The “spatial”, the “bodily”, and the “memory turn” in the humanities and cultural studies are well-canonized developments. These features of our being in the world are fundamental in the medium of cinema, which is an art of spaces, bodies, and memories, increasingly so today when the analogue platform has been running parallel with the digitalized method of filmmaking. The three nodal concepts define the tripartite structure of this volume, composed of an overview study and twelve case-studies of post-1989 Eastern European film and cinema. The overarching questions of space representation and construction, bodies on screen, issues of national identification in a postcolonial framework, and cinema as a form of cultural memory are explored through the lens of specific national cinemas or contemporary Croatian, Hungarian, Polish, Serbian, Slovakian, Slovenian, and Romanian films. In addition to investigating the cohesive forces that mark the postcommunist Eastern European region as a coherent cultural entity in its cinematic representations, the volume also stands as a witness to the importance of transnational approaches.

This volume examines the various forms of mobility in the cinema of the Visegrad countries and Romania, bringing together the cross-disciplinary research of mostly native scholars. Divided into four thematic sections, it expands the reader’s understanding of the political transition and the social changes it triggered, the transforming perceptions of gender roles and especially masculinity. The spaces of “in betweenness” and contact zones, whether geographical, interethnic or communicative, (im)mobility and transmedial encounters of Eastern European subjectivity are recurring figures of both cinematic representations and their theoretical analyses. In-depth and transcultural in their nature, the investigations gathered in this volume are informed by political, social and cultural history, genre, gender and spatial theory, cultural studies, sociology and political science, and, of equal importance, the rich personal experience of the authors who witnessed many of the discussed phenomena in “close-up”.

A Companion to Eastern European Cinemas showcases twenty-five essays written by established and emerging film scholars that trace the history of Eastern European cinemas and offer an up-to-date assessment of post-socialist film cultures. Showcases critical historical work and up-to-date assessments of post-socialist film cultures Features consideration of lesser known areas of study, such as Albanian and Baltic cinemas, popular genre films, cross-national distribution and aesthetics, animation and documentary Places the cinemas of the region in a European and global context Resists the Cold War classification of Eastern European cinemas as “other” art cinemas by reconnecting them with the main circulation of film studies Includes discussion of such films as Taxidermia, El Perro Negro, 12:08 East of Bucharest Big Tõll, and Breakfast on the Grass and explores the work of directors including Tamás Almási, Walerian Borowczyk, Roman Polanski, Jerzy Skolimowski, Andrzej ̄u3awski, and Karel Vachek amongst many others

First Published in 2005. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book rethinks the study of European Cinema in a way that centres on students and their needs, in a comprehensive volume introducing undergraduates to the main discourses, directions and genres of twenty-first-century European film. Importantly, this collection is the first of its kind to apply a transversal approach to European Cinema, bringing together the East and the West, while providing a broad picture of key trends, aesthetics, genres, national identities, and transnational concerns. Lewis and Canning’s collection effectively addresses some of the most pressing questions in contemporary European film, such as ecology, migration, industry, identity, disability, memory, auteurship, genre, small cinemas, and the national and international frameworks which underpin them. Combining accessible original research with a thorough grounding in recent histories and contexts, each chapter includes key definitions, reflective group questions, and a summative case study. Overall, this book makes a strong contribution to our understanding of recent European Cinema, making it an invaluable resource for lecturers and students across a variety of film-centred modules.

Was there experimental cinema behind the Iron Curtain? What forms did experiments with film take in state socialist Eastern Europe? Who conducted them, where, how, and why? These are the questions answered in this volume, the first of its kind in any language. Bringing together scholars from different disciplines, the book offers case studies from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, former East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and former Yugoslavia. Together, these contributions demonstrate the variety of makers, production contexts, and aesthetic approaches that shaped a surprisingly robust and diverse experimental film output in the region. The book maps out the terrain of our present-day knowledge of cinematic experimentalism in Eastern Europe, suggests directions for further research, and will be of interest to scholars of film and media, art historians, cultural historians of Eastern Europe, and anyone concerned with questions of how alternative cultures emerge and function under repressive political conditions.

All countries and nations are deeply affected by their neighbours and every national cinema reflects this relationship. This book explores how postcolonial approaches can 'frame' the neighbours of people living in Eastern Europe. It elucidates how the region has evolved from being a communist extension of the Soviet Union to becoming integrated into neoliberal capitalism. Drawing on classical studies of post-coloniality by Edward Said, Gayatri C. Spivak and Homi K. Bhabha, as well as the works of theorists and historians like Janusz Korek and Jaak Kangilaski, who specialise in the Eastern European variant of postcolonialism, the book demonstrates particular sensitivity to the question of genre in investigating how neighbours fit into and shape melodramas and thrillers, heritage and war films. Contributors explore a wide range of films in relation to territory, from the steppes of the East to reunified Berlin and to Albania on the Adriatic Sea and from the streets of Tallinn to the hill slopes of Transylvania. Individual chapters situate in a new context the movies of internationally celebrated filmmakers, such as Roman Polanski, Agnieszka Holland, Nikita Mikhalkov and Jan Hrebejk, as well as introducing films by locally renowned directors, such as Wladyslaw Pasikowski, Arsen Anton Ostojic' and Leida Laius.