Representations of the Other Europe: Cinema in Communist and Post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe
Module Title: Representations of the Other Europe: Cinema in Communist and Post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe
ECTS allocation: 10 credits (22 contact hours + approx. 22 hours of film screening; student work load 240 hours)
Time and Location: The class will take place on Thursdays 11.00-13.00 in PX202. The screening of the films will take place the evening (6-8pm) before the classes in 4097.
Module Coordinators: Balázs Apor
Teaching Staff: Balázs Apor, Dimitar Kambourov, Justin Doherty, and Jana Fischerová
Aims
The aim of the course is to explore the experience of Communism and its aftermath in a number of East and Central European countries, as expressed through the medium of film.
Working methods
The course will follow a standard lecture-seminar format. Each week students will be required to familiarize themselves with a set film work or body of work, as well as to complete reading assignments. Knowledge of the relevant languages is not a requirement for this course.
Learning outcomes
Students should be able to
- Appreciate and analyze critically cinematic works from a range of East and Central European cultures
- Have a critical understanding of the experience of living in Communist societies
- Have a critical understanding of the problems and challenges faced by post-Communist societies
Syllabus
Week 1 (BA): Péter Gothár, Megáll az idő (Time Stands Still), 1982
Week 2 (BA): Gábor Zsigmond Papp, Magyar retró (Hungarian retro), 2010
Week 3 (JD): Alexei Balabanov, Брат(Brother), 1997
Week 4 (JD): Alexei Zvyagintsev, Левиафан(Leviathan), 2012
Week 5 (JF): Juraj Herz, Spalovač mrtvol (The Cremator), 1968
Week 6 (DK): Georgi Djulgerov, Avantazh (Advantage), 1977
Week 7: Study week
Week 8 (DK): Yavor Gardev, Zift, 2007
Week 9: (DK): Rangel Valchanov, Lachenite obuvki na neznayniya voin (The Unknown Soldier’s Patent Leather Shoes), 1979
Week 10 (DK): Emir Kusturica, Underground, 1995
Week 11 (JF): Jan Svankmajer, Přežít svůj život (Surviving Life),2010
Week 12: Review and essay consultation class
Assessment
Students will write an essay of 3,500-5,000 words on an approved topic relating to the content of the course. It should be submitted within four weeks of the end of the semester in which the course is taught.
Preliminary Bibliography:
Anikó, Imre, East European Cinemas. New York: Routledge, 2005
Apor, Péter and Sarkisova, Oksana (eds), Past for the Eyes : East European representations of communism in cinema and museums after 1989. Budapest: Central European University Press, 2008
Jan Čulík. A Society in Distress: The Image of the Czech Republic in Contemporary Czech Feature Film, Gazelle, 2012.
Alexander Etkind et al. (eds.), Remembering Katyn, Polity, 2012.
Goulding, Daniel J. (ed.) Post New Wave Cinema in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989.
Hill, John and Pamela Church Gibson (eds) The Oxford Guide to Film Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998.
J. Hoberman, The Red Atlantis: Communist Culture in the Absence of Communism, Philadelphia, 1999.
Iordanova, Dina. Cinema of the Other Europe: The Industry and Artistry of East Central European Film. London: Wallflower, 2003.
Liehm, Mira and Antonín J. Liehm. The Most Important Art: Eastern European Film after 1945. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977.
James Mark, The Unfinished Revolution: Making Sense of the Communist Past in Central-Eastern Europe, New Haven, 2010.
Georges Mink and Laure Neumayer (eds.), History, Memory and Politics in Central and Eastern Europe, Basingstoke, 2013.
Škvorecký, Josef. All the Bright Young Men and Women: A Personal History of the Czech Cinema. Toronto: Peter Martin, 1971.
Taylor, Richard et al, The BFI Companion to Eastern European and Russian Cinema. London: British Film Institute, 2000
Maria Todorova (ed.), Remembering Communism: Genres of Representation. New York: Social Science Research Council, 2010.
Maria Todorova and Zsuzsa Gille (eds.), Post-Communist Nostalgia. New York: Berghahn Books, 2010.
Lars Karl and Pavel Skopal (eds.), Cinema in Service of the State: Perspectives on Film Culture in the GDR and Czechoslovakia, 1945-1960. New York: Berghan Books, 2015.