Popular cinemas in East Central Europe : film cultures and histories / edited by Dorota Ostrowska, Francesco Pitassio and Zsuzsanna Varga.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Ostrowska, Dorota, 1973- editor.

Pitassio, Francesco, editor.

Varga, Zsuzsanna, editor.

Bloomsbury (Firm), publisher.

Series:

International library of the moving image ; 40.

International library of the moving image ; 40

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Motion pictures--Europe, Central--History--20th century.

Motion pictures.

Motion pictures--Europe, Eastern--History--20th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 363 pages) : illustrations.

Edition:

First edition.

Distribution:

London, England : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.

Place of Publication:

London, England : I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, 2017.

Summary:

"The continued interest in the social and cultural life of the former Warsaw pact countries - looking at but also beyond their socialist pasts - encompasses a desire to know more about their national cinemas. Yet, despite the increasing consumption of films from these countries - via DVD, VOD platforms and other alternative channels - there is a lack of comprehensive information on this key aspect of visual culture. This important book rectifies the glaring gap and provides both a history and a contemporary account of East Central European cinema in the pre-WW2, socialist, and post-socialist periods. Demonstrating how at different historical moments popular cinema fulfilled various roles, for example in the capacity of nation-building, and adapted to the changing markets of a morphing political landscape, chapters bring together experts in the field for the definitive analysis of mainstream cinema in the region.Celebrating the unique contribution of films from Hungary, the Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia and Poland, from the award-winning Cosy Dens to cult favourite Lemonade Joe, and from 1960s Polish Westerns to Hollywood-influenced Hungarian movies, the book addresses the major themes of popular cinema. By looking closely at genre, stardom, cinema exhibition, production strategies and the relationship between the popular and the national, it charts the remarkable evolution and transformation of popular cinema over time."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Part 1. Politics of Popular Cinema in the Interwar Period. Chapter 1. Czech Historical Film and Historical Traditions : The Merry Wives (1938) / Ivan Klimeš

Chapter 2. Starlets and Heart-throbs : Hungarian Cinema in the Interwar Period / Zsuzsanna Varga

Part 2. Towards Socialism: Continuities and Ruptures. Chapter 3. The Stripping of His Charms : The Stability and Transformation of Oldrˇich Nový's Star Image (1936-55) / Šárka Gmiterková

Chapter 4. Transformations : Hungarian Popular Cinema in the 1950s / Balázs Varga

Chapter 5. Postwar Czechoslovak Comedy : The Autonomisation of Parody, and Lemonade Joe (1964) / Petr Szczepanik

Part 3. Socialist Film Cultures. Chapter 6. How To Be Loved? Three Takes on 'The Popular' in Socialist and Non-Socialist Cinema : The Popular and The People / Paul Coates

Chapter 7. 'Humanist Screens': Foreign Cinema in Socialist Poland (1945-56) / Dorota Ostrowska

Chapter 8. Poland's Wild West and East : Polish Westerns of the 1960s / Mikołaj Kunicki

Chapter 9. Film in Full Gallop : Aesthetics and the Equine in Poland's Epic Cinema / Matilda Mroz

Chapter 10. The Czechoslovak-East German Co-production Tři oříšky pro Popelku/Drei Haselnüsse für Aschenbrödel/Three Wishes for Cinderella : A Transnational Tale / Pavel Skopal

Chapter 11. The Paradox of Popularity : The Case of the Socialist Crime Movie in Hungary / Gábor Gelencsér

Part 4. Out of Socialism: Co-habiting Models of Popular Cinema. Chapter 12. Popular Nostalgia : On Alternative Modes of Popular Cinema in Post-1989 Czech Production / Francesco Pitassio

Chapter 13. The Power of Love : Polish Post-communist Popular Cinema / Elżbieta Ostrowska

Chapter 14. When Walls Fall : Families in Hungarian Films of the New Europe / Clara Orban

Part 5. National Cinemas and Globalised Film Cultures. Chapter 15. The 'Hollywood Factor' in the Most Popular Hungarian Films of the Period 1996-2014 : When a Small Post-communist Cinema Meets a Mainstream One / Andrea Virginás

Chapter 16. The Exhibition of Popular Cinema in the Czech Republic and Slovakia : After 1989 Within the Context of the European Union / Jan Hanzlík.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 302-326), filmography (pages 327-345), and index.

ISBN:

9781786732392

1786732394

9781350987562

1350987565

9781786722393

1786722399

OCLC:

1139315364