Experimental Cinemas in State Socialist Eastern Europe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ksenya Gurshtein ◽  
Sonja Simonyi
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Experimental Film ◽  
Iron Curtain ◽  
Experimental Cinema ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
And Function ◽  
State Socialist

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.

scholarly journals From Tehran to Helsinki: the International Year of Human Rights 1968 and State Socialist Eastern Europe

Diplomatica ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 180-201
Author(s):  
Ned Richardson-Little
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Eastern Bloc ◽  
Iron Curtain ◽  
The West ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
The Status ◽  
Subsequent Rise ◽  
State Socialist

When the United Nations proclaimed 1968 to be the International Year of Human Rights, the official goal was to promote the adoption of the recently created human rights Covenants around the world. Instead of compelling the Eastern Bloc to accept liberal democratic conceptions of rights, however, it acted as a catalyst for the genesis of state socialist conceptions of human rights. Eastern Bloc elites claimed these rights were superior to those in the West, which they argued was beset by imperialism and racism. Although some within Eastern Europe used the Year as an opportunity to challenge state socialist regimes from within, the UN commemoration gave socialist elites a new language to legitimize the status quo in Eastern Europe and to call for radical anti-imperialism abroad. While dissent in the name of human rights in 1968 was limited, the state socialist embrace of human rights politics provided a crucial step towards the Helsinki Accords of 1975 and the subsequent rise of human rights activism behind the Iron Curtain.

Beyond Eastern Noir

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Estera Mrozewicz
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Feature Films

This book addresses representations of Russia and neighbouring Eastern Europe in post-1989 Nordic cinemas, investigating their hitherto-overlooked transnational dimension. Departing from the dark stereotypes that characterise the hegemonic narrative defined as ‘Eastern noir’, the author presents Norden’s eastern neighbours as depicted with a rich, though previously neglected in scholarship, cinematic diversity. The book does not deny the existence of Eastern noir or its accuracy. Instead, in a number of in-depth case studies of both popular and niche feature films, documentaries and television dramas, it interrogates and attempts to add nuance to the Nordic audiovisual imagination of Russia and Eastern Europe. Tracing approaches of and beyond the Eastern noir paradigm across cinematic genres, and in relation to changing historical contexts, the author considers how increasingly transnational affinities have led to a reimagining of Norden’s eastern neighbours in contemporary Nordic films. Making the notions of border/boundary and neighbourliness central to the argument, the author explores how the shared geopolitical border is (re)imagined in Nordic films and how these (re)imaginations reflect back on the Nordic subjects.

The Development of the Communication Skills of Individuals Living in Homes for People with Disabilities

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 56-70
Author(s):  
Petr Kopečný
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Speech Therapy ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Educational Support ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Given

This paper concentrates on the area of special educational support provided to individuals living in homes for people with disabilities in the Czech Republic and presents partial research results illustrating the state of the provision of speech therapy to users of social services facilities falling under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. The subject of the research is an analysis of support for the development of the communication skills of pupils living in social services facilities. The partial results of the research outline the approaches employed by the managerial staff of the given facilities in implementing special educational procedures, describe forms of speech therapy provision in homes for people with disabilities, and compare the attitudes of teachers and social services staff to the development of communication with the importance attributed to it by speech therapists and demonstrated by the case studies performed.

Comparing Post-communist Authoritarianism in Russia and China

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheng Chen
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Study ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Geographical Area ◽  
Context Sensitive ◽  
Elite Politics ◽  
Significant Divergence

The studies of post-communist Russia and China have traditionally been dominated by single-case studies and within-region comparisons. This chapter explores why the CAS of post-communist Russia and China is difficult, why it is rare, and how it could yield significant and unique intellectual payoffs. The cross-regional comparative study of anti-corruption campaigns in contemporary Russia and China is used as an example in this chapter to argue that a well-matched and context-sensitive comparison could reveal significant divergence in the elite politics and institutional capacities of these regimes that would otherwise likely be obscured by single-case studies or studies restricted to one single geographical area such as “Eastern Europe” or “East Asia.” By breaking Russia and China out of their respective “regions,” the CAS perspective thus enables us to better capture the full range of existing diversity of post-communist authoritarianism.

Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Onderco
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Actual Process ◽  
Iron Curtain ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Civil Military Relations ◽  
Military Forces ◽  
Joint Procurement ◽  
Military Relations ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter focuses on defence transformations in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary since the end of the cold war. The three lesser powers of Central Europe all eventually joined NATO and the European Union, following the fall of the Iron Curtain. The process they underwent completely transformed their security strategies and military doctrines, but the plans to transform their military forces have developed slowly, and the actual process has been interrupted and incomplete. This chapter addresses the development of civil–military relations, the main milestones in the development of the respective states’ national security policies, and the main changes in the structure of military forces in each of these countries. Finally, the chapter looks at the nascent trends towards military cooperation between the three countries, including military sharing and joint procurement.

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