
Romania?Ion Popescu-Gopo (b. 1923); Screening: One can consider showing a full
Bulgaria?Todor Dinov (b. 1919), Donio length feature by Svankmajer; however, shorts
Donev (b. 1933), Stoyan Dukov (b. 1934), would be better. A compilation tape of examples
Roumen Petkov (b.1948), and Velislav of Eastern European animation is the 1986 vol
ume # 3 of the series Masters of World Animation',
Kazakov (b. 1960).
another one is volume #8, Animated Journey, in
the 1990 series Eastern Europe Breaking with the
Among the Czechs most important are the Past.
classic Jiri Trnka (1912-1970), Karel Zeman
(b. 1910), and Jan Svankmajer (b. 1934). Unit 11. PosUCommunist Filmmaking
Trnka's works are not easy to find; however,
Zeman's full-length Fabulous Adventure of Post-communist filmmaking should be
Baron Munchausen (1965) and On the explored within the context of the changing
Comet (1970), Svankmajer's full-length pup social and cultural landscape after 1989. One
pet animation Alice (1988) and Faust (1994), should outline the important transitions in

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 the media economy and in the shifts in the pick up an overwhelming percentage of
social concepts of entertainment and in audiHollywood hits, the distribution of Eastern
ences. Issues to consider are the changes inEuropean features in the West and at home is
film financing, the status of studios, the sub
very limited. Although well received at festi
sidy system, and the new relations between vals, at film markets Eastern European films
emerging producers and other film profes are considered hard sells and perform poorly.
sionals. Other topics are the international
promotion of Eastern European film, cooper The crisis in financing and management has
ation within the pan-European Eurimage and influenced the artistic quality of recent fea
Media programs, the intricacies of the new ture film production. Many film profession
copyright legislation, the impact of global als feel lost in this no money-no morals situ
marketing, and video distribution and piracy ation. The most successful ones manage to
issues. secure foreign funding or try their luck
abroad. Nevertheless, film schools are still
The end of the communist period meant no attracting large numbers of students, both
more interference from the state, but it also domestically and internationally (most notably
meant withdrawal of centralized government in Prague and Lodz). After some initial dis
funding. The decrease in funds led to shrink array near the end of the 1990s, the produc
ing production, particularly in documentary tion cycle is in process of stabilization; the
and animation. With the advent of market legislation?in process of clarification; the
criteria, ftindraising efforts concentrated on funding mechanisms?in process of settling;
finding alternative sources of funding from and the exhibition and distribution mecha
the emerging private sector, international nisms?in process of improvement. Looking
film funding bodies, and various internation at the thematic, generic, and stylistic devel
al co-production agreements with European opments since 1989, several stand out:
and American agencies. Most studios have
been partially or fully privatized and are Films on immediate social concerns, often
competing with each other in attracting reflecting the drabness of post-communist
foreign film crews to shoot on location. reality and offering gloomy and grotesque
images of post-communism are the Slovak
In exhibition, the centrally run system of Better to be Wealthy and Healthy Than Poor
state-owned theaters was abolished and is and Sick (1992, dir. J. Jakubisko), the
being replaced by private cinemas. The the Hungarian Junk Movie (1993, dir. G.
ater owners strictly follow box-office indica Szjomas), and the Romanian M. Danieluk's
tors, but the steadily growing ticket prices The Conjugal Bed (1991) and Senator's
and the mushrooming of video stores have Snails (1995).
led to a drop in admissions. Various countries
have attempted to counteract Hollywood's Films addressing the sores of the Stalinist
dominance by imposing quotas or by charg past and revisiting the Holocaust include E.
ing a surtax on ticket prices that would help Mikhailov's The Canary Season (Bulgaria,
to finance domestic production. The decline 1993), A. Wajda's Holy Week (Poland, 1996),
in audience numbers is significant, but some and J. Elek's To Speak the Unspeakable
statistical indicators suggest a revived inter (Hungary, 1995).
est in occasional domestic productions. Film
festivals in Karlovy Vary, Gdansk, Budapest, Films focusing on the politics of ethnicity
and Belgrade continue to provide important and ethnic minorities, for example, on the
venues for showcasing new films. Whereas Gypsies are the Bulgarian Black Swallow
distribution companies in Eastern Europe (1995, dir. G. Dyulgerov), the Czech Marian

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 (1996, dir. P. Vaclav), and the Macedonian nist, mutual images West-East, and sexuality.
Gypsy Magic (1997, dir. St. Popov). Another Units can be developed on the cinematic
range of films are the ones made in response adaptation of literary works, or around
to the Yugoslav breakup such as specific genres?comedy, sci-fi, mystery. If
Manchevski's Before the Rain (1994), the course focuses on cinematic language
Kusturica's Underground (1995), and Boro and film form, Eastern European film offers
Draskovic's Vukovar (1994). the experimental and avant-garde (Makavejev,
Chytilova, Nemec, Skolimowski, Jakubisko,
Homegrown variations in the action-adven Svankmajer, and Zhelyazkova) and master
ture or comedy genres that openly target the pieces that have influenced contemporary
box office are Pasikowski's Pigs (Poland, filmmaking (Jancs?, Wajda, Kieslowski,
1992) or Bacso's Witness Again (Hungary, M?sz?ros, and Kusturica). A course struc
1995). New characteristics of these genres tured around individual directors should
are the inclusion of brutal violence and include Wajda, Kieslowski, Jancs?, Szab?,
graphic sex scenes, allegedly for attracting M?sz?ros, Menzel, Nemec, Forman,
larger audiences. Polanski, Holland, Makavejev, and
Kusturica; and even if the course does not
Readings: A comprehensive study of post-com exclusively take the auteur approach,
munist filmmaking, edited by D. Goulding and C. students should be provided complete filmo
Portuges, is forthcoming from Flicks books. Film
graphies of their works.
journals have run occasional special issues on
post-communist filmmaking?Cin?aste 19.4
(1992) and Film Criticism 21 (Winter 1996/97). During the concluding meeting, I ask the stu
Since 1992, Variety has devoted one of its sum dents to rate the films they have watched
mer issues to the status of the industry in Eastern from a bomb to five stars. A bomb has been
Europe. Other studies on post-communist film given to Feliks Falk's Hero of the Year and to
making are: Horton, A. "Only Crooks Can Get The Dybbuk, but this is not to suggest that
Ahead:" Post-Yugoslav Cinema/ TV/Video in the
these films are weak. I blame myself for not
1990s." Beyond Yugoslavia. Politics, Economics
and Culture in a Shattered Community. Eds. S. P. having provided a proper context for the
Ramet and L. Adamovic. Boulder: Westview, screening. Most films score between three
1995. 413-431. Portuges, C. "Post-Transition and four stars. Loves of a Blonde always gets
Hungarian Cinema and its National Imaginary." five stars.
Slavic Review 54.4 (Winter 1995): 1004-1009.
Haltof, M. "A Fistful of Dollars: Polish Cinema
Appendix: National Cinemas
after 1989." Film Quarterly 48.3 (Fall 1994):
15-25. Iordanova, D. "Balkan Film Representations
Here is some basic material for a course
since 1989." Historical Journal of Film, Radio
and TV 18.2(1998): 263-80. structured around national cinemas. The
Polish cinema can provide enough material
Screening: Available on video are Kolya and to justify an exclusive course. Make sure to
Before the Rain. Not in official distribution but include Andrzej Wajda (Kanal, 1957, or
worth considering are Pretty Village, Pretty Flame
Ashes and Diamonds, 1958) and Krzysztof
(Serbia, 1995, dir. S. Dragojevic), Wajda's Miss
Nobody (1997), and Danieluk's The Conjugal Bed Kieslowski (Short Film about Killing and
(1991). Short Film about Love, 1988). Survey stud
ies of Polish cinema are Fr. Bren, World
Conclusion Cinema 1: Poland, Flicks Books,1986; and
B. Michalek and Fr. Turaj, Modern Cinema
The approach outlined here allows for a sub of Poland, Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1988.
stitution of topics. I have experimented with Books by Wajda and Kieslowski are trans
images of women, the image of the commu lated into English. Monographs on these

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 directors are written by Michalek, Despite the breakup of Yugoslavia, the cine
Falkowska, and Grabowsky. The Polish ma of this country should be studied as a
website can be found at http://info.fuw.edu. whole. The dissolution triggered an ava
pl/Filmy/. lanche of international documentary and fea
ture filmmaking both by ex-Yugoslav and by
An overview of Czech cinema would need foreign cin?astes, which can be a topic in
to almost exclusively focus on the remark itself. A succinct exploration of Yugoslav
able works produced in the 1960s: Milos cinema would include at least one film by
Forman's Loves of a Blonde, 1965, or Dusan Makavejev (WR: Mysteries of
Firemen's Ball, 1967, and Jan Nemec's Organism, 197?), one by Emir Kusturica
Diamonds of the Night, 1963, or Report on (When Father Was Away on Business, 1985,
the Party and the Guests, 1967, and Vera or Time of the Gypsies, 1989) and some
Chytilova's Daisies, 1966, or Jiri Menzel's recent work (Before the Rain, 1994, dir. M.
Closely Watched Trains, 1967. Less impor Manchevski). An overview of Yugoslav cin
tant in cinematic terms but quite popular is ema is offered in Daniel Goulding's
Kolya (J. Sverak, 1996). The best work on Liberated Cinema (The Yugoslav
Czech cinema is Peter Hames's The Experience). Bloomington: Indiana UP.
Czechoslovak New Wave. Berkeley: U of 1985. Andrew Horton also has published
California P, 1985. See also books by texts on the subject.
Antonin Liehm and Josef Skvorecky.
From the Bulgarian cinema, only 7, The
A few exclusively Slovak films are available, Countess (1988, dir. P. Popzlatev) is avail
the best being The Shop on Main Street able in North American distribution (from
(1965, directors: Jan Kadar and Elmar Klos). IFC Planet). I usually use clandestine tapes
Another important director is the surrealist of either The Goafs Horn (dir. M. Andonov,
Juraj Jakubisko with Birds, Orphans, and 1972) or The Patent Leather Shoes of the
Fools (1969) and The Millennial Bee (1983). Unknown Soldier (dir. R. Vulchanov, 1979),
both remarkable tales of village life. An
In the study of Hungarian cinema, special informative but nonanalytic text is Ronald
attention should be paid to such titans film Holloway's The Bulgarian Cinema.
makers as Mikl?s Jancs?. I suggest schedul Rutherford: Fairleigh Dickinson, 1986. For
ing either Round Up, 1966, or The Red and post-communist Bulgarian cinema see
the White, 1967. Other works to be consid Iordanova, Dina. "Canaries and Birds of
ered include Istv?n Szab?'s Mephisto, 1981, Prey : The New Season of Bulgarian Cinema."
or Colonel Redl, 1985, and at least one film Bulgaria in Transition. Ed. John Bell.
by Marta M?sz?ros (Adoption, 1975). Three Boulder: Westview, 1998. 255-281.
major English-language books can be used
on Hungarian cinema: G. Petrie, History Romanian cinema can be represented by
Must Answer to Man: The Contemporary screening either Dan Pita and Mircea
Hungarian Cinema. Budapest: Corvin Veriou's 1972 Stone Wedding or Luc?an
Kiado, 1978; B. Burns, World Cinema: Pintilie's 1992 The Oak, both impressive fea
Hungary. Cranbury: Farleigh Dickinson UP, tures that are worth showing as examples of
1996; C. Portuges, Screen Memories: The the finest in Romanian filmmaking. Six
Hungarian Cinema of Marta M?sz?ros. Albanian titles are available on video from
Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1993. Also worth Worchester films. Consider screening A Tale
while visiting is the website http://www. from the Past (1985, dir. D. Anagnosti).
silicon.hu/zebra/bookqindex.html.

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