Your Communism Is Not Ours Communism’: the Contexts of Post-Totalitarian Bulgarian Cinema and Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova’s Disobedient Films

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 227-249
Author(s):  
Andronika Martonova
Keyword(s):  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Recent Decade ◽  
Identity Crisis ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
Documentary Films ◽  
Cultural Environment ◽  
Film Festivals ◽  
Secret Service ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Globalising World

The study sketches out the contexts where Bulgarian film has been developing in the three decades of transition to democracy. The problems associated with the identity crisis, insufficient communication with the national audiences, Bulgarian films’ belonging to the European audiovisual and cultural continuum and critical reflection are partly broached. The cinematic environment has changed in Bulgaria after 2010 with the coming of emerging authors, who gave this country’s filmmaking a new physiognomy. Their works are much more adequate to the globalising world, providing genre diversity and dealing with subjects easier for the audiences to identity themselves with. The plots revolving around the present day and the ramifications of the socialist era prevail. In general, Bulgarian films of the recent decade are in visible demand at international film festivals, attracting the attention of foreign film critics. Awards, however, are not necessarily passports for good reception in the homeland`s milieu. Such is the case with Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova’s directorial duo (Actvist 38) and their two controversially documentary films Uncle Tony, Three Fools and the Secret Service (2013) and The Beast Is Still Alive (2016). An analysis of their works shows that reverting to the subject of totalitarianism and the attempt at reaching a consensus-based memory onscreen are still risky in Bulgaria’s cultural environment. Their new full-length future film – the emigrant social comedy-drama Cat in the Wall (2019, warmly accepted and awarded abroad) - surprisingly received the national Golden Rose Debut Award 2019, but the Bulgarian critics` stays still undeservedly reserved.

scholarly journals Proust et l'autofiction : vers un montage des identités

1969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Carrier-Lafleur
Keyword(s):  
Identity Crisis ◽  
Work Of Art ◽  
Inner Self ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Original Device

À la recherche du temps perdu est l’histoire d’une crise identitaire, celle d’un sujet qui souhaite écrire, mais n’y arrive pas. Au Temps retrouvé, c’est la révélation finale : le narrateur a enfin compris certaines lois, qu’il devra observer et traduire avec son « télescope », c’est-à-dire avec son œuvre d’art entendue comme instrument ou comme machine. Ainsi, le personnage proustien est contraint à créer un dispositif original pour parler de soi, une nouvelle herméneutique du sujet, ce qui fait de la Recherche la première vraie autofiction avant la lettre. L’autofiction proustienne, par son travail sur notre « moi profond », combat la crise identitaire et le nihilisme pour proposer un nouveau montage des identités.AbstractRemembrance of things past is the story of an identity crisis, that of a subject who wishes to write, but does not succeed. With Time regained, it is the final revelation: the narrator finally understood certain laws, that he will have to observe and translate with his “telescope”, that is with his work of art, taken as an instrument or a machine. Thus, the proustian character is forced to create an original device to tell about oneself, a new hermeneutics of the subject, which makes Remembranceof things past the first true autofiction, before its time. The proustian autofiction, by its work on our “inner self”, fights identity crisis and nihilism to propose a new editing of the identities.

SOVIET PRISONERS OF WAR IN GERMANY, 1941–1945 – AN UNDESIRABLE TOPIC FOR GERMAN SOCIETY?

2021 ◽  
pp. 105-116
Author(s):  
Valeriy P. Ljubin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
German Society ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Concentration Camps ◽  
Documentary Films ◽  
World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Second World

In German and Russian historiography, the tragic fate of the Soviet prisoners of war in Germany during the Second World War has not been suffi- ciently explored. Very few researchers have addressed this topic in recent times. In the contemporary German society, the subject remains obscured. There are attempts to reflect this tragedy in documentary films. The author analyses the destiny of the documentary film “Keine Kameraden”, which was shot in 2011 and has not yet been shown on the German television. It tells the story of the Soviet prisoners of war, most of whom died in the Nazi concentration camps in 1941– 1945. The personal history of some of the Soviet soldiers who died in the German captivity is reflected, their lives before the war are described, and the relatives of the deceased and the surviving prisoners of war are interviewed. The film features the German historians who have written books about the Soviet prisoners. All the attempts taken by the civil society organizations and the historians to influence the German public opinion so that the film could be shown on German television to a wider audience were unsuccessful. The film was seen by the viewers in Italy on the state channel RAI 3. Even earlier, in 2013, the film was shown in Russia on the channel “Kultura” and received the Pushkin Prize.

Knowledge Management for Hybrid Learning

2010 ◽  
pp. 424-449
Author(s):  
Stefanie Sieber ◽  
Andreas Henrich
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Management ◽  
Main Part ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Hybrid Learning ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
Research Perspective ◽  
Comprehensive View ◽  
The Subject

The merging of knowledge management and hybrid learning has gained more and more attraction and has been put in the focus of interests lately, for the simple reason that both areas can benefit from each other. As a result, this chapter deals with knowledge management for hybrid learning. This chapter begins with a short introduction, followed by a brief clarification showing our understanding of hybrid learning. Afterwards, knowledge and associated attributes are defined precisely – definitions are derived and taxonomies for knowledge are described. This section closes with a first reflection on knowledge in the context of hybrid learning. Subsequently, the authors take a closer look at knowledge management by introducing different schools of thought and models for knowledge management. Opportunities to delve deeper into the subject individually are offered passim. The main part of the chapter provides a comprehensive view of knowledge management for hybrid learning. The described features range from general conclusions to theoretical aspects, exemplary projects, and finally practical aspects – previous deliberations are brought together, current insights concerning the research perspective are described and tools as well as techniques which foster knowledge management for hybrid learning are presented. Finally, a critical reflection as well as an outlook and some thoughts concerning future issues conclude this chapter.

Photography and Cinema in 20th-Century Mexico

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Mraz
Keyword(s):  
Golden Age ◽  
Mexican Revolution ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
Documentary Films ◽  
Feature Films ◽  
Mexican Society ◽  
International Audience ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Revolution

Photography, film, and other forms of technical imagery were incorporated quickly into Mexican society upon their respective arrivals, joining other visual expressions such as murals and folk art, demonstrating the primacy of the ocular in this culture. Photojournalism began around 1900, and has formed a pillar of Mexican photography, appearing in illustrated magazines and the numerous picture histories that have been produced. A central bifurcation in the photography of Mexico (by both Mexicans and foreigners) has been that of the picturesque and the anti-picturesque. Followers of the former tendency, such as Hugo Brehme, depict Mexicans as a product of nature, an expression of the vestiges left by pre-Columbian civilizations, the colony, and underdevelopment; for them, Mexico is an essence that has been made once and for all time. Those that are opposed to such essentialism, such as Manuel Álvarez Bravo, choose instead to posit that Mexicans are a product of historical experiences. The Mexican Revolution has been a central figure in both photography and cinema. The revolution was much photographed and filmed when it occurred, and that material has formed the base of many picture histories, often formed with the archive of Agustín Víctor Casasola, as well as with documentary films. Moreover, the revolution has been the subject of feature films. With the institutionalization of the revolution, governments became increasingly conservative, and the celebrity stars of “Golden Age” cinema provided models for citizenship; these films circulated widely throughout the Spanish speaking world. Although the great majority of photojournalists followed the line of the party dictatorship, there were several critical photographers who questioned the government, among them Nacho López, Héctor García, and the Hermanos Mayo. The Tlaltelolco massacre of 1968 was a watershed, from which was born a different journalism that offered space for the critical imagery of daily life by the New Photojounalists. Moreover, the representation of the massacre in cinema offered sharply contrasting viewpoints. Mexican cineastes have received much recognition in recent years, although they do not appear to be making Mexican films. Television in Mexico is controlled by a duopoly, but some programs have reached an international audience comparable to that of the Golden Age cinema.

Etherege at Constantinople

PMLA ◽  
1956 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 465-481
Author(s):  
Thomas H. Fujimura
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Environment ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Natural Tendency ◽  
Literary Figure ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Sir George Etherege ◽  
George Etherege

“Essays on the Court Wits as individuals, however well done,” John Harold Wilson observed a few years ago, “have always been somewhat unsatisfactory because of a natural tendency to treat the subject of the essay as a phenomenon taken bodily from his cultural environment.” Sir George Etherege has suffered as much as any other important Restoration writer from this critical failing of examining a literary figure outside the context of his own age. The result has been a totally attenuated picture of Etherege as a rather superficial rake; and this has been paralleled by an equally attenuated understanding of his plays. This critical failing is due in large part, I think, to the lack of information about his life.

Justice on Screen – A Study of Four Documentary Films on the International Criminal Court

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 1043-1060 ◽  
Author(s):  
WOUTER G. WERNER
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
Documentary Films ◽  
Film Festivals ◽  
Humanitarian Organizations ◽  
Modes Of Representation ◽  
Artistic Interventions

AbstractIn the past ten years or so, several documentaries on international criminal justice have been produced, shown at film festivals, and used for advocacy and educational purposes. On some occasions, artists, humanitarian organizations, and the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have worked closely together in the production of documentary films. Documentaries have thus become important tools for education and the spread of imageries of international criminal justice. So far, however, international legal scholars have largely shied away from researching cinematic representations of their field. In this article, I seek to remedy this by focusing on a family of four recent influential documentaries related to the ICC: The Reckoning, The Court, Prosecutor, and Watchers of the Sky. All four use similar modes of representation, narration and promotion and basically communicate the same message about the Court. My article critically analyzes how such artistic interventions have helped create specific images, stories, and sentiments.

Crossing the Culture Bars: An Approach to the Training of American Technicians for Overseas Assignments

1961 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 544-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
John D. Montgomery
Keyword(s):  
Subject Matter ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
Processes Of Change ◽  
Cultural Environment ◽  
Specific Result ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
American Missionaries ◽  
Specialized Form ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Important Form

Some of the 25,000 American businessmen, most of the 30,000 American missionaries, and all of the 33,000 public officials working abroad have received some form of training in “overseasmanship” prior to embarking upon their careers as technical assistants. This training was not supposed to make them better managers, Christians, diplomats, or technicians, but to enhance their usefulness in a strange cultural environment. Such training may be viewed as a specialized form of education designed to influence their performance or behavior. Conveying knowledge about foreign cultures or about the processes of change is an important form of training as well as a legitimate aspect of education; the distinction is one of purpose and focus. Employers are more sympathetic to offering “training” programs than to providing “education” for their overseas agents, even if the subject matter is essentially the same. They expect a specific result—better performance—from their training programs.

scholarly journals Search for ‘Self’ in Jamaica Kincaid’s Annie John, Lucy and See Now Then

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 901-905
Author(s):  
Archana Verma
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
End Of Life ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Identity Crisis ◽  
Cultural Issues ◽  
The Social ◽  
Search For Self ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Individual Self

The subject of ‘self’ is a much wider concept which amalgamates the cultural issues and the social issues which eventually leads to the identity crisis of a black women. The study of Kincaid’s novels recapitulates the idea of the fight of an individual self right from the beginning till the end of life. The three novels run in continuation and present the different stages of a woman’s life and the struggle which she encounters at the every phase of life. This paper also contemplates the idea that a woman never fails to strive for her identity even in the adverse circumstances.

scholarly journals Human on fire as a gesture of self-offering in Polish documentary films

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (34) ◽  
pp. 172-179
Author(s):  
Urszula Tes
Keyword(s):  
The Self ◽  
Symbolic Meaning ◽  
Documentary Films ◽  
Burning Man ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Common Man ◽  
Self Immolation ◽  
Adam Mickiewicz

Tes Urszula, Human on fire as a gesture of self-offering in Polish documentary films “Images” vol. XXV, no. 34. Poznań 2019. Adam Mickiewicz University Press. Pp. 172–179. ISSN 1731-450X. DOI 10.14746/i.2019.34.12. One of strongest acts of personal protest in the communist era was self-immolation, which was the subject of two Polish documentaries. Maciej Drygas in Hear My Cry invoked the figure of Ryszard Siwiec, who immolated himself on September 8, 1968 as a sign of protest against the Soviet army invasion of Czechoslovakia. In his documentary, Drygas shows a fragment of the film with the burning man, juxtaposing it with the testimony of witnesses to the tragedy and the account of the family. This documentary restores the memory of the whole society, who due solely to the film, learned about the radical gesture of a common man. Holy Fire by Jarosław Mańka and Maciej Grabysa in turn invokes the heroic but forgotten Walenty Badylak, who immolated himself in March of 1980 in Cracow as an expression of his objection to distortion of the truth about Katyń. Both acts of self-immolation had for many years been perceived as totally futile acts, while the directors show that the self-immolation of these now has a deep and symbolic meaning. In my analysis, I shall invoke historic and cultural contexts, conduct a multifaceted interpretation of self-immolation act and discuss the complex imagery included in the films.

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