An Introduction to the History of the Central European Cinemas

1) a) Reasons for studying the Central European Cinemas; a short remember of the most important moments in the history of Central European Film:
- the first full-length picture in the history ever ("Romanian Independence", Romania, 1912);
- the Soviet Avant-garde;
- the First, the Second and the Third Polish Cinema;
- the Polish "Teatr fakta";
- the Hungarian School;
- the Czech and Slovak New Wawe;
- the Yougoslav Novi Film.

b) The beginnings:
- the experiments of Manakia brothers (Macedonia);
- the experiments of the Romanian army;
- the Hungarian experiments;
- the first years, the first fims;

Screening:
- fragments from "Romanian Independence" (Grigore Brezeanu)
- short Czech films with "Rudy"

2) Czechoslovakia and Czech Republic
- The '30s (Machatý, Rovenský, Vančura, Frič, Haas);
- The Czech Cinema during the German Occupation ("The Protectorate" - 1939-1945);
- The Pre-Communist era (1945-1948)
- The Stalinist era;
- The end of the ´50s and the ´60s; the Czech New Wave
- The "Normalisation" era

Screening: Closely Observed Trains (Jiri Menzel)
Back-up / Reserve): Daisies (Vera Chytilova)

3) Czechoslovakia and Slovak Republic
- Kadar and Klos
- The Slovak contribution to the Czech and Slovak New Wave
- The Slovak cinema during the Normalisation

Screening: The Shop on the Main Street (Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos)
Backup / Reserve: Little Birds, Orphans and Fools (Juraj Jakubisko)

4) a) Czech and Slovak Cinema after 1989
- The Early ´90s and the "political" films
- The Collapse of the Slovak Cinematography
- The Czech "New New Wave" - a Reality or a Speculation?

b) Main themes and motives in the Czech and Slovak cinema and art; the humor, an essential dimension of the Czech and Slovak culture, art and mentality.

Screening: Indian Summer (Sasa Gedeon) or Some Secrets (Alice Nellis)

5) The Romanian Cinema
- The ´30s and the ´40s; "A Stormy Night" (Jean Georgescu) - the best Romanian film nefore 1948
- The Stalinist era;
- The first international recognition of the Romanian film: The Lucky Mill (1957)
- The ´60s and the "´70 Generation"; why didn´t Romanians have a "Romanian New Wave" in the ´60s
- Romanian cinema during Ceausescu

Screening: The Stone Wedding (Dan Pita)

6) a) The Romanian Cinema after the fall of Communsim;

- The '90s; the political and social context of the partial collapse of the Romanian Cinema
- The Romanian Cinema after 2000; finally a "Romanian New Wave?

b) Main motives and themes of the Romanian cinema

Screening: Philantropy or ?432"

7) The Hungarian Cinema
- The ´30s and the ´40s : a commercial cinema (Pal Fejos, Georg Hoellring);
- Hungarian Directors who emmigrated to the USA: Sándor (Alexander) Korda, Mihaly Kertész (Michael Curtiz), Endre Tóth (André de Toth)
- The Stalinist Era; the Hungarian cinema before the Hungarian Revolution (1956); Zoltan Fabri;
- The Hungarian cinema after the Hungarian Revolution and in the ´60s; the Hungarian School
- The ´70s and the ´80s; "Love" by Károly Makk - a very important moment in the history of Hungarian cinema

Screening: Love (Károly Makk) or Professor Hannibal (Zoltán Fábri)

8) a) The Hungarian Cinema after the fall of communism

- The social, historical and political context
- The new generations
- The Hungarian cinema after 2000 - a new powerful metaphoric look (Benedek Flieghauf, Nimród Antall, Ildikó Szabó, Bencze Miklauzic)

b) Main themes and motives in the Hungarian cinema; the social and civil dimension of the Hungarian cinema and art

Projections: The Dealer (Benedek Flieghauf) or Child Murders (Ildikó Szabó)

9) The Polish Cinema

- The Interwar era (Ford, Cekalski, Szolowski, Jakubowska); Jewish films in Polish context: Dybuk (Michal Waszynski, 1937)
- The First, the Second and the Third Polish Cinema
- The partial privatisation of the Polish film production in the '70s and '80s; the indepndent film production
- The Solidarity and the influence of its activity on the polish cinema

Screening: The Sewer (Andrzej Wajda)

10) a) The Polish cinema after the fall of communism
The social, historical and political context
The Polish historical superproductions in the '90s
The new generations (Urbaniak, Kolski, Glinski)

b) Main motives and themes in the Polish cinema; the civic and political dimension of the Polish cinema and art; film and history

Screening: Away from the Window (Jan Jakub Kolski) or Hi, Tereza (Robert Glinski)

Eeventually 11) The Yougoslav cinema

- The '30s - a cinema with a very bad financial situation (Mikhailo-Mika Popovic)
- The Tito era and the "Partisan Westerns"
- The "Novi film" and the "Black Film"
- The "Prague School"
- The interethnic war and its influence on film production
- The Yougoslav cinema after the Yougoslav desintegration

Screenings: A Case of Love/The Switchboard Operator - Dusan Makavejev, or Black Cat, White Cat - Emir Kusturica

12) Actual tendences of the Central-European cinemas
- The actual state of the Hungarian cinema; metaphoric and symbolic dimension of the new Hungarian films
- The Polish historical superproductions; Television films and series; young directors and their "realistic" films
- The Romanian "New Wave" after 2000
- The Ex-Yougoslav Cinemas
- Is it possible to talk about a Czech "Second New Wave"? Why? Why not?
- New Slovak films