LESSON 1

The Czech Cinema before and during the 2nd World War

> # Jan Kříženecký: > # The first documentaries: The Fire-Engine Goes to the Fire (1898), St. John´s > # Fair in a Czechoslovak Village, Žofin´s Spa, The Festive Inauguration of > Franz > # Josef´s Bridge (1901), The Festive Inauguration of the Exhibition Dedicated > to > # the Anniverary of the Chamber of Trade, From the Festive Inauguraton of > Čech´s > # Bridge (1908) > # The first fiction short films: A Date in the Grinding Room, Biřtlář´s > Accident, > # Laugh and Cry (1898) > # > # Jan Arnold Palouš: Night Fright (1914) (adaptation of an oriental fairy tale, > # the first Czech „horror“) > # > # Karel Degl: Prague 1917 (1917), Prague Newsreel (1919), The Church Master > # Builder (1919) > # > # Jan S. Kolár: Polykarp´s (Rudi´s) Winter Adventure (1917) (the first Czech > # comedy series; Rudi / Polykarp – the first Czech grotesque comedy character), > # Arrival From the Dark (1921) (the first Czech attempt in the field of the dark > / > # SF thriller and the first Czech film that was successful abroad; the first > # influence of the German Expressionism on the Czech cinema). > # > # Svatopluk Innemann: The Lights of Prague (1928) > # > # Karel Anton: Tonka – a Girl For Gallows (1930 – the social thematic dimension > of > # the Czech silent film; sound was added later to the initially silent film; > Ita > # Rina) > # > # Gustav Machatý: Kreutzer´s Sonata (1926), Erotikon (1929 – Ita Rina), Extase > # (1931 – the first Czech talked / sound film), From Saturday to Sunday (1931 – > a > # very modern way of using the recently invention of the sound in the film; the > # Czech melodrama) > # - the beginnings of the Czech art cinema > # - the beginnings of the Czech cult erotic cinema > # - very modern expression means (little dialogs, film symbols / metaphors) > # - Hedi Kiesler / Hedy Lamarr (Extase – censorship in the USA) > # > # Karel Lamač: In the Services of Sherlock Holmes (1932 – phantasy „police > comedy“ > # in the Czech style) > # > # 1933: The Barrandov studios > # > # Josef Rovenský: The River (1933), Maryša (1935) – The country drama / country > / > # nature thematics of the Czech film in the interwar period) > # > # Vladislav Vančura: Marijka - Unfaithful Wife (1934 – experimental film at the > # limit of the documentary, made with non-actors talking a marginal dialect in > the > # Eastern part of Czechoslovakia) > # > # Hugo Haas: The White Disease (1937 – adaptation afte Karel Čapek; SF antiwar > # drama made in the eve of the occupation of Czechoslovakia; Hitler presented as > a > # character under a different name) > # > # Otakar Vávra: Virginity (1937 – Lida Baar; the social thematics + melodrama), > # The Confraternity of the Kutná Hora Virgins (the historical comedy + > adaptations > # of Czech classic theatre / literary sources) > # > # Martin Frič: The Escapades of Eve / Eve is Fooling Around (1939 – erotic / > # „sexy“ comedy) > # > # Film stars: Vlasta Burian, Hugo Haas, Jan Werich a Jiří Voskovec, Adina > # Mandlová, Lída Baarová, Oldřich Nový > # > # The 2nd World War /The Occupation: > # The German censorship. Films inspired by the Czech history and literature; at > # the end of the war – almost impossible to make Czech films for the Vzech > # audience. Successful titles: > # Martin Frič – Kristián (1939 - a character comedy depicting the society of > the > # First Czechoslovak Republic; Oldřich Nový, Adina Mandlová) > # Otakar Vávra: Dr. Hegl´s Patient (1940, Adina Mandlová´s best role) > # František Čap – The Night Butterfly (1941)

LESSON 2

Czech Cinema After WWII and before 1989 (1945-1989 + 1989 - until today)

> # 1945: End of WWII; Czech and Slovak territory liberated by the local > partisans, > # Soviet and Romanian Armies; Czechoslovakia is put together again as an > unitary > # state where Czech and Slovaks live together > # > # 1945 – 1948 > # The Soviet Union presses on radical political transformations in the > countries > # occupied by the Red Army in Central and Eastern Europe, including the Eastern > # part of Germany, aiming to impose the socialism system and the absolute > leading > # of communist parties in those countries (Eastern Germany – the German > Democrat > # Republic, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yougoslavia, Bulgaria, > # Albania); unsuccessful attempts to do that also in Turkey and Greece, stopped > by > # the Western intervention > # > # Czechoslovakia starts economic, social and political reforms even in 1945, > # immediately after the liberation from under the German occupation and the > return > # of President Eduard Beneš, which escaped occupied Czechoslovakia in 1938; as > a > # consequence, the cinema industry is completely nationalized with no more > # possibilities of private investitions in this industry; from now on, all the > # films made in the country are „state films“ (made from public money) > # > # From 1945 to January 1948 a certain democracy still works in the country and > it > # is still possible to make films according to the directors´ and producers´ > # artistic taste and personal will; but the politic pressure raises and > censorship > # becomes more and more powerful; in 1948 is already very difficult to make > films > # independently on the political expectations and demands of the censorship > # > # The most important titles of the era: > # The Adventurous Bachelor (Otakar Vávra, 1946) – a comedy in Vávra´s style > # The Explosion (Otakar Vávra, 1947) – a SF and antiwar warning film about an > # inventor of ultimate explosive tries to keep his invention secret against > those > # who want to use it to rule the whole world. A propagandistic remake appears > in > # 1980 by the same director. > # The Stolen Border (Jiří Weiss, 1947) – about the tensions between Czech and > # German citizens living on the border region of Czechoslovakia in 1938 and the > # Munich Treaty (films inspired by war) > # Karel Čapek´s Stories (Martin Frič, 1947) – adaptation of a couple of the > most > # famous stories by Čapek > # The Long Journey (Alfréd Radok, 1948) – the best Czechoslovak film made in > this > # period, internationally acclaimed, copes with the atmoshere of the Jewish > # ghettos in Prague and of the concentration camps; the communist censorship > # limited and finally banned the distribution of the film > # > # January 1948 – The Czechoslovak Communist Party comes to power in > # Czechoslovakia, being freely elected in democratic elections, a case that is > # unique in Central and Eastern Europe, as in the other countries of the region > # the coming to power of local communsits is forced by the Soviets and Red Army > of > # occupation; immediately then the acting democrat president Beneš is forced to > # resign and the communist leader Klement Gottwald entitles himself as > president > # of the country; radical political and social transformations follow, the > whole > # economy is nationalized, political adversaries are arrested and/or > exterminated, > # emmigration is no more possible and the whole cultural life is submitted to > the > # goals of the communist propaganda and to a strong censorship; history is > # rewritten and a part of it completely banned, just as the most of the > democratic > # artists; the „dictatureship of the proletariat“ is dramatically working in > all > # the communist countries > # > # The film production has to serve the same goals; no other subjects but the > # „politically acceptable ones“ are made into films; prefered items: the „class > # fight“, the „heroic“ deeds of communists within the recent or contemporary > # history of the country, political transformations and „social/multilateral > # progress“ in the country after 1948; simple, manicheistic „black and white“ > # stories are prefered as items for the screenplays, showing the victory of the > # „poor, good and beautiful“ (comunists/working people) against the „reach, bad > # and ugly ones“ („capitalist exploiters“, „reactionary“ bourgeoisie, etc.); > the > # nationalistic dimension of the censorships encourages presenting Czechs and > # Soviets as „the good ones“ vs. Germans and Americans as „the bad ones“; > # Sample titles: > # The Silent Barricade (Otakar Vávra, 1949) – inspired by the street fights in > # Prague at the end of the war > # Tomorrow Everybody Will Be Singing and Dancing (Vladimír Vlček – 1952) – a > # colourful propagandistic superproduction > # Hijack (Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos – 1952) > # The Last Shot (Jiří Weiss – 1953) – interesting film influenced by the > # neorealism and therefore sharply criticised by the official censorhip; he > would > # „repair“ his „mistake“ next year by shooting Czechoslovak president Antonín > # Zapotocký´s New Partisans Arise > # > # 1949: FAMU is grounded as the national film school > # > # The only field that was spared the propagandistic control was the animated > flm > # (cartoons + specifically Czech puppet animation) and the films for children; > # A key name – Jiří Trnka (puppeteer, animation and cartoon film director, „the > # Walt Disney of the East“; awarded in Cannes in 1946; ) sample titles: The > # Emperor´s Nightingale (1949), Prince Bayaya (1950), Old Czech Legends (1953) > # > # 1953: Stalin dies; Nikita Khrushchov comes to power in Moscow; a certain > # relaxation of the censorship and a kind of mild democratisation is to be > # observed in all the Central and Eastern European Countries; a change of > # communist generations also helps to it > # In some countries interesting cultural and even political movements appear: > # Hungary – the „1st Wave“ of the Hungarian School + the Hungarian > Anticommunist > # Revolution (1956); Poland – the „1st Polish Cinema“ + political movements for > # democracy (1956); Romania – political movements for democracy supporting the > # Hungarian Revolution (1956) > # > # Czechoslovakia – a series of very realistic films appear, openly and > # courageously presenting and criticising the realities of the communist > regime, > # but „from inside“ the party, without aiming to eliminate the regime, but to > # improve it. > # Kea titles: Parents´ School (Ladislav Helge, 1957), The Final Stop (Ján Kadár > # and Elmar Klos, 1957), Three Wishes (Ján Kadár and Elmar Klos, 1958), The Big > # Loneliness (Ladislav Helge, 1959), Awakening (Jiří Krejčík, 1959 – Jana > # Břejchová´s 1st role, 1st rock´n roll melody to be heard in a Czech film) > # > # 1959: The Banská Bystrica conference – a counterattack of the conservative > # communists with immediate effects in cinema; some critical films are strongly > # attacked, (Three Wishes, Parents´ School), some directors forced to change > the > # ends of their films (The Big Loneliness, Awakening); the effect of the > # „counterattack“ does not last long > # > # 1960: The Wish (Vojtěch Jasný), a lyrical film made up from four stories > # symbolizing the year seasons; some researchers consider it as marking the > # appearance of the Czech New Wave > # > # The Czech New Wave: > # - influenced by the Italian Neorealism, French New Wave, Czech Avantgarde, > # German Expressionism, but also by the Czech realistic tradition of the film > # production > # - appearance influenced also by FAMU and the film teachers working there > # - a new generation of filmmakers / FAMU graduates appear, influenced by the > # Occident and with new ideas > # - no theoretical manifesto of the movement, but an artistic one: Pearls at > the > # Bottom of the Water (1965), containing five short films by Jiří Menzel (Our > Mr. > # Balthazar Died), Jan Němec (Swindlers), Jaromil Jireš (Romance), Evald Schorm > # (House of Joy) and Věra Chytilová (Automat World), all adapting short stories > by > # Bohumil Hrabal > # > # New achievments in the Czech film art: > # - working with non-actors > # - using the documentary film technics and the cine-verite technics in making > # fiction films > # - promoting the anti-hero as a very specifically Czech type of character > # - using methods and achievemnts of the French New Wave (working with > different > # time, reality and narration levels, new / non-linear narration methods etc.) > # - political implication (strongly critical films to the adress of the > communist > # regime) > # > # Directions / Tendencies / Groups > # 1) The young generation > # a) The „intimists“ (Miloš Forman, Ivan Passer, Jaroslav Papoušek); > screenplays > # written and films directed in cooperation; promoting a lyrical but very exact > # observation of the reality with methods of the cinema, documentary and > # cine-verite > # Kea titles: > # Miloš Forman: Talent Competition + If There Wasn´t This Orchestra (1963), The > # Black Peter (1963), Loves of a Blonde (1965), Firemen Ball (1967) > # Ivan Passer: Intimate Lightning (1965) > # Jaroslav Papoušek: The Most Beautiful Age (1968), Ecce homo Homolka (1969), > Hogo > # fogo Homolka (1970), Homolka and Tobolka (1972) > # Close to the „intimists“ - Jiří Menzel: Closely Watched Trains (1966, the 2nd > # Oscar for the Czech cinema), Capricious Sommer (1968), Larks on a String > (1969); > # less using of the documentary technics, a more lyric and subjective attitude > to > # his films (creates characters alike to himself), more and in a very specific > way > # dedicated to the anti-hero; long and excellent cooperation with the writer > # Bohumil Hrabal > # b) The „intelectuals“ (Pavel Juráček, Jan Němec, Jan Schmidt); individual > works > # marked by the very subtle use of metaphoras, symbols and cultural / > intellectual > # references > # Kea titles: > # Pavel Juráček: A Person To Sustain / Josef K. (1963, in cooperation with Jan > # Schmidt, free adaptation after Franz Kafka), Each Young Man (1965), A Case > For > # an Unexperimented Executioner (1969, free adaptation after Swift´s Gulliver´s > # Travels); attracted by the absurdity as an artistic genre in cinema; very > # complex and elaborated film poetics > # Jan Němec: The Diamonds of the Night (1964), The Party and the Guests (1966), > # Martyrs of Love (1966); very interesting and original work with non- actors > being > # though famous personalities in their fileds outside cinema; attracted by film > # experiments (Diamonds of the Night) and sarcasm (The Party and the Guests) > # Jan Schmidt: End of August at the Ozone Hotel (1966 – warning film adapting a > # short story by Juráček) > # Věra Chytilová also works with subtle intellectual symbols, but her highly > # original work is not possible to be formally categorised; attracted by > # burlesque, feminism and game as an artistic expression method; kea titles: > The > # Top Wall (1962), About Something Different (1963 – the parallel story of two > # women, a combination of documentary and fiction), A Bag of Fleas (1963), > Daisies > # (1966), Eating the Fruit of the Paradise Trees (1969) > # c) The Moral / „Moralist“ direction: Evald Schorm, Hynek Bočan, Pavel > Juráček, > # Věra Chytilová; directors analysing the moral aspects of the political, > social > # but also everyday people´s life and existence > # Kea titles by Evald Schorm (called „The Big Moralist“): Everyday Courage > (1964), > # The Return of the Lost Son (1966), Five Girls (1967), The End of the Priest > # (1968), The Seventh Day, The Eighth Night (1969) > # Kea titles by Hynek Bočan: Nobody Will Laugh (1965 – adaptation after Milan > # Kundera´s short story), Private Hurricane (1967) > # d) Jaromil Jireš – an individual artist almost impossible to categorise; > # attracted the lyrism, but also by sarcasm and picturesque > # Kea titles: The First Cry (1963), The Joke (1968 – famous adaptation of > # Kundera´s novel) > # e) Drahomíra Víhanová: an excellent female director frequently presented in > # opposition to Chytilová, attracted more by the male milieu and thematics, and > in > # the same time one of the sacrified destinies of the Czech New Wave > # Kea title: The Killed Sunday (1969 – one of the best films belonging to teh > # Czech New Wave, a very bitter and lucide analysis of the military milieu in > the > # ˇ60s in Czechoslovakia, but also in general) > # > # 2) Older directors being influenced by the poetics of the New Wave and of > their > # younger colleagues > # Ján Kadár + Elmar Klos: Death Calls Itself Engelchen / Little Angel (1963 – > very > # insteresting narrating methods), The Shop on the Main Street (1965 – the 1st > # Oscar for the czech film, moral debate on the individual and collective > # responsability), A Wish Called Anada (1969) > # Karel Kachyňa: Torments (1962), The High Wall (1964), Long Life the Republic > # (1965 – interesting narration methods), A Carriage to Vienna (1966 - ), The > # Bride´s Night (1967), A Ridiculous Gentleman (1969), The „Ear“ (1970); > # cooperation with the novelist Jan Procházka > # Otakar Vávra: The Golden Apple (1965 – interesting modern narration methods, > # moral analysis of communism), Romance for Trumpet (1967 – his most beautiful > and > # romantic film), A Hammer for the Witch (1969) > # Vojtěch Jasný: The Wish (1960), All the Good Countrymen (1967 – an > exceptional > # work presenting a lucide moral analysis of the communism in the ´50s, bud > also > # of the persistence or dissapearing of the classical human values > # Antonín Kachlík: Me, the Sorrowful God (1969 – adaptation after Kundera´s > short > # story, the most daring and complex narration methods ever used in a Czech > film) > # > # > # 1968: Leonid Brezhnev comes to power in Moscow and decides the invasion of > # Czechoslovakia by the Warsaw Treaty troops (minus Romania and Albania); > # reinstauration of a new age of stalinism; new censorship on art and culture; > # Stalinist Gustav Husák acceeds to power instead of president Ludvík Svoboda > and > # general secretary Alexander Dubček > # A brutal end to the Czech New Wave: > # - some directors are forced to emmigrate (Forman, Passer, Kadár, Němec, > Jasný) > # - some other directors and / novelists or are banned to work for different > # periods or for good (Menzel, Chytilová, Schorm, Procházka, Víhanová) > # - some other artists (the majority of them) accept the compsomise asked by > the > # newly instaurated regime and sign a paper formally condemning the democratic > # regime in the ´60s and the so called „socialism with human face“ and continue > # their carreer (Vávra and others) > # > # The ´70s and the ´80s (the „Normalisation“ Era) > # Political pressure of the censorship comparable with the one in the ´50s > # New directors appear, willing to accept compromise; the most specific case: > Jiří > # Svoboda (A Mirror to Christine – 1975, The Girl With the Shell - 1980, The > End > # of Berhof House – 1983, Lancet Please – 1985) > # > # The directors of the New Wave during the Normalisation: > # - Chytilová was allowed to work again in 1975: The Game of the Apple (1976), > # Panelstory (1979), The Calamity (1981), A Faun´s Very Late Afternoon (1983), > # Prague – Europe´s Very Unrested Heart (1984), The Zany and the Queen (1987), > # Hitting Here, Hitting There (1988) > # - Menzel was allowed to work again in 1974: Who Needs the Gold at the Bottom > of > # the See? (1974 – his compromise with the regime), Solitude Near the Forrest > # (1976), Fragments of Life (1981 – restarting the cooperation with Hrabal), > The > # Snowflakes Celebration (1983) > # - Evald Schorm was allowed to work again only in 1987, not surviving to watch > # the premiere of his new film Actually Nothing Happened (1989), but being > allowed > # to work as a theater and opera director and becoming famous this way > # - Drahomíra Víhanová wasn´t allowed to work at all until 1989, after the fall > of > # communism in Czechoslovakia, but she never managed to make again such > beautiful > # films like The Killed Sunday > # > # New interesting Czech directors appearing in the second half of the ´80s (the > # „Young Wolfs“): Irena Pavlasková (Time of the Servants, 1988), Fero Fenič > (Sweet > # Novel – 1984, banned until 1989; Strange Beings – 1989) > # > # Inbetween: the destiny of the Czech emmigrants > # Forman: Taking Off (1971 – a film sharply criticised in the USA, determining > # Forman to give up any future attempt in writing his own screenplays), A Flew > # Over a Cuckoo´s Nest (1974 – the film got the Oscar), Hair (1979), Ragtime > # (1981), Amadeus (1984), Valmont (1989), The World vs. Larry Flint (1996), Man > on > # the Moon (1999), Goya´s Ghosts (2006) > # Passer: Law and Disorder (1974), Cuttler´s Way (1981), Creator (1985), A > Haunted > # Summer (1988), While Justice Sleeps (1994), Picnic (2000), Nomad (2005) > # Kadár: The Angel Levine (1970), Lies My Father Told Me (1975), The Next > Howling > # Wind (1979 - TV), Freedom Road (1979 – TV) > # Němec: The Czech Connection (1975), The Poet Remembers (1989) – unsuccessful > # abroad > The Czech Cinema After 1989 > > October 1989 – Communist regime falls in Czechoslovakia, Vaclav Havel and The > Democratic Citizen Party come to power > In the field of culture and implicitly in cinema, everybody is waiting for a > renewed miracle continuing the New Wave from the point it had been broken in > 1969. A big disappointment followed. The New Wave directors weren´t able to > restart the things, the younger generations didn´t have the intellectual > background and the experience(s) needed to start another wave. The Czech cinema > meets a time of incertitude, marked more by individual artistic destinies, from > which no one would reach the level of quality of the films made during the > ´60s. > The Czech film knows a couple of tendencies: > - the experimental one (Drahomíra Víhanová: The Fortress, News About Student > Peter and Paul´s Ride - unconvincing) > - the recovery of the narrative tradition of the ´30s and ´40s and of that > healthy commercial midstream (Jan Svěrák: The Village School 1991), Kolja (1993 > – the 3rd Oscar for the Czech cinema, a disappointing melodrama), The Trip > (1995), A Dark Blue World (2001 – the most visited Czech film ever); Filip Renč: > A Romance For the Doll (1991); Jan Hřebejk: Divided We Fall (2000), The Belly > Game (2003), Upside Down (2004), The Beauty Has Problems (2006), The Teddy Bear > (2007), It´s Alright With Me (2008), Kawasaki´s Rose (2009); Tomáš Vorel: The > High School (2007); Karin Babinská: Little Kisses (2007); Jan Prušinovský: Frank > Is A Whoremonger (2008)) > - political films (Irina Pavlasková: The Time of Servants, The Time of Debts – > didactic, manicheistic, schematic) > - attempts in recovering the poetics of the New Wave or the so called “New New > Wave” or “Second New Wave”: (Saša Gedeon: Indian Summer (1995), The Return of > the Idiot (2000); Alice Nellis: Ene Bene (1999), Some Secrets / The Trip (2002), > The Secret (2006); Bohdan Sláma: Wild Bees (2002), Happiness (2005)) > - the mystification (Petr Zelenka: The Year of the Devil (2002); Vít Klusák & > Filip Remunda: The Czech Dream (2004 – reality show) > > No clear group tendency / movement / trend now within the Czech cinema, but the > Czech cinema is on the way of re-creating /rediscovering the narrative / > commercial midstream from the ´30s – a healthy tendency

LESSON 3

The Hungarian Cinema I (until 1956) - Students

> A strong cinema industry from the very beginning. Hungarians also influenced the > international world of cinema: William Fox founded Fox Studios, Alexander Korda > played a leading role in start of Britain's film industry, Adolph Zukor founded > Paramount Pictures. > > The Beginnings > 1896, May 10th: the first screening of Lumiere films in the cafe of the Royal > Hotel of Budapest. 1896, June: Arnold and Zsigmond Sziklai opened the first > Hungarian movie theatre (41. Andrássy street - the Okonograph), screening > Lumiére films with French devices. Elite neighborhood – despise; the theatre > closed. Film screenings continued in cafés and spread; 1911 – more than 100 > movie theaters. > 1896: The first film shooting - the festivities of the Millenium Celebration. > The first Hungarian photographer - Zsigmond Sziklai. > 1901, April 30: The first Hungarian film, The Dance, illustrating a show of the > Uránia Scientifical Theatre. Béla Zsitovszky, originally an optician, shot the > picture on the roof terrace of the theatre with renowned actors and ballerinas > of the Opera theatre. 24 short-films. > > The first decades > 1908: Projectograph, the first company to lend film-shooting technique and also > to shoot films founded by Mór Ungerleider > 1910: 270 movie theatres; Royal Apollo – a large screening hall (“cinema > palace”). Film distribution was organized by the end of the decade. > 1911: Hunnia Studio, appears (as an offshoot of the Vígszínház theatre) as the > first company with artistic goals > The first professional cinema revue - News of Moving Picture, founded by Mór > Undergleider; Alexander Korda / Sandor Korda participated with articles. > Artist, writers sustained cinema; some writers started writing screenplays > (Ferenc Molnár, Frigyes Karinthy). > 1913: The Yellow Foal (Jenö Janovics – coping with the Hungarian folklore, which > was to become an essential theme for the Hungarian cinema) > 1914: Pufi Buying Shoes (burlesque comedies a la Chaplin – written by Ferenc > Molnár) > 1914: The Apostle (Pál Aczél, adapting a poem by Sándor Petöfi – a first attempt > in adapting the treasures of the national literature – a constant within the > Hungarian cinema); attempts in camera effects > 1914: Bank Ban, The Vagabond (Mihály Kertész / Michael Curtiz) > 1915: Magdalene from the Mountains – Lili Berky, the first H. movie star > 1916: Liliomfi (Jenö Janovics + The Cluj / Kolozsvár theater) > 1916: Fedora (Sándor Korda with Lili Berky); The Grandma, Stories About the > Typewriter (Korda) > 1916: Janos the Hero (Jenö Illés after Sándor Petöfi´s poem “The Hungarian Noble > Man” - the most monumental Hungarian silent film) > 1917: The Innkeeper´s Wife (Janovics, after Petöfi – an attempt of a “film > poem”) > 1917. The Secret from St. Job´s Story (Kertész - “Krimi” in the American style > with camera effects: close-ups, medium shots) > 1918: The Fawn (Mihály Kertész after a screenplay by Edward Knoblock; an attempt > in “American style” comedy) / “Hungarian remake” > Important film studios: Corvina Studio, Astra Film Studio > > 1918: The end of the 1st World War; the disintegration of the empire > 1919: The Hungarian Republic of Soviets – Béla Kun; the Hungarian cinema > industry was the first one to be nationalized fully; some artists adhered and > even made propaganda films: My Brother Is Coming (Kertész – the inscription > “Proletarians from all the countries, unite!”), The Chelkash (Pál Aczél after > Maxim Gorki), Yesterday (Lajos Lázar) > 1919, August: Fall of the Republic of Soviets > A lot of excellent directors emigrate. The nationalism is influencing the film > production. > > The Inter-War Era > 1920 – 1931 > The film industry in ruins because of the war. Corvina studio – bankrupcy > 1920: The Fourteenth, The Little Fox (Béla Balogh - “imitating” American films) > 1923: Stars of Eger (the first notable film by Pál Fejös) > 1924: The Hell Is in Danger (a notable love-story specific for the era, with > Vilma Bánky – the first sex-symbol of the Hungarian cinema) > 1925: The Hungarian Movie Industry Fund is created; distributors – 30 imported > films = financing 1 Hungarian film > 1927: The Movie Industry Fund bought the bankrupt Corvina Studio, founding the > Hunnia Movie Company - the cornerstone for professionals in the following years. > > > End of 20s – co-productions with German studios; elements of sound film > 1927: Sunday Afternoon / Melodie des Herzen (Hans Schwartz – the first sound > film with Hungarian participation – a Hungarian-German co-production) > Songs About the Wind (1928), Just a Girl Like This (1929) – first Hungarian > silent films containing singing sequences) > 1928: Andor Laitha founds the cinema revue Film Culture > Dénes Mihály invents the “projectophone” in the field of loud film, but he can´t > sell the patent. > 1929: Import films are taxed in favor of the Film Industry Fund > > End of 20s, early 30s: Hungarian producers unsuccessfully try remakes of > American films (The Doctor´s Street, The Laughing Woman) > > The Sound Era / The Inter-War Era II 1931 – 1945 > 1931: The Blue idol (Lajos Lázár – the first Hungarian “completely sound” film – > unsuccessful) > 1931: Hyppolite the Butler (István Székely / Steve Szekely – the first Hungarian > sound box office hit) – Székely becomes a very “trendy” director, making even 4 > films by year (1934) > 1932: Mary, a Hungarian Legend (Pál Fejös – an international success) > 1932: More than 500 movie theaters > The ground is put for a Hungarian star system: Székely, Béla Gaál – star > directors; Pál Javor, Gyula Kabos – star actors appearing in almost all the > important films of the ´30s; Katalin Karádi – a star singer featuring and > playing in films > > 1934: The Dream Car (the first notable film by Béla Gaál) > 1935: The President´s Daughter (the first notable film by Endre Marton / Andrew > Marton – emigrates to America, where he makes an excellent Ben Hur) > > 1935 and later: far-right-wing groups stronger; criticizing the movie industry > as being "infested with Jews" and its products "containing obscene, unmoral > content"; premiers were disrupted > > 1936: The Man Under the Bridge (the first notable film by László Vajda) > 1936: The Sweet Step-Mother (one of the big successes of Béla Balogh) > 1939: The Deadly Spring (László Kalmár – Katalin Karádi is discovered) > > Thematic of films in the ´30s: >  antiwar dramas: The Moscow Café (Székely, 1935) >  psychological drama: The Birthday (Béla Gaál, 1936) >  social drama: The Exchanged Man (Viktor Gertler, 1935) >  bitter social satire: Just Keep Smiling (Pál Vári, 1938) >  musical: Borcsa in America (the first notable film by Márton Keleti, 1937) >  comedy: A Little Eccentric Lady (Ákos Ráthony, 1938) >  warning films: The Soft Husband (János Vaszary – a tragicomedy where the > threat of history is present) >  expressionism influenced films: The Landslide (Aecén Cserépy) – effects by > light and dark) > > Horthy government closing ties with Nazi Germany > 1938: “Jew law”: maximum of 6% Jews in the Film Guild > 1939: Strong censorship laws under the strict surveillance of the government; > anti-semitic laws restricted Jews from being managers of film studios, film > distributing companies and theatres, or act as directors, performers or > screenwriters of a movie; a new emigration wave (Gyula Kabos) > > The War Years (1940 – 1945) > Censorship; tendency toward entertainment films, encouraged by authorities; in > spite of it, important films with different thematic appear: >  antiwar drama: No Answer From Europe (1940, the first important film by Géza > Radványi) >  social drama: The Woman Is Looking Back (1941, Radványi) >  left-wing films: The Lost Flower (1942, Károly D. Hamza; after this film, Pál > Jávor is arrested by fascists) >  psychological thriller / detective story: House No. 5 (1942) >  strongly censured war films: The White Train (László Sipos, 1943, banned), > Even a Blind Could See This (Imre Jeney, 1943) – films made after the defeating > of the German army and its allies near the Don river > > 1942: The Guard Sirius (the first notable film by Frigyes Bán) > 1942: People from the Mountains (Istvan Szöts – successful at the IFF in Venice, > but received with reserve and hostility by the Hungarian authorities; only > partially screened in 1943) > 1943: The Gentle Star (Lajos Zilahy) > 1944: Another Day (János Vaszary) > > Little number of films made in the final years of the war. Younger (future star) > directors had to wait the end f the war for bering able to work: László Ranódy, > Félix Máriássy, Mihály Szemes > After-war Years (still before communism (1945 – 1948) > Just like after WWI, the film industry damaged by war. > Tendency: continuing the prewar tradition of literary adaptations, but a trying > to introduce some sort of social criticism. > 1945 – only three films; The School Mistress (Márton Keleti) > The private sector slowly backed off from film production. > 1946: no Hungarian films > 1947: Government proposes a 200.000 forint aid to film-producing companies (the > average budget of a movie being 500.000 Ft); new companies are made, the work > starts over, but films and film companies sustained by political parties / > factions; Somewhere in Europe (Géza Radványi, 1948) – an excellent film > sustained by the Communists – a realistic story about children after the war; > Siege of Beszterce (Márton Keleti, 1948) – sustained by the Social Democrats; > The Field Prophet (Frigyes Bán, 1947) – sustained by the Peasants Party; Song > of the Cornfield (Istvan Szöts, 1947 – an excellent peasant drama, influenced > by Dovženko´s Country and showing society corrupting peasants – banned from > 1948) > 1947: A Woman Finds Her Way (Imre Jeney – a very convincing film, Neorealism > influences) > 1948, March 21st – Renationalisation of the Hungarian Cinema industry > > The Communist Era > 1948 – 1953 > 1948: Soil Under Your Feet (Frigyes Bán – the first film after the > Renationalisation, continuing the tradition of films that showed a more > realistic country life with the help of folk literature, but this realism was > distorted because of a heavy presence of ideological content – a general feature > of the films in the era.) > Other authors which accepted working under these conditions: veterans like > Gertler, Jeney, Keleti, Kalmár. > 1949: Michael the Rich (Keleti – successful comedy); Suit (Gertler – a satire); > The Noble Ones (Bán – social critic) > 1951: Mrs. Déry (Kalmár); The Western Zone (one of the first movies by Zoltán > Várkonyi) > > After 1950: only veterans were allowed to direct films, even if they weren´t > “politically totally trustful” (Bán, Keleti). Young directors – allowed to work > as dramaturgs. Script more important than directing. > Mainly propaganda movies, but also historical films coping with events accepted > or interpreted / distorted by communists for their goals: the Hungarian > Revolution in 1848 or the peasant uprising led by Ferencz Rákóczi > > 1953 – 1956 > Slight attempts of democratization; scripts lose importance over directorial > work > Tendencies: >  comedies with marginal political element The State Store (1953, Viktor > Gertler), 2 times 2 is 5 (Révész György. 1955 – musical comedy) >  sabotage movies turning into disaster films (natural disaster or human > negligence) >  elements of social critic appear at the adress of the communist regime: The > Bitter Truth (Várkonyi, 1956) >  the film language remains a realistic, conservatory one, but the message > changes > > 1954 – 1956 – considered by some film scientists the years of the “First Wave of > the Hungarian School”; for sure, the beginning of the cinema as an art in > Hungary > > New names, young talents: Károly Makk, János Herskó > Most influential names: >  Zoltán Fábri (The Merry-Go-Round – 1955 with Mari Töröcsik in her first great > role – story and visually impressive film - and Professor Hannibal – 1956 – a > strongly anti-dictatorial film claiming the right of the individual against the > wild crowd); operates with a dramatic-expressionist style that placed > protagonists into extreme situations to face basic moral questions >  Félix Máriássy (Spring in Budapest – 1955 – war drama, A Half Pint of Beer – > 1955 – comedy); uses a lyric, strongly realistic tone, depicting events with > high detail >  First important films by Makk: The Tale of the 12 Winnings Numbers (1955 – a > satirical comedy), House Under the Rocks (1958 - expressionistic social drama) > > The film production is diversifying more and more. > 1956 - 1960 The Post-Revolutionary Repression; The first Post- Revolutionary > Years > 1956: The Hungarian Anticommunist Revolution led by Imré Nagy; the soviet > invasion leads the bloody defeat of the attempt

LESSON 4

The Hungarian Cinema 2 (The Second New Wave + The ´70s) > > October 1956: The Hungarian Anticommuniat Revolution defeated by the brutal > intervention of the Soviet Army; Imre Nagy arrested, the reforming liberal wing > of the Communist (Socialist Workers´) Party sacrified, more conservative > communist leader János Kádár takes the power; the participants to the Revolution > arrested, persecuted; more than 200.000 Hungarians emmigrate; the culture put > under strict surveillance; > Despite of all this, Kádár tries a kind of national reconciliation and eases in > time the pressure on culture and the censorship. Whilest being a strong > authoritative leader, if compared to the Western standards of democracy, he > managed although to ensure in Hungary a certain freedom and liberalisation > sensible higher than in the other socialis countries. > > 1957: The dramatic events in 1956 dind not enable the appearance of important > films, but at least two titles desrve being mentioned: Sunday Love (promising > début of Imre Fehér) and Iron Flower (János Herskó). > > 1958: A better year for the Hungarian Cinema; Miklós Jancsó gives his first > important (even shocking) film The Bells Go to Rome and Zoltán Várkonyi offers a > meditation item not too oftenly debated within the Hungarian cinema in Salt > Statue – the individual responsability in history; The House Under the Rocks > (the first important film by Károly Makk – a depiction of what a war and > violence used mentality could determin as consequences, a strong even if > sometimes brutal psychological drama) > > 1959 to 1961: Years of searching artistic ways of expression, whithout big > realizations; the number of films made every year raises from around 10 to an > average of 20, but the artistic quality is not exceptional; only a couple of > titles deserve a certain attention: For Whom Is The Lark Singing (László Ranódy, > 1959), The Wild (Zoltán Fábri, 1959) and mainly some films made at the beginning > of the ´60s attempting to attack the official hard-line doctrine: A Marriage – > Pass Marks (Károly Widermann, 1961), Parade On Ice (Frigyes Bán, 1961), Two > Half-Times in the Hell (Zoltán Fábri), The Obsessed Ones (Makk – a harsh critic > of the official bureaucracy). > > The ´60s > The two former film studios were split to four independent ones, headed by > film-makers. > > The founding of Balázs Béla Studio was another important step in the reshaping > of the industry. > > Overstepping the trends of the fifties, the positive intellectual appears as a > new type of character, full with optimism and ideas. > > The demand for presenting rural life reappeared, but such films were produced > with the world-view of the new generation. > > The sixties were not only the decade of modernist film, but the starting era of > distinctive directorial filmmaking. Miklós Jancsó's trademark visual style - > long, slow cuts and horizontal camera movement - appears. István Szabó directs > his most personal movies during this time, pairing subjectivity with first > person narration. Zoltán Fábri further elaborates the theme of moral choice in > historical times in many of his films. After trying several genres, the cinema > of Károly Makk becomes more unified, creating the most political, dramatic films > of his career during the era. > > During this years, art- and entertainment films became more separated, with the > latter going through a similar renewal, seeking for new genres and actors. The > most popular films were Zoltán Várkonyi's adaptations of Mór Jókai novels (A > Hungarian Nabab, Kárpáti Zoltán) and Márton Keleti's comedies (I Have a Premiere > Tonight - 1965, The Corporal and Others – 1965). Disaster movies of the fifties > were replaced by action films, detective stories and spy movies. Meant to carry > on the tradition of cabaret/comedy films of the past, satirical comedy films > appeared, often starring the popular actor László Kabos. > > 1962: A certain ease of the censorship and pressure on artists allows some of > them a more sincere, courageous and direct artistic language and also to > approach themes like the personal happiness and individual responsability, even > if the artistic quality is still average: The Travelers Tell Stories (début and > one of the best films by Tamás Rényi), Sunday Everyday (Félix Máriássy), Lost > Paradise (Makk), Two Rainy Sundays (Márton Keleti). The most important titles of > the year: Memories of a Strange Night (Várkonyi – a strong and detalied social > and individual psychologic analysis of the relations between individual, family, > clan and society, started by the narrative „pretext“ of the assasination of an > old rich Hungarian businessman in the day of his 75th anniversary in 1948) and > Angels Country (Győrgy Révész – the sensible, lyrical but realistic depiction of > life in a poor workers´ block in Budapest in the ´30s, that gives title of the > film). > > 1963: Conventionally, the year when the Second Wave of the Hungarian School > starts. A real „explosion“ within the Hungarian cinema, concerning the > thematic, but also the style of films: Dark of the Day (Fábri) is an attempt in > awakening the sleeping consciences, Cantata (Miklós Jancsó) is a violent attack > to the ones prefering their personal moral confort to the open and courageous > condamnation of the injustice, Everything Alright, Young Man? (Révész) is > analysing the individual fight of a teenager surrounded by a world not able or > not willing to understand him (and in the same time is metaphorically suggesting > a deeper and harsher internal fight within Hungary and Hungarian society itself) > and Dialog (Herskó), a real film saga that courageously approaches taboo themes > of the Hungarian history of that time, by realistically depicting the events and > their impacts on everyday people´s life, without any ideolagically imposed > attitudes. > > 1964: The Hungarian cinema starts being largely influenced by western modernism, > but similarly to Czechoslovakian and Polish cinema, new elements and styles were > rarely present in their pure form, but rather mixed with cultural, historical > and political themes. For example, the rebellious, youth-centered French new > wave served as an inspiration for István Szabó's early works, like Age of > Dreaming (1964 – long feature début of the director) or Love Film (1970), > presented in non-linear narration, and experimental camera work. But in both > cases, youth themes were combined with other basic questions like history or the > clash of generations. > The most important titles of the year: The Lark (László Ranódy, adaptation of a > novel by Dezső Kosztolányi – Antal Pager awarded in Cannes for the best male > role – the destiny of an ugly girl not able to find a husband in her countryside > little town and a convincing analysis of life and atmosphere of this kind of > town, presented as the classical „place where nothing happens), The Incurable > Ones (András Kovács), The Stream (long feature premiere of István Gaál), My Way > Home (Jancsó). > > 1965: Another „explosion“, the one of the young talents: The Round- Up (a > historical film by Jancsó, coping with the Hungarian uprising against Austrians > in 1848 and considered as one of his best films), Grimaces (a successful title > by Ferenc Kardos and János Rózsa), Age of Dreaming/Age of Illusions (Szabó´s > film from 1964, screened this year). The „veteran“ Fábri gives a kea title for > the openingness of the era, 20 Hours, a strongly accusing but although > optimistic film. Other older directors prefere continuing in their more > conformist ways. > > 1966: The film production continues in the same spirit. Maybe the most important > title of the year is Icy Days (András Kovács) tells the story of the Hungarian > army contributing to a massacre of the Serb and Jewish population of a village > in Vojvodina in 1942, during the WWII and raises the matter of the collective > responsibility and the personal moral choice. Other notable titles: Father > (Szabó – the story of a man whom the search of his dead father helps finding > himself), Late Season (Fábri), Fig Leaf (Máriássy), Zoltán Kárpáthy (Várkonyi), > Barbarians (Eva Zsurzs). > > 1967: The Red and The White/Stars on Their Caps (Jancsó - an anti- heroic film > depicting the senselessness and brutality of armed combat, banned in the Soviet > Union, but acclaimed in the Occident), The Chronicle (István Gaál), If An Appeal > Comes (Márriássy), Silence and Cry (Jancsó – the moral dilemma of an ex-soldier > of the Hungarian Red Army after the defeating of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, > whether to give in a crime, risking his own life, or to remain silent and become > an accomplice – an outstanding work based on an exceptional camera forging an > atmosphere of internal and overall tension), The Three Nights of One Love > (György Révész), Ten Thousand Suns (Ferenc Kósa – a realistic countryside drama > and saga still convincing and valuable besides the kitsch-like, conventional > end) > > 1968: The year when the French New Wave fell into decline and the Czech and > Slovak New Wave is brutally stopped by the brutal invasion of Czechoslovakia by > the Warsaw Pact troops (without Romania and Albania). First signs of > re-enforcing the censorship appear also in Hungary. Excellent films still appear > although: The Girl (remarkable début of Márta Mészáros with a sensible and > realistic “feminine” but also a little “feministic” story of a girl searching > for her parents she had never met), Stars of Eger (Várkonyi – the biggest > Hungarian super-production in the ´60s), Headshot (Peter Bacsó), Sparrows Are > Birds Too (György Hintsch), The Baptist (István Gaál), Forbidden Ground (Pál > Gábor – an excellent psychological crime story) > > 1969: A certain tendency in raising the number of “commercial” films against the > political and “art-“ ones. The Witness (Peter Bacsó – a political satire banned > until 1979 and a classical of the Hungarian cult film, one of the first victims > of the newly reintroduced censorship pressure in the country), The Confrontation > (Jancsó´s first work in colour and also the first film to introduce song and > dance as an essential part of the film, elements that would become increasingly > important in his work of the 1970s), Bondage (Máriássy), The Boys on the Pál > Street, The Tóth Family (Fábri), The Criminal Teacher (Mihály Szemes), The > Upthrown Stone (Sándor Sára – selected for the Cannes IFF), The Long Distance > Runner (Gyula Gazdag – an internationally acclaimed short film), The Lion Is > Prepared to Jump (Révész – a successful retro-detective story), The Ones Wearing > Glasses ( Sándor Simó – awarded The Golden Leopard at the Locarno IFF) > > The end of the decade saw another wave of censorial strictness, so film > productions turned from political, revolting themes towards the private sphere, > often utilizing stylized, lyrical motifs, producing so-called “aestheticizing” > films. Formally, the decline of the “Second Wave” starts, but the film quality > is not worsening. But the films become in the ´70s more metaphoric, more > encoded, encrypted, less approachable, less understandable by the everyday > audience, in order to avoid problems with the censorship. > > The ´70s > The two definitive trends of the seventies became the documentarism, meant to > introduce a new aspect and change in form, and continuing from the sixties, the > directorial films. Other contemporary genres and forms, like grotesque, satire, > or the so called state-of-the-generation films can all be connected to them. > The most influential trend of the decade was documentarism, creating the genre > of fictional documentary (or documentary feature films), a genre regarded as > distinctively Hungarian (Budapest School). There is to be recognized here a > certain influence of the evolutions within the French cinema towards > documentarism and feature films made in documentary style or inspired by the > reality (biographic features, films inspired by real cases etc.) > > 1970: As a direct consequence, for instance Jancsó's films veered more towards > symbolism, the takes became longer and the visual choreography became more > elaborate. This found full fruition starting from the year 1970, when he started > taking these elements to extremes. Agnus Dei (1970) is one of his more > inscrutable works, showing a story from the end of the short communist reign in > Hungary in 1919. The supporters of the communist regime attempt to hold on to > power in a rural area and have the (not welcomed) support of a wild, epileptic > priest. The story is told using dialogue from Hungarian folklore and the Bible. > Other interesting titles of the year: The Agony of Mr. Boroka (an attempt of > Péter Bacsó of regaining the trust of the censorship after The Witness), Don´t > Cry Pretty Girls (another sensible “feminine” story by Márta Mészáros with the > 13 year-old Czech actress Jaroslava Schallerová in one of the main roles, > reminding her first featuring in Jireš´s beautiful film Valerie and Her Week of > Wonders), The Falcons (István Gaál - a story about the training of falcons for > use on farms to protect crops from birds, that won Jury Prize at the 1970 Cannes > Film Festival) and the biographical film Love Dreams about the life of the > composer Ferencz Liszt by Márton Keleti. > > 1971: One of the best years for the achievements of the allegorical style of the > Hungarian films after the “Second Wave”: Jancsó´s Red Psalm wins the Best > Director Award at Cannes and Makk´s Love (made in a very experimental and fresh > style containing flashbacks and subjective montage, which were to become > distinctive features for the director´s style) gets other three prizes at the > same festival. Zoltán Huszárik gives Szindbád, his best title ever, an > allegorical film about beauty and the poor consistence of a world based on lies, > while problems with censorship appear again, as Dezső Magyar´s Agitators is > banned immediately after its release. > > 1972: Paradoxically, a poorer year for the Hungarian cinema. Besides Makk´s new > success Cats´ Play (continuing the style of Love and being nominated for the > Academy Award and selected at Cannes), only István Gaál´s Dead Country and Pál > Gábor´s Voyage with Jakab (a depressive story about the empty life of two fire > inspectors, awarded two prizes in Locarno). > > 1973: An interesting ad original historical “super-production” is Petőfi '73 by > Ferenc Kardos (selected at Cannes, using film students as extras and encouraging > them to act without costumes and scenery). Várkonyi is challenging again the > moral sense of the audience with The Innocent Murderers. Other successful titles > include The Photography (Pál Zolnay), Martin Cuckoo (György Révész), > Riddance/Free Breathing (another Mészáros´s protest against the obtuse attitude > of the older generation towards the younger ones´ feelings) and Old Times´ > Football (Pál Sándor – maybe the most popular Hungarian film after The Witness, > a story about a life´s dream of an everyday man to put together a football team > – since this film, the expression “We need a team” became a common saying, > almost a proverb in Hungary). > Director György Szomjas organizes an almost independent Studio for > Non-Professional Films. > > After a short break filled by successful “commercial” films, the authorial / > directorial style regains actuality in the middle of the ´70s: > > 1974: Jancsó gives one of his most stylized titles, Elektreia My Love, > consisting of just 12 shots in a film lasting 70 minutes and Márta Mészáros > challenges again the patriarchal mentality of the audience with Adoption, a > cruel but realistic, subtle and sensitive story about the silent solidarity > between women, acting beyond the powerful, yet unfulfilled and aggressive, men. > The film won the Berlin IFF in 1975. Notable is also The Sailor on the Danube by > Miklós Markos, confirming one of the old motifs of the Hungarian culture, the > legendary river of Danube. > > 1975: Gyula Maár´s drama Mrs. Dery, Where Are You? was awarded at Cannes the > Award for Best Actress (Mari Tőrőcsik). Other interesting titles: American Torso > (Gábor Bódy), Fábri´s 141 Minutes from the Unfinished Sentence (not so famous as > it would have deserved), Bacsó´s satire Don´t Pull My Moustache or György > Palásthy´s Under the sign of the Spear. > > 1976: Szabó´s Budapest Stories crystalize a very specific style vor the > director, the so called “surrealist narrative reaction to Jancsó” and are > selected at Cannes. Other interesting titles: Fábri´s surrealist moral drama > Fifth Seal, The Wind Blows Under Your Feet (György Szomjas – a kind of > “Hungarian western”), Rózsa´s Spider Football, the excellent “historical horror” > The Spectre´s Ducats or László Ranódy´s tough and courageous drama Nobody´s > Daughter (about a seven-year-old orphan which is maltreated by her > foster-parents – a rarely approached thematic in the cinemas of the socialist > countries). > > 1977: It is first of all the year of Makk´s international success with the > retro-comedy A Very Moral Night, which was exported in many countries and > selected at Cannes. Also very successful is Pál Sándor´s Strange Masquerade, the > story of a soldier which escapes from the horrors of World War I by masquerading > as a female nurse at an elegant health-spa which seems strangely untouched by > outside events. The film got four awards, including the Silver Bear in Berlin. > Notable are also Révész´s Who Has Ever Seen Me, Ferenc András´s comedy Rain and > Shine or Sándor Simó´s memorialistic drama My Father´s Happy Years. > > 1978 does not bring not too much in terms of quality films. Only Makk´s Dear Boy > and the internationally successful, for Oscar nominated Fábri´s Hungarians > deserve attention. > > In exchage, the end of the decade brings a lot of festival selections and > awards: Jancsó´s Hungarian Rhapsody and Zsolt Kézdi-Kovács´s Good Neighbour > (both films made in 1979) are selected for Cannes, while Szabó´s Confidence > (1979) is nominated for the Golden Bear and the Best Director Award in Berlin. > Other two Hungarian titles from 1980 are selected in Cannes: Mészáros´s > Inheritance and Gaál´s Quarantine. Very interesting are also Béla Tarr´s Family > Nest (a very sensible and intimate portrayal of a family), Huszárik´s complex > and poetic biographical film Csontváry (dedicated to a Hungarian painter > belonging to the “naivist” trend in the second half of the 19th century) and the > funny “crime-comedy” The Pagan Madonna / The Red Church, directed by Gyula > Mészáros and the actor István Bujtor. > > A special mention about Jancsó at the end of the ˇ70s: he started work on the > ambitious Vitam et sanguinem trilogy, but only the first two films, Hungarian > Rhapsody (1979) and Allegro Barbaro (1979) were made. At the time, the films > were the most expensive to have been produced in Hungary. > > By the end of the decade, documentarist stylization decoupled into a lyrical, or > sometimes grotesque version utilized in feature films (like of Judit Elek, > Ferenc Grunwalsky, Lívia Gyarmathy, Géza Böszörményi) and an experimental line, > marked by some short films made at Balázs Studio, and films of the K/3 Group, > led by Gábor Bódy. > > In the ´80s, another tendency will add to this: the immediate reactions of > filmmakers to political evolutions in Hungary and internationally, a trend > inspired mainly by the New German Cinema in the ´70s and by the Polish “cinema > of the Moral Unrest”.

LESSON 5

THE HUNGARIAN CINEMA 3 (FROM THE ´80s UNTIL 2000) > > By the end of the ˇ70s, documentarist stylization decoupled into a lyrical, or > sometimes grotesque version utilized in feature films (like of Judit Elek, > Ferenc Grunwalsky, Lívia Gyarmathy, Géza Böszörményi) and an experimental line, > marked by some short films made at Balázs Studio, and films of the K/3 Group, > led by Gábor Bódy. > > In the ´80s, another tendency will add to this: the immediate reactions of > filmmakers to political evolutions in Hungary and internationally, a trend > inspired mainly by the New German Cinema in the ´70s and by the Polish “cinema > of the Moral Unrest”. > The cinema becomes more and more independent on politics and state. Censorship > loses power. Political protest becomes more direct, less metaphoric. Having deep > roots into the traditional “Hungarian nostalgia”, but also influenced by the > pessimistic Hollywood films of the ´50s, sadness, “sad end” and pessimism become > marks of the Hungarian films with social or political thematic. > Films immediately reacting to political evolutions in the country and > internationally are very popular a couple of weeks after the release and quickly > become blockbusters, but subsequently fall into oblivion, a phenomenon > characteristic also for the political Polish films of the ˇ80s (the Cinema of > the Moral Unrest) and German films of the ˇ70s (the New German Film). > > Internationally, the Hungarian cinema is more acclaimed than ever, each year > bringing one or two important awards at different festivals. The number of > co-productions increases, foreign investors and film production companies invest > more and more into the Hungarian cinema and Hungarian directors are frequently > asked to work abroad (Makk, Szabó, Mészáros etc.) > > The most important titles of the decade: > > 1981 is mainly the great year of Szabó´s Mephisto, the film that, after getting > the Palme d´Or for the Best Screenplay, was to bring the Hungarian cinema the > Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film. Coping with compromise, > collaborationism and individual responsibility during the rule of the > National-Socialist Party in Germany during the ´30s, this drama is applicable to > every dictatorship in history and it was read in the ´80s as a strong warning to > the individuals and societies leaving that time under communist dictatorships in > Hungary and abroad. In the same time, Jancsó´s The Tyrant's Heart / Boccaccio in > Hungary can be considered a transitional film between the famous historical > works of the 1960s and '70s and Jancsó's later, more ironic and self- aware > films. Other notable titles of the year include Pál Sándor´s bitter comedy > Clowns, Attila Vargay´s animated long feature comedy/pamphlet Vuk the Fox, the > rock & blues musical Bald Dog by Győrgy Szomjas or Zoltán Fábri´s political > drama Requiem, awarded with the Silver Bear in Berlin. > > 1982 is also an award-reach year for the Hungarian cinema. Károly Makk gives the > shocking Another Way, one of the first films emmerged within in a socialist > country to openly cope with homosexuality / lesbianism; the picture won the Best > Actress Award at Cannes for the Polish actress Jadwiga Jankowska- Cieślak and was > nominated for the Palme d'Or. Another famous title of the year is Péter Gotár´s > Time Stands Still, a drama coping with the consequences of the Hungarian > Anticommunist Revolution in 1956 that was awarded in Cannes (Award of the > Youth), New York (New York Film Critics Circle Award) and Tokyo (Best Director > Award). Béla Tarr´s family drama The Prefab People (partially influenced by > Chytilová´s 1976 Panel Story) got a mention at the Locarno IFF. Géza > Böszörményi sensible but realistic (melo)drama Heart Tremors still deserves > being mentioned for this year. A special mention also for Mészoros´s drama > Mother and Daugher, comparing the biological and adopting parentage. > > In 1983, Zsolt Kézdi-Kovács´s Forbidden Relations (a “scandalizing” love story > between a half-brother and a half-sister, is selected at Cannes and András > Jeles´s acid satire The Dream Brigade is confiscated even before being released > and banned until 1989 (when it gets the Golden Dolphin at the Tróia IFF and the > László B. Nagy Award of the Hungarian Critics). Together with Miklós Erdély > and Gábor Bódy, András Jeles belongs to a trend experimenting with film > narration within the Hungarian cinema in the ´70s and the ´80s, known as “the > new-narrative films”. Within the same trend belongs Gábor Bódy´s drama The Dog´s > Night Song, one of the first films in Central and Eastern Europe to cope with > the punk movement. Other notable titles from the same year include the cult > long feature animated film White-Snow by József Nepp. György Szomjas´ drama > Tight Quarters (nominated for the Golden Bear) and Péter Bacsó´s early ´50s > deportation drama Oh Bloody Life (that brought the Best Actress Award at > Montreal IFF for Dorottya Udvaros). > > 1984 was a good year mainly for the Hungarian lady-directors. First of all, it > is the year of the first and maybe most successful of Márta Mészáros´s partially > autobiographic “diaries”, Diary for My Children, its story is placed in Hungary > between 1943 and 1956 and belongs to the excellent tradition of Hungarian > historical sagas. The film was nominated for the Golden Palm and got the Special > Award of the Jury at Cannes. Another Hungarian lady director, Judith Elek, saw > her film Mária´s Day screened at Cannes (within the section “Un Certain > Regard”). In the same year, András Wahorn´s musical Ice-Cream Ballet was > presented at the Thessaloniki IFF, Jeles´s non-narrative Pasolini-like > mythological allegory The Annunciation uses of its youthful cast to illustrate > the horror and irrationality of the time when the film was made. Another > remarkable production is Gábor Koltay´s formally historical feature Stephen the > King, one of the biggest Hungarian box-office successes in the ´80s. > > > Middle of the ´80s (1984 and later): After Brezhnev´s death in 1983, two old > leaders shortly run the Soviet Union, until Mikhail Gorbatchev comes to power > and imposes his restructuration / perestroyka plans, allowing a deep > democratisation in the socialist countries that followed his politic (mainly > Hungay and Poland). In Hungary, the tough conservative communist leader János > Kádár is replaced first by prime-minister Károly Grósz (1986), who´s place is > taken later by the economist Rezső Nyers (1988). Hungary knows a period of > profound political transformations, but also of deep economic crisis. Art and > subsequently cinema become much more indepedent, censorship is almost formal and > artists (incuding films directors) increasingly courageously and less > allegorically present in their societies creation noncontormist political > attitudes and personal points of vue. In the same time, the first attempts of > privatising the national cinema industry appear and first privte film production > societies are grounded. > > 1985 is mainly the year of Szabó´s being awarded The Jury Prize in Cannes for > Colonel Redl, an „engaged“ historical drama about the destiny of people in > Central Europe. Ferenc Adrás´s Great Generation, also awarded with Bronze Rosa > Camuna at the Bergamo Film Meeting and with the Special Price of the Jury at the > San Sebastián IFF, is a commentary on the nature of the older and younger > generation in Hungary during the mid-'80s. Péter Timár´s comedy Sound Eroticism > also deserves being mentioned. Béla Tarr´s Almanac of Fall, an intimist and > melancholic story about failed relationships, brought its director the Ernest > Artaria Award at Locarno IFF. > > 1986: Makk´s sarcastic drama Last Manuscript enters Cannes, Péter Gothár revives > the spirit of Time Stands Still with the expressionistic drama It´s the Time, > Péter Bacsó courageously attacks the last years of socialism in Hungary in the > comedy Banana Skin Waltz, veteran János Rózsa´s Love, Mother is – paradoxically > – awarded at Moscow IFF, Béla Ternovszky gives Cat City, an internationally > successful animated parody to James Bond films and Star Wars series. In the same > time, Jancsó gives Season of Monsters, his first film with scenes in of > contemporary Budapest since Cantata 23 years earlier. > > 1987: Péter Gothár gives Just Like America, a drama of emigration and > alienation, full of specifically Hungarian melancholy. Mészáros continues the > story of the first Diary in Diary For My Loves. The film is nevertheless awarded > the Silver Bear and the OCIC Award in Berlin, being also nominated for the > Golden Bear. Pál Sándor´s Hungarian-Italian co-production Miss Arizona, with > Marcello Mastroianni and Hanna Schygulla in the leading roles, brought a certain > disappointment because of the unbalanced montage, whilest Péter Gárdos´s parents > and children drama drama about the 1956 Revolution Whooping Cough pleasantly > surprised by being awarded at Festróia (The Silver Dolphin), The Lucas Award at > the Lucas IFF for Children and Young People and te FIPRESCI Award in Montréal. > > 1988: Szabó´s Hanussen, another “dry” Central-European drama coping with the > nostalgia for the Empire, enters Cannes and is nominated for the Golden Globe, > Géza Bereményi´s 1956 Revolution drama and blockbuster El Dorado is nominated > for five European Film Awards and gets the Award for the Best Director. Ferenc > Grunwalsky´s minimalistic, almost documentary, but nevertheless brutal rape > drama A Full Day met a high audience success, but the critics received it rather > reluctantly. Tarr´s Damnation contains all director´s trademark (black and white > shooting, extended long shots, little dialogue). In the same year, Mészáros > gives a strange story about childhood´s dreams and losing innocence, made in > Canada and called Bye-Bye, Red Ridding Hood. > > 1989: The communist power falls down, Hungary becomes again a democratic > country, Imré Nagy´s memory is rehabilitated and his remains are re- buried with > the whole honor due to a hero. The reforming late communist leaders courageously > work to the democratization of the country and of the Hungarian society. It is > also the year of returns in terms of banned films and other works of art. > > The most important films of the year: Ildikó Szabó shocks, but also wins the > Golden Camera at Cannes with the daring, unconventional, half- documentary > retrospective My 20th Century. Some very daring, even if not always well made > films appear, that could have not appeared a couple of years ago, before the > political changes: the comedy The Unmarried Mother by the actor Dezső Garas, > Rózsa´s The Well Known Unknown or Tímár´s Hungarian-Cuban co- production Forward > Robinsons! (also a comedy). More interesting Gyula Gazdag´s Stand- off brought > the actress Ari Bery got the Best Actress Award at San Sebastián IFF, while > Ferenc András´s Wilderness, a decent historical super-production, had the > bad-luck of appearing at an unappropriate time. An animated film with an > enormous international success was József Gémes Willy the Sparrow (it was > exported in more than ten countries only one year after its release). In the > same time, Jancsó´s experimental, ambiguous, but visually fascinating Jesus > Christ´s Horoscope is – once again paradoxically – awarded the St. George Award > in Moscow. > > The Hungarian Cinema After the Fall of Communism > The ´90s > Just like in the other ex-communist countries, economic reforms meant to > make the transition to a market economy cause big social problems, > economical crisis and determine a big crisis also in the field of culture and > art, including cinema. > > 1990 – The most interesting titles: Diary For My Mother and Father (Mészáros) is > maybe the most “political” film among the “diaries”. > Judit Elek´s drama Memories of a River is awarded in Montréal (with the Prize of > the Ecumenical Jury) and at the Créteil International Women's Film Festival (The > Grand Prix). Százs´s Don't Disturb, received the Best Director Prize at Bogota > IFF and the Best Foreign Film Award at Bratislava IFF. Interesting is also Zsolt > Kézdi-Kovács´s After All, a about the ways in which modern societies cope with > extreme problems. Jancsó´s God Walks Backwards continue the work of the previous > decade, but is also a reaction to the Hungary's new post-Communist reality and > explores the inherent power struggles. > 1991: Makk´s pessimistic “national drama” Hungarian Requiem was successful > mainly in Germany, while Zoltán Kamondi´s Paths of Death and Angels was selected > in Cannes. The romantic musical comedy Hearts in Love by György Dobray was also > successful. Even if little known, János Xantus´s black, cruel and sarcastic > comedy Cruel Estate belongs to the best of this period. Jancsó´s Blue Danube > Waltz follows the same line as the director´s previous film. > > 1992 - Notable titles: Ildikó Szabó´s strong drama Child Murderers (starting > as sensible, poetic and delicate ballad and ending as a tough morality and/or > detective story), Ferenc Grunwalsky´s Goldberg Variations, György Szomjas´s > original documentary-like comedy Kisses and Scratches,, Can Togay´s drama The > Summer Guest (selected at Cannes) and mainly Szabó´s Sweet Emma Dear Bobe > (awarded the Silver Bear and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury in Berlin, where > it was nominated also for the Golden Bear, and the Best Screenplay Writer and > Best Actress Award - Johanna ter Steege – within the European Film Awards) > In the same year, Mészáros gives an interesting TV movie, Edith and Marléne. > > 1993 – Notable titles: Róbert Koltai´s picturesque dramatic comedy We Will Never > Die (a story about friendship, finding the way and losing it again or the other > way around), Jeles´s minimalistic experimental drama Parallel Lives and Sándor > Sára´s Watchers, an analysis of the paranoid world of the ´50s, where nobody can > be trusted. In the same year, Mészáros´s provocative drama Fetus is nominated > for the Golden Bear in Berlin. > > 1994 János Szász´s original Hungarian adaptation of the classic German drama > Woyzeck is awarded some ten awards and nominations at Bogota, Thessaloniki (Best > Director and Best Actor - Lajos Kovacs), Sochi (Special Jury Award and > FIPRESCI), European Film Awards (Best Young Film) etc., stimulating hopes for a > certain rebirth of the Hungarian Film. Other interesting titles: Tarr´s seven > hour-long masterpiece The Devil´s Tango (awarded the Caligari Award in Berlin > and distributed in numerous countries), Szilveszter Siklósi´s “fake biographic > documentary” Mao the Real Man (a sarcastic mystification) and Sándor Mihályfy´s > Hungarian-Romanian co-production drama Ábel in the Forrest. > > Mid ´90s: A national film festival called The Hungarian Film Week is more and > more important for the development of the post-communist national cinema. > > 1995: Márta Mészáros´s Polish-Italian co-production The Seventh Room is awarded > at Venice (Elvira Notari Prize for Mészáros and Romanian actress Maia > Morgenstern and OCIC Award) and Golden Frog Camerimage Award for Piotr > Sobocinski. Other remarkable titles: Gothár´s fatalistic drama Outpost, a > Hungarian-Romanian co-production, is awarded the Crystal Globe for Best Director > and the Award of Ecumenical Jury at Karlovy Vary IFF and the intimate > retrospective drama The Wondrous Voyage of Kornel Esti (awarded at the Istanbul > IFF and nominated for heg Camerimage Golden Frog for Francisco Gózon) announces > the explosive talent of József Paczkovszky. > > 1996 - Worth being mentioned: András Kern´s satire Straccatella, comedy actor > Róbert Koltai´s “feather weight” comedy about the comedy actors´ destiny Samba, > Gábor Koltay´s historical badly managed super-production The Conquest (with > Franco Nero in the role of Arpád. > > 1997 is mainly the year of another Szász´s festival blockbuster, The Wittman > Boys – 11 awards and nominations at Camerimage (Tibor Máthé – nominated for the > Golden Frog), Chicago (The Silver Hugo for Best Cinematography - Tibor Máthé), > European Film Award for Best Cinematographer (Tibor Máthé), Ghent (The Grand > Prix), Moscow (Silver + Golden St. George and FIPRESCI), Tromso (Import Award). > Other notable titles: Timár´s satiric nostalgic musical comedy Dollybirds, that > re-creates in a perfectly credible way the Hungary of the ´60s and its musical > background, Makk´s super-production drama with historical background Gambler, > inspired by Dostoyevsky´s biography and awarded in Brussels (People´s Choice), > Pescara IFF (Best Foreign Film + Best Actress – Jodhi May), Troia IFF (Best > Actress – Jodhi May) and Karlovy Vary (City's Prize for Károly Makk Lifetime > Achievement Award) and Sándor Simó´s romantic drama Every Sunday. > > 1998 notable titles: Robert Koltai´s Professor Albeit, Tamás Sas´s comedy > Espresso (an excellent exercise of psychological social observation made with > only one camera under a fixed angle, awarded the Special Price at Cottbus Film > Festival of Young East European Cinema and nominated for the Crystal Star in > Brussels), György Fehér´s minimalistic and dry drama Passion (the Hungarian > adaptation of Cain´s Postman Always Rings Twice), selected at Cannes, nominated > at Thessaloniki for the Golen Alexander and at San José FF for the Best Feature > Award). Also very interesting is Mészáros´s Hungarian-Polish co- production > Daughters of Happiness, coping with Russian emigrant women forced to > prostitute. > > 1999: The Hungarian film production increases also in quantity. 1999 is the > first year with as much as seven notable film productions. First of all we must > mention Jancsó´s impressive come-back with Lord's Lantern in Budapest (the first > film from the surrealist series with the gravediggers Kappa and Pepe). > Then we have Szabó´s international co-production and successful family and > historical - partially autobiographic - saga Sunshine, awarded the Best Writer, > Best Actor, Best Photography European Film Awards. Enyedi´s surrealistic drama > Simon the Mag was awarded the Aurora Award in Tromso, the Don Quijote Award at > Locarno (where it was nominated also for the Golden Leopard), the Golden Olive > Tree at the Lecce European film Festival and the Golden Wave for Best Actor at > the Bordeaux International Festival of Women in Cinema. Frygyes Godros gives > another excellent historical and family saga called Glamour. Tamáš Sas´s > successful musical romantic comedy Pirates was awarded the Golden Slate for Best > Actress (Gabriela Gubás), Gergely Pohárnok´s Sugar Blue wins the First Work > Award of the Students´ Jury at Cottbus, Csaba Horváth´s action thriller Europe > Express manages to fulfill the old Hungarian cinema dream of making in Hungary > Hollywood and European-like films. > > 2000: Jancsó is already there with the second Kapa and Pepe film, Darn > Mosquitos!, while Mészáros offers a diary bonus with the sentimental, but still > convincing Little Vilma – The Last Diary. Tarr gives one of his most specific > works, Werckmeister´s Harmonies (a film that was to become a landmark for the > “brand” Béla Tarr and to win the Berliner Zeitung Reader Jury in Berlin and the > CFCA Award for the Best Foreign Language Film in Chicago). Krisztina Deák gives > the strong and mysterious country family saga Jadviga´s Pillow (nominated for > the Crystal Globe in Karlovy Vary), Sas´s “street drama” Bad Boys, combined with > Hungarian hip-hop music, convincingly continues the tradition of Hungarian > “block / local gang movies”, while Péter Rudolf and Iván Kapitány offer a > successful, unpredictable and dynamic comedy named Glas Tiger Café. Finally, > Paczkovszky gives another elaborated and delicate story of love, moral > interrogation and introspection with Our Love. > > End and beginning of a millennium. A new generation of Hungarian directors take > over classic filmic themes and comes with new ones: the Second Hungarian Wave is > already here. In the same time, older directors are still full of working energy > and continue giving interesting works. A strong competition appears: the young > directors come with their themes and motives, but in the same time are inspired > by already existing ones, the older generations are already working with, while > the older generations are fighting to preserve their older motives and themes > and in parallel they inspire themselves from the new ideas of the Second Wave.

LESSON 6

The Hungarian Cinema 4 (from 2000 to the present time + The Second New Wave) > > 1999 was the year when the Hungarian film production recovered not only in terms > of quality, but also quantitatively. > End and beginning of a millennium. A new generation of Hungarian directors takes > over classic filmic themes and comes with new ones: the Second Hungarian Wave is > already here. In the same time, older directors are still full of working energy > and continue giving interesting works. A strong competition appears: the young > directors come with their themes and motives, but in the same time are inspired > by already existing ones, the older generations are already working with, while > the older generations are fighting to preserve their older motives and themes > and in parallel they inspire themselves from the new ideas of the Second Wave. > > Certain common features of the creation of the young generations of directors, > as well as the outstanding quality of their works allow us to talk about a > „wave“, even if the artists themselves don´t „feel“ being a part of a certain > movement or trend. For sure, this trend is not programatic, it has no > „manifesto“ or something alike, from among the directors, nobody came with the > idea of „organizing“ a movement. The idea of a „wave“ is given by observations > made in time mainly by critics and theorists, while following the evolution of > the Hungarian young directors which emerged or started working around the year > 2000 and later. > > This Second New Wave would include names and titles as it follows (a lot of the > films were awarded important prizes at international festivals): > - József Pacskovszky: Kornel Esti´s Trip (1995), Our Love (2000), The Colour of > Happiness (2003, a magical-realist, poetic story, reminding Almodovar´s style, > shot in three weeks and partially written / imagined directly by the > protagonists during the shootings), Stolen Pictures (2006, a meditation on what > film and camera work means – actually „stealing images“/pictures from the > reality, from the world, eventually also from people´s intimacy), Yearning Day > (2010, in production – author´s first black and white feature) > Born in 1961; elements of personal authorial poetics: „Latin/Gaellic“-like > motives, elements of magic realism, fairy tales atmosphere, refined and > elaborated work with retrospective and subjective perspective, work with > narration influenced by Almodovar´s, Lombardi´s, Sautet´s style, attraction > to the picturesque and cosmopolite – mild irony, comprehensive sympathetic > humor) > > - Szabolcs Hajdu: Sticky Matters (2001, a story placed in the environment of the > director´s childhood, the reconstruction of a world seen with the eyes of that > time´s child), Tamara (2004, intimist non-narrative story taking place at an > isolated farm, where painted animals comment the events happening there farm in > a non-existing language, that is subtitled), White Palms (2006, the almost story > of an athlete which emmigrated from Hungary to Canada, presented in an almost > documentary way, with unexpected dynamic cuts and alternating fictional > actuality with retrospective and undestanding the past and the present through > each other), Bibliothéque Pascal (2010, a deeply disturbing portrait of a > society marked by physical and mental exploitation as well as moments of human > kindness, for its presentation the director spins an intriguing web of shifting > and merging narrative levels of reality versus imagination, both grim and > light). > Born in 1972; elements of personal autorhial poetics: specialised in subjective > retrospectives of the ´70s and ´80s, where the reconstruction of the world he > presents is made with high accuracy; documentary-like style in working with > narration; prefers non-narrative stories; mild humor; original connections of > surrealistic sequences with humor; influenced by the „intimists“ of the Czech > New Wave (Passer, Papoušek, Forman) and by Menzel > > - Bence Miklauzič: Sleepwalkers (2002, the strange and a little bit absurd story > of a middle-aged office worker who is fired from his job and decides to start a > whole new life, told on the fundal of a strange Budapest night life), The > Children of the Green Dragon (2010 – in post-production) > Born in 1965, initially an actor: elements of personal authorial poetics: > unconventional work with narration; attracted by „non-commercial“, minimalistic > stories with elements of absurdity; influenced by Quentin Tarantino, Wim > Wenders, Jim Jarmusch; > > - Kornél Mundruczó: Pleasant Days (2002, a raw, agressive and violent, but > realistic and convincing story from the post-communist Hungary, told without any > affective paricipation, but also without following the cheap and superficial > audience success usually attached to „commercial“ agressivity and violence in > films), Johanna (2005, a filmic and musical unconventional interpretation of the > Passion of Jeanne d´Arc, transforming her into a „saint and a whore“), Delta > (2008, a bitter film about the incestuos love between a brother and a sister and > the way an intolerant conventional society is prepared to receive this, a story > told soberly and with no complaisance, „a harsh message packed in the most sober > wrapping“), Frankenstein Project (2010, in production) > Born in 1975; elements of personal authorial poetics: presents sexual > frustrations as sources of violence in contemporary society (not obligatorily in > the Hungarian one) and violence as a dramatically essential part of existence; > objective narration, non-participative realism; influenced by Fassbinder and > Francis Ford Coppola > > - Győrgy Pálfi: Hiccup (2002, the strange world of a small rural community, > presented with almost no dialogs, but on a tensional, even if not clearly > defined fundal of a sinister and often barely perceptible subplot involving > murder), Taxidermia (2006, the most violent, naturalistic and „animalic“ film in > director´s carreer, reducing the human being to the level of an unformed pile > of meat and the society to a collection of such individuals – a very > pessimistic, almost apocalyptic, but perfectly coherent, logically and > naratively sustained message about the human e/in-volution), You Are Not My > Friend (2009, a cynical mosaic of emotional alienation made in the freedom of > total improvisation, starting from the pretext of throwing nine attractive > bodies together for the space of twenty long days - a truly boundary- pushing > feature). > Born in 1974; elements of personal authorial poetics: using mystery, > surrealistic narrative and non-narrative elements and also absurd or/and > naturalistic elements of the story for achieving its usually strong and coherent > authorial message; attracted by frequently violent „zoologic“ metaphoras he uses > in order to stress „the animal“ within the human individual and society; creates > strange fictional self-sufficient, coherent worlds hiding unexpected, > mysterious, frequently explosive aspects and violent elements of > selfdestruction; influenced by the Spanish cinema violent imagery and > „aesthetics of ugliness“ (Birri, Saura) > > - Ferenc Tőrők: Moscow Square (2001, the story of a teenage generation > graduating the high-school in 1989, but not really aware of the historic > importance of that year or of what is happening around them), Eastern Sugar > (2004, a Budapest-born director´s controversial stereotype vision about the > Hungarian countryside ), Overnight (2007, the last part of a trilogy presenting > the life of the post-communist / contemporary young generations of Hungary, this > time focusing on the life style of young and wealthy stock market brokers - a > slow paced story and camera motion manages to convey a very dynamic lifestyl > connected to „most globalized profession in the globalized world“) > Born in 1971; elements of personal authorial poetics: interested mainly in the > life of the Hungarian youth after 1989 he presents in films intentionally made > on a rather slow quickness, determined by an almost „still photographic camera“ > focusing on details and a carefully put together image composition > > - Árpad Schilling: Nexxt (2001, s story about life Television programs and its > way of manipulating the audience, under the pretext of exploring the evil that > resides within every one of us by any methods and price, let it be however > radical and/or expensive) > Born in 1974; elements of personal authorial poetics: interested mainly in > analysing manipulation within contemporary (Hungarian and whatever / human) > society; theatre influences, static/slow sequencies > > - Csaba Fazekas: Happy Birthday (2003, a nostalgic story formally presented as a > comedy about a 30-year old man – actually, the director´s alter ego – who tries > to catch during one day everything he has not been able to do or to reach during > his his life until that moment) > Born in 1973; elements of personal authorial poetics: focus on personal, > individual and collective experiences of his generation; works with the motives > of introspection, retrospective, making points, wrapped in the form of the > nostalgic, bitter comedy > > - Ágnes Kocsis: Fresh Air (2006, strong minimalistic story about > (non-)communication between mother and daughter, made with very little dialogs > and using fade (rarely bright) colors and mainly olphactive suggestions as > essential elements in constructing the atmosphere of the film, developing an > idea and even a character basically already present in the short film 18 > Pictures from the Life of a Conserve Factory Girl the director made in 2003); > Pául Adrienne (2010, in production) > Born in 1980; elements of personal authorial poetics: a highly original and > impressive personal film poetics and minimalistic style; little dialogs, > excellent, complex and original work with colors, camera, sound and olphactive > elements constructing an already distinct atmosphere of her films; pessimistic, > depressive, almost fatalistic atmosphere, attitudes and authorial message, > nevertheless perfectly susteined stylistically; compared to Kaurismäki, > whithout working with his black humor and sarcasm > > - Benedek Fliegauf: Forrest (2003, a sober, grave, comprehensive, still distant, > non-participative and for sure non-affective look at the everyday life of the > generations that used to be Budapest´s "teenage savages" at the time when > communism disappeared in Eastern Europe and its view of the world is now > pessimistic, depressive, even sinister – maybe „just“ a complex and elaborate > illustration of a society where they are not able to see the individual „trees“ > because of the collective „forrest“), Dealer (2004, formally, a day from a drug > dealer´s life, a story about taking chances, assuming responsabilities and > paying / repaying prices, a highly elaborate and stylized film, where the purr > of a cat fills the theatre with stereo magnificence and a "whistling wind" > sounds backgrounds almost every minute of the movie and enhances the slow > deliberation on the ever-swirling camera, which advances and retreats on the > actor and which is a marvelous call for intense concentration by the viewer – a > complexe and wondeful illustration of the poetry of the filmic art), Milky Way > (2007, direcotr´s most incrypted and hermetic work, a modest hommage to some > classical films and to film art in general, through ten short scenes without > dialogs, filmed with fixed camera and where characters are a low- prophile > presence), Womb (2010, in post-production) > Born in 1974; elements of personal authorial poetics: maybe the most encrypted > and hermetic director of the Second Wave, but also one of the best and > internationally most acclaimed; uncompromising attitude towards the commercial > character of cinema Fliegauf is not willing to accept; highly stylized and > original works full of metaphoras, symbols and encrypted messages, but also > based on visual and sound impression and atmosphere) > > - Attila Gigor: The Investigator (2008, a strange detective thriller made in the > traditional minimalistic spirit of the Hungarian cinema, wit a special focus on > characters´ construction, due to director´s experience as an actor). > Born in 1972; initially an actor, Gigor does not accept the existence of a > Hungarian „Second Wave“, preferring the „classical“ way of understanding and > studying teh Hungarian cinema, i.e. „on individual personalities“ and not on > collective „waves“ or „movements“; claims he became a director because not > being able to find in the screenplays and stories of the other „professional“ > Hungarian directors roles that would fit him as an actor > > - Nimród Antall: Control (2003, a dark and bleak comedy of the world of the > ticket inspectors, who must keep the Metro system running, and in the same time > an allegory of contemporary – not only Budapestan or Hungarian – society, a > high-style and high-speed romantic thriller in which the lives of assorted > outcasts, lovers, and dreamers intersect and collide, a singular but convincing > experiment in director´s mostly commercial carrer) > Born in 1973 in the USA, where he made all the other films after Control; > inspite of all, Antall is a nostalgic of the Hungarian and European art film he > offered a hommage with Control; interested in model fictional worlds with > specific rule of laws, but represeting allegories of some concrete spaces > possible to recongize; strong, almost violent black humor and sarcasm > > - Áron Gauder: District! (2004, a crazy Romeo and Juliet type story between the > offspring of two rival gangs in a Budapest colourful but dangerous city part, a > picturesque work full of sarcasm, black humor, naturalistic details and mocking > spirit of parody, an animated/feature film made with a brand new technique: the > artists took 350 headshot pictures of each actor and used these photos for the > expressing emotions and the animation of the heads, while the bodies are hand > drawn), The Last Pagan (2010, in production) > Born in 1975; comes with a completely new animation/feature connecting > technique, but also with a fresh, even if picturesque and somtimes vulgar view > on the social and politic realities of the time in Hungary and in the world; > cruel parody and mockery spirit; black humor; sarcasm; a very special and > elaborate aesthetics of ugliness. > > Common features (of course not to ALL the directors and films): > - authors / directors being around 30 up to 40 or younger in 2000 > - coming with something original within the Hungarian cinema, specific poetics, > style, themnes and motives > - low-budget films > - autenticity of characters and dialogs > - stories placed mainly in contemporaneity (of the filmmaking) > - less historical themes; if although, it´s more about (re- )interpreting and > (re-)understanding (usually recent – communist or post-communist) history from > today´s perspective > > A kind of manifesto – A Bus Came, a five-short film project initiated and > sustained by Jancsó and made up by five short stories directed by directed by > Viktor Bodó, Kornél Mundruczó, György Pálfi, Árpád Schilling and Ferenc Török, > having as a common element the traditional – almost „legendary“ Ikarusz line > buses of the Budapest public transport. It isn´t a kind of „theoretical“, but > more like an artistic manifesto of the second New Wave, where nobody wanted to > claim anything, just five young directors reunited on a theme suggested by the > patriarch of the Hungarian film Jancsó (alike Pearls at the Bottom of the Water > within the Cuech New wave). > > Older directors that influenced the Second Wave or let themselves influenced: > mainly Jancsó with pepe and Kapa films: Lord´s Lantern in Budaepst (1999), Darn > Mosquitos (2000), Last Supper at the Arabian Gray Horse (2001), Wake Up, Mate, > Don't You Sleep (2002), The battle in Mohács (2003), Ede Ate My Lunch (2006 – > codirected with István Marton) > > Other classical Hungarian directors ended up on the ways of academism: > Mészáros´s Unberried Man (2004) is boring and embarrassing in the primitive way > it praises Imré Nagy and The Hopeful Hungary is nothing more than a romantic > drama. Szabó ´s last in a certain measure interesting film was Taking Sides > (about the Furchtwangler case after the WWII), while Being Julia (2004) looks > more like an european romantic comedy and Relatives (2006) is almost as trivial > as a teleplay or vodevil. In exchange, Szász´s Opium: Diary of a Madwoman (2007) > about drug addiction and love between a doctor and a mad patient is still strong > and convincing, even if more commercial then director´s previopus works. Péter > Bacsó´s successful Smouldering Cigarette (2001), inspired by the biography of > the legendary´s Hungarian singer Katalin Korodi, is a sad, romantic but still > decent melodrama, but later comedy Who Are Those Lumnitzer Sisters? (2006) look > boring and embarrassing, while Gothár´s Passeport (2002) emmigration / > inadaptation drama represents for sure a strong and convincing „product“ (the > last scene is antologic – the mother and the daughter on a merry-go- round, > surpassing the limits of desesperation and depression, accepting the fatality of > their destiny). > > Other interesting titles made after the year 2001: > 2002: Herendi Gábor´s parodic gangster-comedy A Kind of America, the historical > superproduction The Bridgeman (dedicated to the biography of Count Széchenyi, > one of the most important hungarian politicians in the 19th century). > > 2003: The Hungarian Wayfarer (Herendi Gábor – a comedy / adventure successful > title), Zoltán Kálmánchelyi´s Libiomfi, Zsombor Dyga´s brother rivalry drama Bro > (maybe his best film so far). > > 2004: Oláh J. Gáborś crazy comedy Rap, Revue, Romeo, Steven Lovy´s expatriation > drama Mix, Attila Janisch´s excellent psychologic thriller After the Day Before > (one of the best Hungarian works of this category ever), the visually stunning > Dianna Groó´s Miracle in Cracow, beautifully filmed in this city´s wonderful old > Jewish block. > > 2005: Gárdos Péter´s surrealist drama Celadon Girl, Lajos Koltai´s famous > nevertheless embarrassing and far to slow concentration camp melodrama Fateless > (adaptation after a novel by Nobel winner Imre Kertész), the Roma environment > drama Dallas Among Us by Robert Adrian Pejo, Roland Vranik´s black and white > lightly absurd comedy Black Brush. > > 2006: Krisztina Goda´s historical romantic drama Liberty and Love, Adrian > Rudomin´s international co-production Day of Wrath, set in the 16th century, > Péter Timár´s low-budget work Prince´s Moratorium, Gyula Nemes´s interesting and > original „hyper-caffeinated love poem to Budapest“ My Ones and Onlies. > > 2007 – a very rich year: Róbert Koltai´s colourful but unpretentious countryside > comedy Train Keeps a Rollin, Gábor Hreendi´s romantic drama Lora, Ádám Magyar´s > beautiful animated picture Egon & Dönci, the strong homless children drama > Iska´s Journey by Csaba Bollók, György Szomjas´s 1956 Revolution drama The Sun > Street Boys, Béla Tarr´s excellent Hungarian adaptation of the classical motiv > of Man From London or Gyula Maár´s Fragments. > > 2008: József Sipos´s Eszter Inheritance, Krisztina Goda´s successful thriller > Chameleon. > > Tendencies: the second Wave coexists with the mainstream „outside the wave“, > that has been forming ten years long the healthy base of the Hungarian cinema. > Some Second Wave directors try connecting both tendencies, getting their new > young way of making films closer to the commercial mainstream. In the future a > possible getting closer of those two tendencies is probable. > > Differencies: Czech Republic – only mainstream tendency, almost no novator > tendencies. Romania. Only „new wave“, nothing worth besides.

LESSON 7

The Slovak Cinema

> Themes that are visible in the majority of the important works: rural settings, > folk traditions, carnival, nature and tradition. > Little number of comedies, adventures, musicals, sci-fi films by comparison to > dramas and historical films that used to include a notable subset of social > commentaries on events from the decade or two preceding the film. > A national film problem: too little potential viewers (5.5 millions); therefore > (financial) problems in filmmaking > The Koliba studio – the national film studio and center of filmmaking. > Slovak films / within the Hungarian cinema (until 1919) > Slovak films / Czechoslovak films (after 1919, until 1993) > Czech (-oslovak) films with Slovak thematic made at Barrandov (The Shop on the > Main Street) > > 1919: Following the 1st WW, the Slovak territories unite with the Czech > Republic, forming Czechoslovakia. > > The Silent Era: > Snowdrop from the Tatras (Olaf Larus-Racek, 1919 – the first Czechoslovak film > with Slovak thematic; a teenage girl looking for her place in a city) > Jánošík (Jaroslav Siakeľ,1921 - the first Slovak full-length feature movie; > Slovakia becomes one of the first ten cinemas in the world to produce such a > “superproduction” – see the parallel with the Romanian cinema) > > The Sound Era: > The Earth Sings (Karol Plicka, 1933 – awarded at the International Venice Film > Festival) > Janošík (Martin Frič, 1935 – distributed in Italy and Germany) > > 1938: The first Department of Film in Czechoslovakia (one of the first in > Europe) was opened at the School of Industrial Arts in Bratislava in 1938, led > by Karol Plicka and the director Ján Kadár among the students. > > 1939: The creating of the Slovak clerical-fascist marionette state in the hands > of Adolf Hitler; the Department of Film is closed. > 1940: The new documentary film studio Nástup is created exclusively for making > war newsreels; no feature films made > > 1945: The WWII ends, Czechoslovakia is partly reconstituted; studio Nástup > manages making a couple of interesting films before communists take the power: > Wolves' Lairs (Paľo Bielik, 1948) > 1948: Communists take the power in Czechoslovakia; a period of strong political > censorship and propaganda imposed items / subject follows, just like in the > other socialist countries; examples of specific titles: The Struggle Will End > Tomorrow (Miroslav Cikán, 1951), Young Hearts (Václav Kubásek, 1952); > An exception: Native Country (Josef Mach, 1953 – a successful folkloric musical) > > > End of ´50s: directors gain more control of production > > The Slovak New Wave (The Slovak part of the Czech and Slovak New Wave): > The Sun in a Net (Štefan Uher, 1962 - an aesthetic precursor to the Czechoslovak > New Wave; harshly criticized because its refined symbolism and anti- propagandist > themes) > The Boxer and the Death (Peter Solan, 1962 - was set in a Nazi concentration > camp and talking about the Holocaust). The WWII becomes a favorite theme of the > filmmakers, encouraging people to reevaluate their moral attitudes towards what > happened during the war. > The Shop on the Main Street (Ján Kadár + Elmar Klos, 1965 - belongs to this > tendency, copes with the Holocaust; an adaptation of Ladioslav Grossman´s novel > the first Oscar for the Czechoslovak cinema; formally a Czech film made in > Barrandov > 322 (Dušan Hanák, 1969 – a symbolic individual drama reflecting the drama of a > whole “ill” society; 322 is the code for cancer in the medical records of > diseases) > Celebration in the Botanic Garden (Elo Havetta, 1969 – the joy of life + > tendency towards the mystification, both specific to the Slovak culture). The > same director will give another film of the same kind in 1972: Wild Flowers) > The most important name of the Slovak part within the Czech and Slovak New Wave > - Juraj Jakubisko: The Years of Christ (1967 – a meditation on being or not > being mature as a man / human being), Deserters and Pilgrims (1968) Birds, > Orphans and Fools (1969), See You in Hell, My Friends (1969 – banned until > 1989). The mystification – developed by Jakubisko to an unprecedented level, > inspired by the traditions of the Slovak culture. > Another Slovak director, Juraj Herz, works at Prague and gives in 1968 the > excellent grotesque black comedy The Cremator, adapting a novel by Ladislau > Fuchs. Slovak motives very present (including the mystification), but the film > is talked in Czech and made at Barrandov > 1968: The troops of the Warsaw Pact (without Romania and Albania) invade > Czechoslovakia, which means also the end of the “Slovak New Wave”. > Czechoslovakia becomes a federal state, with The Slovak Socialist Republic as a > federation subject. > The “Normalization” Era: firm government control was regained over the film > industry, but the censorship is not so tough as in the Czech part of the > country. Some directors from Prague made films in Slovakia to avoid restrictions > on film-making in the Czech half of the federation, including Juraj Herz > (returning to his native country) and Jan Švankmajer. For a while, it seems the > quality center of the film production would shift from Prague to Bratislava. > Dušan Hanák: Pictures of the Old World (1972, acclaimed feature- length > documentary visiting remote, trapped places in order to meditate on what lies > hidden beneath the concept of "an authentic life"; stopped from releasing); Pink > Dreams (1976 – a sensible love story between a Roma girl and a Slovak boy, > coping with the delicate matter of the Roma minority in Slovakia) > Fever (Martin Hollý Jr., 1975 – the one and only Slovak official propaganda > feature film expressing the strong condemnation of the democratization in the > ´60s by the Communist Party) > Directors found sometime a refuge in the popular entertainment: Pacho, the > Highwayman of Hybe (Martin Ťapák's, 1976 – another variant of Janošík´s legend) > > The ´80s bring a certain relaxation and acclaimed directors from the 1960s who > had been able to make only short films (Juraj Jakubisko) or only an occasional > feature (Dušan Hanák) returned with important and mature works: The > Thousand-Year Old Bee (Jakubisko, 1983 – 50 years of Slovak history presented as > a family saga with elements of mystification; the film had problems at the > Venice film festival); She Grazed Horses on Concrete (Štefan Uher, 1982 – a love > drama of the time striking the dimensions of a generalů social drama), Signum > Laudis (Martin Hollý, 1980), I Love, You Love (Dušan Hanák, 1989), The Assistant > (Zoro Záhon, 1982), A Fountain for Susan (Dušan Rapo, 1986) > 1989: The fall of the communist regime (“The Velvet Revolution”) > 1993: Slovakia becomes again an independent state > The Post-Communist Era: A dramatic fall of the Slovak film production (only 36 > films with major Slovak participation between 1992 and 2002); a strong financial > crisis of the Slovak cinema; the Koliba studios politically privatized; The work > the work of the only major Slovak director to emerge in this period, Martin > Šulík has been more popular internationally, and particularly in the Czech > Republic and Poland, than in his native country. > A few important titles: Martin Šulík (Everything I Like (1992), The Garden > (1996) - lyrical films depicting a tense father-son relationships); Dušan > Hanák(Paper Heads, 1996), Vlado Balko (Rivers of Babylon, 1998 - a critical > allegory of prime minister Mečiar's rise to power); Juraj Jakoubisko (I´m > Sitting on an Branch and Feeling Great, 1991 – a war drama and an allegory of > the Czechoslovak federation destiny; It´s Better Being Fat And Sound Than Feeble > and Ill, 1992 – the second film concerning and criticizing the at that time > already predictible Czechoslovak separation; An Ambiguous Report about the End > of the World, 2000 – another allegoric mystification by Jakubisko in Prague); > Around 2000: The Slovak cinema seemed to be dying. A certain recovery appeared > around and after 2007: Soul at Peace (Vladimír Balko, 2009), Blind Loves (Slepé > lásky, 2008, Juraj Lehotský), Lady Báthory (Juraj Jakubisko, 2008 – an > international co-production, an European historical superproduction) > 1993: The international film festival in Třenčianské Teplice was started, meant > to be a “competition” for the Karlovy Vary one > 1999: A second international film festival was started in Bratislava in an > attempt to try and foster a better environment for making feature films and > larger appreciation among Slovak audiences.

LESSON 8

Romanian Cinema - Beginnings

> It started before 1900; first film screenings aroused public curiosity; > enthusiastic cameramen began making films out of passion. Early films were > actualities, very short (many less than one minute) one-shot scenes capturing > moments of everyday life. > The first cinematographic projection: May 27, 1896 (five months after the first > Lumière screening December 28,1895) – also a Lumière team; included L'Arrivée > d'un train en gare de La Ciotat. It started as an elite attraction, but became a > popular spectacle in Bucharest. > > 1897: The French cameraman Paul Menu (an employee of the Lumière brothers) shot > the first film set in Romania, The Royal Parade on May 10, 1897, showing King > Carol I on the head of a military parade. He made other 16 news items, but only > two survive today. June 8, 1897: the first screening of Menu´s Romanian films > > 1898-1899: Dr. Gheorghe Marinescu (with Menu´s camera he had bought) is making > short medically-themed films – considered as the first Romanian film director. > Together with the photographer Constantin M. Popescu, they made in 1898 the > first scientific film in the world, Walking difficulties in organic hemiplegia. > > July 29, 1924: In a letter to doctor Marinescu from 29 July 1924, speaking about > these films, Auguste Lumière acknowledges that "unfortunately, few scientists > followed the path you opened". Films recovered in 1975. > > 1906 and after: In Macedonia, the Aromanian Manakia brothers made a career with > their social and ethnographic themed actualities. > > 1898-1899 – It seems no more interest in film screenings. (Even Menu sold his > camera.) But the screenings resumed in Bucharest starting from 1905. May 1909: > the first movie theater in Romania – Volta/Bucharest. In Transylvania, the first > movie theater in Brasov – 1901. Other movie houses appeared. Programs: > actualities and short "little films with actors", inspired by the private / > public life of the theater actors of the time. Films gradually increased in > running time, developing into newsreels and fiction films. > > The Silent Era (1911–1930) > The first Romanian fiction films: The Doll (1911 – photographer Nicolae > Barbelian + Demichelli); Love in a Monastery/ Two Altars (1911, released 1914 – > script by the writers Victor Eftimiu + Emil Garleanu, directed by a certain > Georgescu), Fatal Love Affair (1911 – theater director Grigore Brezeanu), Spread > Yourselves, Daisies (1911 – Aristide Demetriade + Grigore Brezeanu; screened > during the theater performance with the same title – “laterna magika”; > successful). > Short screening periods (a couple of days); important role – the (screenplay) > writers > December 28, 1911: The 1877-1878 War (actor Constantin Nottara + dir. Raymond > Pellerin from Gaumont) screened for the censorship; aimed “making a patriotic > work re-creating the Romanian War of Independence on film”. The censorship > decides the film did not correspond with historic fact. The film is confiscated > and destroyed, Raymond Pellerin is declared persona non grata and he leaves for > Paris. > September 2, 1912: A new variant of a Romanian Independence War film is > released; initiative backed by authorities and the Army; a “national society” > appears with this goal; producers: Leon Popescu (a wealthy investor), Grigore > Brezeanu, Nottara); directors: Brezeanu + Aristide Demetriade. The cameras and > their operators - brought from abroad, the print was prepared in Parisian > laboratories. Photographer: Franck Daniau . Despite all its shortcomings as the > theatrical game of the actors, the errors of an army of extras uncontrolled by > direction which provoked unintended laughter in some scenes and rendered > dramatically limp those of the beginning, the film was well received by > spectators, being shown for several weeks. Romania's first step in the art of > cinematography + the first long feature film in the world. > Other titles afterwards, produced by Leon Popescu: The Love Affair of a > Princess) (1913), Revenge (1913), The Sky-borne Disaster (1913), The German's > Citadel (1914), The Spy (1914), with all but the penultimate proving to be well > below expectations. > 1913: Steel Takes Its Revenge (Aristide Demetriade – very successful, 40 > minute-long), Sketch with Jack Bill. > > 1914: The First World War starts; 1916 – Romania enters the war. The film > production directed toward documentaries and newsreels catching the king > Ferdinand on the front, together with generals, while Queen Marie was filmed in > hospitals, easing the suffering of patients. > > 1918: Following the WWI, al the Romanian historical territories are united into > one state. > > After the 1st WW, the state did not invest intro the film industry; no > specialist training, no financial means, Romanian actors unknown outside > Romania, so an active Romanian film industry was but a dream. Most of the > previously made films lost, other projects started, but unfinished. Leon > Popescu´s warehouse with films burnt, only The Romanian Independence saved. > > 1921: The first Romanian animated cartoon Păcală on the Moon (Aurel Petrescu). > All the films he made – lost. > 1923: The first finished and released co-production (Romanian- German) - The > Little Gypsy Girl in the Bedroom (Alfred Hallm) > > No financial resources for film, so directors and some actors become > “specialized” in the new art to seek financiers equally passionate and > disinterested. This is how some other films appeared around 1925 and later: > Cleopatra's Caprices (1925, Ion Şahighian + Jean Georgescu), Millionaire for a > Day (1925, Jean Georgescu), Lia (1927, Jean Georgescu), The Burden (1928, Jean > Georgescu), The Butler in the Harem (Marcel Blossoms + Kellerman. > Another possibility of financing film productions: forming a cooperative (each > would contribute with something. This is how other films appeared: Sin (1924, > Jean Mihail) Manasse (1925, Jean Mihail), The Legend of the Two Crosses) (1925, > Ghita Popescu), The Bravest of Our People (1926, Ghita Popescu), The Calamity > (1927, Ghita Popescu), Major Mura (1928, Jean Georgescu. > Another way of financing the film production: the film schools. Students' > tuition fees paid for the production of certain films: The Wishbone (1926), > Iancu Jianu (1927), (The Haiducs) (1929), The Boyars (1930), Snake Island > (1934), the penultimate one featuring an attempt at sound, and the last one > being a talkie. > Other interesting titles at the end of ´20s: The Symphony of Love (1928, Ion > Şahighian); Ecaterina Teodoroiu (1928, Niculescu-Bruma; in this film clips > filmed during the First World War of the great personages of the time appear; > the mother of Ecaterina Teodoroiu appeared as herself); Little George from > theRomanian Railways Society (1929, unfinished), The Dullard (animated by Marin > Iorda in 1928), A Mill Was Coming down the Siret (Martin Berger, 1929). > Another problem: finding a set for the film – no film studios. Films made in > flats, on the street, in warehouses, in theaters. On he other hand, the lack of > innovation in the field, due to a lack of materials and sometimes of > information, caused these suffering devotees of the new muse to play things by > ear, with many films showing weak artistry. Again, the intellectuals of the day > still considered cinematographic art to be a lowly sideshow, even if some of > them understood the immense potential of this art. > Romanian Talking Films (1930–1947) > Sound films and their appearance complicated even more the problem of the > technical base of the Romanian cinema. Only 16 films made from 1930 to 1939, > most of them dubbed variants of foreign films with Romanian actors. > Films with a more substanstial Romanian participation: > 1930: Ciuleandra (Martin Berger) – the first Romanian talking film, an artistic > fiasco because the of German actors speaking Romanian with German accent: > "How... are... you... father?". "Fine... dear..." > 1932 Tănase's Dream (Constantin Tanase – dir. + prod. + main part, Berlin > 1935: Bing Bang (Stroe and Vasilache – prod. engineer Argani) – a "humorous > musical" > > Some directors / filmmakers prefer emigrating: Jean Georgescu left for Paris, > where he added sound to his 1934 film, State in Bucharest (originally a silent > comedy), Jean Negulescu goes to Hollywood and becomes famous there – The Mask of > Demetrios (1944), How to Marry a Millionaire. Other ones change their > profession: Ion Şahighian left cinema for the theatre, Eftimie Vasilescu worked > as a newsreel photographer, only Jean Mihail remained a director based in > Romania, though he too had to do work abroad, participating in the dubbing of > films at Hunia-Film in Budapest and Barrandov in Czechoslovakia. > > 1934: Authorities realize the potential of the film art and A National Cinema > Fund is established, in order to create a material base for Romanian film > production. Romanian filmmakers began a flurry of activity, planning all sorts > of projects. > 1936-1937: A private investor, Tudor Posmantir, built a laboratory and a first > Romanian "film studio" was also built nearby – in fact a large wooden hangar, > but rather good for producing films. It was here that Ion Şahighian filmed An > Unforgettable Night (1939 – audience and critics success, proving the importance > of the good technical equipment. > > The end of the 1930s: The National Cinematographic Office was formed, initially > woring on a periodic newsreel program and on documentary production. The NCO. > produced the documentary Mots´Country (Paul Calinescu, 1938), receiving a prize > at the 1938 Venice Film Festival – the first international recognition for the > Romanian cinema. During the WWII, the NCO. was placed at the disposal of the > Army General Staff, the majority of cameramen being sent to the front, and > technicians being employed exclusively for the needs of wartime propaganda. > > 1939: The WWII begins. > 1940: Following the Munich Convention, Romania loses a big part of its territory > in favor of Soviet Union and Hungary. Romania goes to war as an ally of Germany, > attacking the Soviet Union > > 1943: The highest moment of the Romanian film production before the communist > era - the film A Stormy Night (Jean Georgescu). Completed in very difficult war > conditions at the NCO (a 18m x 11m room used as a studio) was completed between > 1941 and 1942 in the O.N.C. "studio". In the end, 29,000 m were shot. The film > adapted a theater play by Ion Luca Caragiale; excellent recovery of the time > when the story is placed (1874) and great work with the atmosphere, lights and > shadows. > > 1944, August 23rd: Romania gets to the part of the Allies, breaking the four > year-long alliance with Germany; subsequently, Romania is invaded and occupied > by the Soviet red Army > 1945: End of WWII > > 1946: A Winter Night's Dream (Jean Georgescu – A Romanian-Italian co-production) > with the same technical crew as for A Stormy Night. The poductions started still > durin the war. Other films made in co-production with Danish and Hungarian > studios, before communist got to power: Hello Bucharest, The Arizona Theft Two > Worlds and One Love The Lovers' Forest, (Cornel Dumitrescu) – all made in 1946. > Paul Calinescu´s Queen´s Valley entered into the 1946 Cannes Film Festival > > Cinema during Communism (1948–1989) > 1948, November 2: The Nationalization of the Romanian cinema. A period of > superficial propaganda films followed, as in all the other socialist countries. > But the communist state paid a big attention to the cinema industry, > understanding it´s propagandistic potential. That´s why the state massively > invested in the cinema industry, using this as an important propaganda item: > “the real start of the Romanian film industry = the communist era”. Result: > films excellently made from technical point of view, but superficial and > conventional at the level of the story. > 1949: The Institute of Cinematographic Art was founded, with a mission of > preparing the new cadres needed for the new cinema > 1950: Construction began at the The Buftea National Film Studio - the project > was finished in 1959. For the production of technical supplies needed by the > cinema industry The Tehnocin State Enterprise was founded in 1950. The Alexandru > Sahia Documentary film Studio was founded in 1950, making mainly propaganda > films and since 1954 also popular science films. > Animated film production developed (1955 – 15 films). An important name: Ion > Popescu Gopo (A Short History, 1957 - Palme d'Or for Best Short Film at Cannes. > 1964 – the Animafilm animated films studio founded. > 1971: Romania-Film Central) was founded, having under its authority C.P.C. > Buftea, the financing of film production through five studios, import- export and > the screening of films. > All this proves the enormous interest of the communist state in the cinema > industry. > > About the film production: > 1948: The Valley Resounds (Paul Calinescu) – a classical propaganda film. Almost > all the films coped with a thematic alike. > After Stalin´s death (1953), a certain relaxation of the censorship appears also > in Romania. The film production started to use the potential of the national > literature, as it happened also in the ´30s. The most important titles: > 1955: The Lucky Mill (Victor Iliu – Eisenstein´s student) entered into the 1957 > Cannes Film Festival – the first international recognition for the Romanian film > after the WWII. > 1956: The Protar Case (Haralambie Boros) - entered into the 1957 Cannes Film > Festival. > 1957: The Thorns from Baragan Plain (Louis Daquin) – the first international > co-production (with France) where Romania participated after the WWII. > 1959: Telegrams (Gheorghe Naghi – comedy) entered into the 1960 Cannes Film > Festival. > The ´60s come with other international successes for the Romanian cinema, mainly > in Cannes: Darclee (Mihai Iacob, 1961, entered) A Bomb Was Stolen (Ion > Popescu-Gopo, 1961, entered), Forest of the Hanged (Liviu Ciulei, 1964 - won the > Best Director Award) at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival The Uprising (Mircea > Mureşan, 1965 - won the Best First Work). Another interesting work is Tudor > (Lucian Bratu, 1962 – a historical and biographical film.) > > 1965: Nicolae Ceausescu comes to power, appearing as a democrat and forging an > alliance with Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia against the Soviet Union. > > 1969: Reconstruction (Lucian Pintilie) – the strongest Romanian anticommunist > film, immediately banned in Romania, but very successful abroad, especially in > the Occident. The director was to meet a lot of problems with the censorship > because of it. > 1970: A generation of directors graduates, which could have been the Romanian > New Wave in the ´60s, it there were any – the so called Generation ´70. The most > important names: the directors Dan Pita and Mircea Veroiu and the photographer > Dinu Tanase. The most important titles by the Generation ´70: The Stone Wedding > (1971 – Pita + Veroiu), The Spirit of the Gold (1972 – Pita + Veroiu), The > Competition (1979 – Pita, awarded at the Bombay International Film Festival), > Sand Hills (1983, Pita), A Step for Two (1985, Pita), The White Lace Dress > (1988, Pita), Luxury Hotel (1991, Pita – awarded at the Venice IFF). > > Beginning of the ´70s: Ceausescu is more and more becoming a Stalinist like > dictator and the censorship becomes again stronger and stronger. The film > directors try to seek refuge in metaphoric / allegoric films heavily > understandable by the censorship. > > Other interesting films in the ´70s and ´80s, besides the Generation ´70: > a) The anticommunist tendency > Lucian Pintilie, a director with a constantly anticommunist position and a > strong moral commitment: Sunday at 6 p.m (1971)., Room No. 6 (1976 - made in > Yugoslavia, where the director was forced to emigrate – an unique case when a > socialist country offers help to an artist from another, more dictatorial > socialist country), Why Do the Bells Ring (1982 – after the director was finally > allowed to come back and make films Romania, but after this film he would > emigrate again to France and come back only after 1989), The Balance (1992), > Unforgettable Summer (1997), A Torturer´s Afternoon (2003) > Mircea Daneliuc, another strongly anticommunist director, namely influenced by > the authenticity, means and style of the documentary film: The Ride (1975), > Microphone Test (1980 – a very courageous film about the Romanian youth at the > beginning of the ´80s), The Cruise (1981 – Romania´s way to the abyss presented > allegorically as a cruise on the Danube), Glissando (1984 – sharply censured), > Iacob (1988), The Snail´s Senator (1995 – entered the Cannes IFF). His creation > is very prolific (an average of one film by year), but not all his films are > convincing. > Together with Pita and Pintilie, Daneliuc represented the strongest force of the > anticommunist tendency within the Romanian cinema in the ´70s and ´80s. After > 1989 though, they seem to have loosen the key to the expectations of both the > audience and critics. > b) The moralizing tendency / the “masked critic” (films criticizing certain > aspects of the reality around, but without putting into question the communist > regime and coping a lot with the problems in the family: Mihai Constantinescu: A > Sunday Father (1974), The Solitude of Flowers (1975); Stere Gulea: The Green > Grass Back Home; Gheorghe Turcu: Loving and Leaving (1983); > c) Propaganda and war films: The Blue Gates of the City (Mircea Muresan, 1974), > We Wew 16 (Mircea George Cornea), Love and Revolution (Gheorghe Vitanidis, > 1983). > d) Historical films: Michael the Brave (Sergiu Nicolaescu, 1970), Cantemir > (Gheorghe Vitanidis, 1973), Flames on the Mountains (Mircea Moldovan, 1980) > e) Adaptations of literary sources (concerning especially the so called “little > rebirth of the Romanian film” in the ´80s: The Curse of Earth, the Curse of Love > (Mircea Muresan, 1980), The Mormomets (Stere Gulea, 1988) > f) Allegoric / Metaphoric films: The Pale Light of the Pain (Iulian Mihu, 1980), > Why Do the Bells Ring (Lucian Pintilie, 1982), Glissando (Mircea Daneliuc, > 1983) > g) Civil comedies: Bucharest Identity Card (Virgil Calotescu, 1982) and > propaganda comedies: Pacala (Geo Saizescu, 1974), The B.D. detective series > (Mircea Dragan, 1971), The Cubs´ Winter (Mircea Moldovan, 1977) > h) Entertainment / adventure: The Inspector Roman detective / propaganda series > (Sergiu Nicolaescu – a strange name for the Romanian cinema, a communist with > visionary ideas) > > 1989: The Romanian Anticommunist Revolution puts an end to the toughest > communist dictatorship in Central and Eastern Europe; it was the toughest and > the bloodiest uprising in this part of the world in 1989. > > The Romanian cinema after the fall of communism > A moral crisis, a generation gasp, a personality crisis. The formerly > anticommunist directors (Pita, Daneliuc, Pintilie) aren´t able to adapt to the > market economy film production conditions and their films are mostly failures. > The older generations of Romanian directors (ex-communist or not) privatize the > cinema industry and deprive the younger generations of filmmakers of the > possibility of accessing production funds. Analyzing the former regime and > proving their being opposed to it becomes an obstinate obsession of those > directors. Result: a ten year-long stagnation of the Romanian cinema with > unsuccessful films and almost no young directors appearing. Only two new names: > Radu Mihaileanu (Somewhere in the East, 1991 – afterwards he emigrates to France > and makes The Train of Live in 1999 and The Concert in 2009) and Nae Caranfil > (2007 The Rest is Silence – about the making of the film The Romanian > Independence, 2002 Filantropica, 1998 Dolce far niente, 1996 Asfalt tango, 1993 > E Pericoloso Sporgersi – influenced by Quentin Tarantino and anticipating the > narrative innovations and the poetic of the Romanian New Wave to appear after > the year 2000). > > The Romanian New Wave > 1998 – only one Romanian film > 1999 – no Romanian long feature film being made, only student films; talks start > about the “death” of the Romanian cinema > 2000 – Stuff and Dough (Cristi Puiu – entered the Directors´ Fortnight section > of the Cannes IFF) – the Romanian New Wave is here. A new generation of Romanian > directors appeared, rediscovering the laws of the law budget film, the stylistic > innovations of a “new wave” like movement (non-linear narration, authenticity of > stories and dialogs, natural settings, inspiration of the real authentic live > around them, film stories set mainly in the immediate contemporary time of the > filmmaking etc.). But mainly they don´t feel anymore the need of getting even > with the communist past, as their generation did not live so long in the > communism > 2002 – Occident (Cristian Mungiu - entered the Directors´ Fortnight section of > the Cannes IFF – innovative narration, interesting work with the private / > personal perspective) > 2003 – The Exam (Titus Muntean – about the “moral” exam of the Romanian society > 15 years after the anticommunist upraising) > 2005 - The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu, (Cristian Puiu - a journey through the > Romanian health care system - won the prize "Un certain regard");.The Paper Will > Be Blue (Radu Muntean – a war / Revolution drama) > 2006 - 12:08 East of Bucharest (Corneliu Porumboiu – one of the few Romanian > comedies after the 2000 won the Camera d'Or best-first-feature award at IFF > Cannes); The Way I Spent the End of the World (Catalin Mitulescu - competed in > the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes IFF); Ryna (Ruxandra Zenide – for now > the only lady director of the New Wave); Love Sick (Tudor Giurgiu – the first > Romanian film about a homosexual / lesbian love). > 2007 - California Dreamin' (Catalin Nemescu – the first and last young early > dead director´s film won the prize in the Un Certain Regard section); 4 Months, > 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Cristian Mungiu - received the Golden Palm in the Cannes IFF > - the first time a Romanian filmmaker won that prize). > 2008 - Megatron (Marian Crişan – won the Palme d'Or for short film at the Cannes > IFF); The Happiest Girl in the World (Radu Jude – an excellent impression at the > Berlin IFF) . > 2009 – the co-production Katalin Varga (with British director Peter Strickland - > won the New Talent Pix Award on the CPH:Pix film festival); Tales From the > Golden Age (Cristian Mungiu – entered the Un Certain Regard Section at the > Cannes IFF); Police, Adj. (Corneliu Porumboiu - entered the Un Certain Regard > Section at the Cannes IFF); > 2010: If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle (Florin Serban – awarded at the Berlin > IFF) > > Today, the Romanian cinema finally won an important place on the international > film stage and is mainly trying to remain there, to resist the harsh > competition. Otherwise, Romanian directors hit the same way as the Czech and the > Hungarian ones, but a little bit later: the trip to recovering / discovering a > narrative film tradition, to building a certain solid “commercial” mainstream > for their cinema, to (re-)learn the making of film stories.

LESSON 9

The Polish Cinema 1 (until 1960) - The Beginings

> First cinema in Poland (then part of the Russian Empire) - Łódź, 1899. By the > end of the next decade - cinemas in every major town. The first Polish filmmaker > - Kazimierz Prószyński - short documentaries in Warsaw. > > His pleograph film camera - patented before the Lumière brothers' invention. > Author - the earliest surviving Polish documentary Skating-rink in the Royal > Baths + the first short narrative films Rake's return home and Cabman's > Adventure - 1902. > > Another pioneer - Bolesław Matuszewski, the first filmmakers working for the > Lumière company + official "cinematographer" of the Russian tsars in 1897. He > wrote two of the earliest texts on cinema: Une nouvelle source de l'histoire > (Paris, 1898) and La photographie animée (1898). > > First surviving feature film, Antoś for the First Time in Warsaw – 1908, Antoni > Fertner -October 22, 1908 - the founding date of Polish film industry. Soon > Polish artists started experimenting with other genres of cinema: 1910 - > Władysław Starewicz - one of the first animated cartoons in the world - the > first to use the stop motion technique - Beautiful Lukanida. > > Start of World War I – very active cinema in Poland, numerous adaptations of > major works of Polish literature screened (notably The Story of Sin, An Obscure > Apostle by Elisa Orzeszowska) and On the Banks of Niemen by Elisa Orzeszowska). > > Meir Ezofowicz / An Obscure Apostle - Kazimierz Prószyński, 1911 > Mirele Efros – Andrzej Marek, 1912 > Black and White - Eugeniusz Modzelewski, 1919 > Master Tadeasz - Ryszard Ordynski, 1928 > On the Banks of Rad River - Aleksander Ford (the first film of a famouos Polish > director) > > End of WWI – Independent Poland > > > The ´30s – Beginnings of the sound films > melodramas, social thematics, comedies, adventure films, adaptations of literary > works by Polish writers > The most important names, some of their titles: > Janko the Music Player - Ryszard Ordynski, 1930, after Sienkiewicz > Dangerous Affair / Love Story - Michał Waszyński, 1930 + Lolek and Bolek, 1936 > (later traditional characters) > The National Newspaper - Aleksander Ford, 1930 > The Soldier and the Girl - Henryk Szaro, 1933 > Building - Wanda Jakubowska, 1934 (one of the first lady-directors in Central > Europe) > The Day of the Great Adventure - Joseph Lejtes, 1935 > Two Josias - Mieczysław Krawicz, 1935 > The Editor - Jan Nowina-Przybylski, 1937 > The Dancing Minister – Juliusz Gardan, 1937 > The Fear - Eugeniusz Cekalski and Karol Szolowski, 1938 > The Boundary (in Yiddish) - directed by Joseph Lejtes, 1938 (A strong Jewish > influence on the Inter-War Polish cinema – Jewish intelectuals in Warsaw / > Poland) > The Black Diamonds - Jerzy Gabryelski, 1939 > > 1938: Poland under Marshall Bém occupies a part of former Czechoslovakia, > divided between Germany, Hungary, Soviet Unoion and Poland > 1939: Poland itself attacked by Hitler, then by Stalin, occupied, divided > between Russia and Germany; > 1940: Katyń – massacre of Polish officers and intellectuals by the Red Army > > During WWII, almost no film production in occupied Poland > > 1944: Warsaw Uprising (Armada Krajówa) – defeated by Germans, bloody repression > 1945: End of War, Poland liberated / occupied by the Red Army; pressure – > socialist transformations; > 1948: Communists get to power; the People´s Republic of Poland; art, cinema > under censorship, superficial propaganda films (as everywhere in the communist > world) > > > Few quality films by the Inter-War era veterans: > 1951 Unvanquished City - Jerzy Zarzycki Entered into the 1951 Cannes Film > Festival > 1954 Five Boys from Barska Street - Aleksander Ford Entered into the 1954 Cannes > Film Festival > 1956: Kanał - Andrzej Wajda Entered into the 1957 Cannes Film Festival > > 1955- 1963: The Polish Film School / „The First Polish Cinema“ a group of Polish > film directors and screenplay writers – 1955-1963. > Influence of Italian neorealists. Liberal changes in Poland after 1956 – > possible to portray the complexity of Polish history during World War II and > German occupation. Most important topics: the generation of former Home Army > soldiers and their role in post-war Poland, the German concentration camps, the > Warsaw Uprising. Political changes – authors speak more openly of the recent > history of Poland. However, censorship still strong when it comes to history > after 1945 - only few films on the contemporary events (the major difference > towards the Italian neorealists). > > Important directors and titles > • Andrzej Wajda > • A Generation (1955) > • Kanal (1957) > • Ashes and Diamonds (1958) > • Man of Marble (1976) and Man of Iron (1981) > > • Andrzej Munk > • Man on the Tracks (1956) > • Heroism / Eroica (1958) > • Bad Luck (959) > • Passenger (1963, finished by Witold Lesiewicz) > > • Jerzy Kawalerowicz > • Shadow (956) > • The Real End of the Great War ( 1957) > • Night Train ( 1959) > • Mother Joan of the Angels ( 1961) > > • Wojciech Has > • Farewells ( 1958) > • How to Be Loved (1963) > > • Kazimierz Kutz > • Cross of Valor (1958) > • Nobody's Calling (1960) > • The People from the Train (1961) > > • Tadeusz Konwicki > • Winter Twilight (1957) > • The Last Day of Summer (1958) > • All Souls' Day (1961) > > • Stanisław Różewicz > • Free City (1958) > • Birth Certificate (1961) > > Andrzej Wajda's films offer insightful analyses of the universal element of the > Polish experience - the struggle to maintain dignity under the most trying > circumstances. His films defined several Polish generations. In 2000, Wajda was > awarded an honorary Oscar for his overall contributions to the cinematography. > > > Łódź Film School – very important for the Polish cinema > The Leon Schiller's National Higher School of Film, Television and Theatre in > Łódź - founded on March 8, 1948 in Łódź > Until 1958 the school existed as two completely different schools: one for > actors and the other for filmmakers. > Initially: The National Higher School of Theatre in Warsaw with seat in Łódź. > Its creator and the first rector was the renowned Polish actor Leon Schiller, > current namesake of the school. In 1949 it was divided into two branches; one > actually moved to Warsaw and the other one remained in Łódź under the > directorship of Kazimierz Dejmek (since 1950). > The most notable graduates of that period were Andrzej Munk, Janusz Morgenstern, > Andrzej Wajda and Kazimierz Kutz + 1954 Roman Polański. > Jerzy Toeplitz. Rector, 1956. Two of the students of the university (Jerzy > Matuszkiewicz and Witold Sobociński) - the first jazz musicians in Poland after > WWII to be allowed by the authorities to organize a jazz concert. > The School has three Oscar-winning alumni: Roman Polański, Andrzej Wajda and > Zbigniew Rybczyński. > > Famous graduates: > Directors: Feliks Falk, Kazimierz Karabasz, Dorota Kędzierzawska, Krzysztof > Kieślowski, nominated for an Academy Award, Kazimierz Kutz, Jan Machulski, > Juliusz Machulski, Andrzej Munk, Władysław Pasikowski, Marek Piwowski, Roman > Polański, Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe and Palme d'Or winner, Jerzy > Skolimowski, Piotr Szulkin, Piotr Trzaskalski, Andrzej Wajda, Academy Award and > BAFTA Award and Palme d'Or winner, Krzysztof Zanussi, Emily Young, BAFTA Award > winner > > Cinematographers: Paweł Edelman, nominated for an Academy Award and BAFTA Award, > Sławomir Idziak, nominated for an Academy Award, Edward Kłosiński, Jan Jakub > Kolski, Krzysztof Ptak, Zbigniew Rybczyński, Academy Award winner, Przemysław > Skwirczyński, Piotr Sobociński, nominated for an Academy Award, Witold > Sobociński, Dariusz Wolski > > Actors: Szymon Bobrowski, Barbara Brylska, Małgorzata Foremniak, Janusz Gajos, > Tomasz Konieczny, Jerzy Matuszkiewicz (jazz musician), Cezary Pazura, Pola > Raksa, Zbigniew Zamachowski

LESSON 10

Poland Cinema 2

> 1958 The climax of the Polish School: Andrzej Wajda’s Popiół i diament (Ashes > and Diamonds) starring Zbigniew Cybulski. Grand Prix at San Sebastian for > Tadeusz Chmielewski’s debut comedy Ewa chce spać (Ewa Wants to Sleep). Grand > Prix at Venice for Tadeusz Konwicki’s Ostatni dzień lata (Last Day of Summer). > Andrzej Munk’s Eroica portrays the tragic-grotesque face of Polish heroism. > Expressionistic Pętla (Noose) by Wojciech J. Has. As many as 3,329 cinemas in > operation. > 1959 Czesław Petelski’s Baza ludzi umarłych (Damned Roads), the main example of > “black realism,” Polish reworking of film noir, and neorealism. Krzyż walecznych > (Cross of Valor), Kazimierz Kutz’s debut. Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Pociąg (Night > Train, aka Baltic Express). > 1960 The first postwar historical epic, Aleksander Ford’s Krzyżacy (The Teutonic > Knights), an adaptation of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s novel, becomes the first > widescreen film in Eastmancolor and the most popular film ever screened in > Poland. Kazimierz Kutz’s Nikt nie woła (Nobody Is Calling), a film polemic with > Ashes and Diamonds. Andrzej Munk’s comedy Zezowate szczęście (Bad Luck, aka > Cockeyed Luck). Kazimierz Karabasz’s sociological documentary Muzykanci (Sunday > Musicians). The Communist authorities object to the pessimism of a number of > Polish films. > 1961 Andrzej Munk dies tragically. Matka Joanna od aniołów (Mother Joan of the > Angels), Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s classic tale about demonic possession. Ewa and > Czesław Petelski’s cruel ballad Ogniomistrz Kaleń (Artillery Sergeant Kaleń). > Stanisław Różewicz’s Świadectwo urodzenia (The Birth Certificate). The annual > production is twenty-four feature films. > 1962 Roman Polański’s feature debut, Nóż w wodzie (Knife in the Water), receives > nomination for an Academy Award in the Best Foreign Film category in 1964. > 1963 Wojciech J. Has’s classic film Jak być kochaną (How to Be Loved) winner of > the San Francisco Film Festival. Premiere of Pasażerka (The Passenger), Andrzej > Munk’s film finished by Witold Lesiewicz after Munk’s death in 1961. Jerzy > Bossak and Wacław Kaźmierczak’s Holocaust documentary Requiem dla 500 000 > (Requiem for 500,000). Jan Lenica’s Labirynt (Labyrinth) wins Oberhausen Film > Festival in the category of experimental short films. > 1964 War comedy by Tadeusz Chmielewski, Gdzie jest generał? (Where Is the > General?). Naganiacz (The Beater), Ewa and Czesław Petelski’s Holocaust drama. > Jerzy Hoffman and Edward Skórzewski’s “Eastern” Prawo i pięść (Law and Fist). > Stanisław Bareja’s comedy Żona dla Australijczyka (Wife for an Australian). > 1965 The highest number of cinema theaters in Poland’s history— 3,935, including > 381 mobile cinemas. Wojciech J. Has’s seminal work Rękopis znaleziony w > Saragossie (The Saragossa Manuscript). Jerzy Skolimowski’s films Rysopis > (Identification Marks: None) and Walkower (Walkover). Andrzej Wajda’s adaptation > Popioły (Ashes). Tadeusz Konwicki’s Salto (Somersault). First Polish television > series, Barbara i Jan (Barbara and Jan). > 1966 Celebration of the millennium of Poland’s baptism. Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s > epic adaptation of Bolesław Prus’s novel, Faraon (The Pharaoh). Jerzy > Skolimowski’s Bariera (The Barrier). Janusz Nasfeter’s Niekochana (Unloved). > Krzysztof Zanussi’s diploma film, Śmierć prowincjała (The Death of a > Provincial), wins awards at the Venice and Mannheim film festivals. Enormous > popularity of television series Czterej pancerni i pies (Four Tankmen and a Dog, > 1966–1967). Krzysztof Kieślowski produces his first short film, Tramwaj (The > Tram). First issue of film monthly Kino. The foundation of Stowarzyszenie > Filmowców Polskich (Polish Filmmakers Association). > 1967 Tragic death of Zbigniew Cybulski. Classic Polish comedy by Sylwester > Chęciński, Sami swoi (All among Ourselves). Westerplatte, Stanisław Różewicz’s > return to the September 1939 campaign. Henryk Kluba’s folk ballad Chudy i inni > (Skinny and Others). Jerzy Skolimowski’s Ręce do góry (Hands Up, released in > 1985). Popular television war series Stawka większa niż życie (More Than Life at > Stake, 1967–1968). > 1968 The March Events: student demonstrations in Warsaw. Anti- Semitic campaign > orchestrated by a nationalistic faction of the Communist Party. Censorship > tightened. Lalka (The Doll), Wojciech J. Has’s adaptation of Bolesław Prus’s > novel. Witold Leszczyński’s acclaimed Żywot Mateusza (The Life of Matthew). > Kazimierz Karabasz’s documentary Rok Franka W. (The Year of Franek W.). > 1969 Jerzy Hoffman’s adaptation of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s epic novel, Pan > Wołodyjowski (Pan Michael, aka Colonel Wolodyjowski), reaches ten million > viewers. Krzysztof Zanussi’s feature debut, Struktura kryształu (The Structure > of Crystals). Andrzej Wajda produces his most personal film, Wszystko na > sprzedaż (Everything for Sale), following the death of Zbigniew Cybulski in > 1967. Janusz Majewski makes Zbrodniarz, który ukradł zbrodnię (The Criminal Who > Stole a Crime), often cited as one of the best Polish crime films. > 1970 December: Workers’ strikes in the Baltic ports. Edward Gierek replaces > Władysław Gomułka as the new Communist Party leader. Andrzej Wajda’s Krajobraz > po bitwie (Landscape after Battle). Marek Piwowski’s cult comedy Rejs (The > Cruise). Kazimierz Kutz’s first part of the Silesian Trilogy, Sól ziemi czarnej > (Salt of the Black Earth). Janusz Nasfeter’s classic children’s film Abel, twój > brat (Abel, Your Brother). Andrzej Wajda’s adaptation of Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz’s > short story, Brzezina (Birchwood). Annual production of twenty-four feature > films. > 1971 Tadeusz Chmielewski’s comedy Nie lubię poniedziałku (I Hate Mondays). > Andrzej Trzos-Rastawiecki’s Trąd (Leprosy). Krzysztof Zanussi’s drama Życie > rodzinne (Family Life) and the celebrated television film Za ścianą (Next Door). > > 1972 Kazimierz Kutz’s Perła w koronie (The Pearl in the Crown) about the > Silesian miners’ strike in the 1930s. Tadeusz Konwicki’s filmic essay Jak daleko > stąd, jak blisko (How Far from Here, yet How Near). Janusz Morgenstern’s Trzeba > zabić tę miłość (Kill That Love). > 1973 Bohdan Poręba’s Hubal, a film about the legendary Major Dobrzański (Hubal). > Iluminacja (Illumination), Krzysztof Zanussi’s philosophical essay. Na wylot > (Through and Through, aka Clear Through), Grzegorz Królikiewicz’s > documentary-like film about a murder case. Andrzej Wajda’s adaptation of > Stanisław Wyspiański’s stage play Wesele (The Wedding). Janusz Majewski’s > Zazdrość i medycyna (Jealousy and Medicine). > 1974 Jerzy Hoffman’s popular adaptation of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s Potop (The > Deluge). Sylwester Chęciński’s comedy Nie ma mocnych (Big Deal). First Festival > of Polish Films in Gdańsk (since 1991 in Gdynia). Grand Prix (“Gdańsk Lions”) > goes to The Deluge. > 1975 Hoffman’s The Deluge receives an Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Film > category. Andrzej Wajda’s Ziemia obiecana (The Promised Land) wins festivals in > Chicago, Moscow, and Valladolid. It also wins the Festival of Polish Films in > Gdańsk together with another popular Polish film, Noce i dnie (Nights and Days), > Jerzy Antczak’s adaptation of Maria Dąbrowska’s novel. Bilans kwartalny (Balance > Sheet, aka A Woman’s Decision), Krzysztof Zanussi’s classic film starring Maja > Komorowska. Walerian Borowczyk’s Dzieje grzechu (The Story of Sin). > 1976 Workers’ protests in several Polish cities. Krzysztof Kieślowski’s films > Blizna (The Scar) and Spokój (Calm, released in 1980) originate the Cinema of > Distrust (aka Cinema of Moral Concern/Anxiety). Andrzej Wajda’s The Promised > Land receives an Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Film category. Some 144 > million viewers visit Polish cinemas, including 45 million to see Polish films > (twenty-eight released). > 1977 Andrzej Wajda’s seminal film about Stalinism, Człowiek z marmuru (Man of > Marble), starring Krystyna Janda and Jerzy Radziwiłowicz, is ignored by the > judges of the Festival of Polish Films. Krzysztof Zanussi’s political satire > Barwy ochronne (Camouflage) wins the Festival of Polish Films (Zanussi declines > the award). Sylwester Chęciński’s popular comedy Kochaj albo rzuć (Love It or > Leave It). Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Film category for Jerzy > Antczak’s Nights and Days. > 1978 Foundation of the Katowice Film School. Stanisław Bareja’s satire Co mi > zrobisz jak mnie złapiesz (What Will You Do with Me when You Catch Me). > Krzysztof Zanussi’s meditation on death, Spirala (Spiral). Grzegorz > Królikiewicz’s film about social advancement and social uprooting, Tańczący > jastrząb (Dancing Hawk). Wodzirej (Top Dog), Feliks Falk’s metaphor for the > Polish reality starring Jerzy Stuhr. Tadeusz Chmielewski’s moody thriller Wśród > nocnej ciszy (In the Still of the Night). Stanisław Różewicz’s Pasja (Passion) > and Andrzej Wajda’s Bez znieczulenia (Rough Treatment) win the Festival of > Polish Films. October: The archbishop of Kraków, Karol Wojtyła, elected pope as > John Paul II. > 1979 Pope’s triumphant visit to Poland in June. Agnieszka Holland’s Aktorzy > prowincjonalni (Provincial Actors). Krzysztof Kieślowski’s meditation on > filmmaking, Amator (Camera Buff), wins Moscow and Chicago (1980) film festivals > and the Festival of Polish Films. Filip Bajon’s nostalgic Aria dla atlety (Aria > for an Athlete). Literary adaptations by Andrzej Wajda, Panny z Wilka (The Maids > of Wilko), and Wojciech Marczewski, Zmory (Nightmares). > 1980 Barbara Sass’s Bez miłości (Without Love). Krzysztof Zanussi’s films about > corruption, compromise, and moral choices: Constans (The Constant Factor) and > Kontrakt (Contract). Piotr Szulkin’s dystopian Golem. Paciorki jednego różańca > (Beads of One Rosary), Kazimierz Kutz’s portrayal of modern Silesia, wins the > Festival of Polish Films. Forty premieres of Polish films. Wajda’s The Maids of > Wilko receives an Oscar nomination in the Best Foreign Film category. (August) > Eruption of workers’ protests. Emergence of a mass-supported movement > “Solidarność” (Solidarity). > 1981 Rapid decline in cinema attendance partly due to the gradual elimination of > films from the West (only fourteen in 1981). Andrzej Chodakowski and Andrzej > Zajączkowski’s documentary Robotnicy ’80 (Workers 1980). Człowiek z żelaza (Man > of Iron), Andrzej Wajda’s sequel to Man of Marble, wins the Cannes Film > Festival. Dreszcze (Shivers), Wojciech Marczewski’s coming-of-age story set in > the 1950s. Agnieszka Holland’s Kobieta samotna (A Woman Alone, released in > 1988). Stanisław Bareja’s cult political satire Miś (Teddy Bear). Krzysztof > Kieślowski’s philosophical parable on human destiny, Przypadek (Blind Chance, > released in 1987). Agnieszka Holland’s Gorączka (Fever) wins the Festival of > Polish Films. The foundation of the new experimental production collective, the > Karol Irzykowski Film Studio. 13 December: Imposition of martial law by General > Wojciech Jaruzelski. Polish Filmmakers Association suspended. > 1982 Ban on several films made or released during the Solidarity period (e.g., > Man of Iron). Ryszard Bugajski’s film about the Stalinist period, Przesłuchanie > (Interrogation, released in 1989), starring Krystyna Janda, is seen on illegal > video copies. Witold Leszczyński’s Konopielka, based on a popular novel by > Edward Redliński. Janusz Zaorski’s examination of Stalinism, Matka królów (The > Mother of Kings, released in 1987). Juliusz Machulski’s popular retro- gangster > comedy Vabank (Va banque). Marczewski’s Shivers receives Silver Bear and > FIPRESCI awards at the Berlin Film Festival. > 1983 Lech Wałęsa receives Nobel Peace Prize. Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Austeria (The > Inn). Andrzej Wajda’s Polish-French coproduction Danton, based on Stanisława > Przybyszewska’s play Sprawa Dantona (The Danton Affair). Antoni Krauze’s > Prognoza pogody (Weather Forecast). Zbigniew Rybczyński’s animated short film > Tango receives an Oscar award. > 1984 Despite steady decline in attendance and gloomy economic and political > situation, a record number of viewers visit Polish cinemas—127.6 million. Polish > films (thirty-two premieres) are seen by 56.6 million viewers, in particular > Juliusz Machulski’s comedy Seksmisja (Sex Mission, 13 million viewers). > Krzysztof Zanussi’s Rok spokojnego słońca (Year of the Quiet Sun) receives > Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s The Inn wins the > Festival of Polish Films (not organized in 1982 and 1983). > 1985 Krzysztof Kieślowski’s political drama about the martial law reality, Bez > końca (No End). Stanisław Różewicz’s subtle morality play Kobieta w kapeluszu (A > Woman with a Hat) wins the Festival of Polish Films. Andrzej Barański’s > realistic Kobieta z prowincji (A Provincial Woman, aka Life’s Little Comforts). > Wiesław Saniewski’s celebrated prison film Nadzór (Custody). Popular film debut > by Radosław Piwowarski, Yesterday. Record number of Polish premieres—forty-five. > > 1986 Popularity of adaptations of national literature such as Dziewczęta z > Nowolipek (The Girls from Nowolipki) and Rajska jabłoń (Crab Apple Tree), both > directed by Barbara Sass. Ryszard Ber’s Cudzoziemka (Foreigner). Janusz > Majewski’s C. K. Dezerterzy (Deserters). Witold Leszczyński’s Siekierezada > (Axiliad) wins the Festival of Polish Films. Jerzy Zaorski’s Jezioro Bodeńskie > (Bodensee) wins the Locarno Film Festival. > 1987 New film legislation abolishes the state monopoly in the sphere of film > production and distribution. Zbigniew Kuźmiński’s Nad Niemnem (On the Niemen > River), an adaptation of Eliza Orzeszkowa’s novel, dominates the box office. > Filip Bajon’s epic Magnat (The Magnate). Waldemar Krzystek’s W zawieszeniu > (Suspended) about the impact of Stalinism. Janusz Zaorski’s Mother of Kings, > banned since 1982, wins the Festival of Polish Films. 1988 Krzysztof > Kieślowski’s Decalogue, famous ten-part series of contemporary television films > referring to the Ten Commandments. Two extended feature versions of Decalogue, > Krótki film o miłości (A Short Film about Love) and Krótki film o zabijaniu (A > Short Film about Killing), receive international acclaim and win the Festival of > Polish Films. > 1989 The peaceful transition from the totalitarian system to democracy. Tadeusz > Mazowiecki forms the first non-Communist government in postwar Polish history. > Juliusz Machulski’s pastiche of gangster cinema, Deja vu (Déjà vu). Leszek > Wosiewicz’s Kornblumenblau about World War II and wartime suffering. The film > 300 mil do nieba (300 Miles to Heaven), directed by Maciej Dejczer, wins the > European Film Award (the “Feliks”) as the Young European Film of the Year. The > premiere of Interrogation, banned since 1982. > 1990 American films began to dominate the Polish market (as much as 73 percent > in 1992). Andrzej Wajda’s Korczak, a film about Dr. Janusz Korczak’s martyrdom > and legend. Kramarz (The Peddler), Andrzej Barański’s portrayal of provincial > Poland. Radosław Piwowarski’s Marcowe migdały (March Almonds). Wojciech > Marczewski’s Ucieczka z kina “Wolność” (Escape from “Freedom” Cinema) wins the > Festival of Polish Films. Historia niemoralna (An Immoral Story) by Barbara > Sass. Premiere of twenty-two Polish films (the average number of films since > 1990). (December) Lech Wałęsa’s presidential victory. > 1991 Creation of the Script, Production, and Distribution Agencies to stimulate > and protect the local film industry. Władysław Pasikowski’s debut, Kroll, a dark > portrayal of the military. Podwójne życie Weroniki (The Double Life of > Veronique), Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Polish-French coproduction. Jan Jakub > Kolski’s well-received debut Pogrzeb kartofla (The Burial of a Potato). No Grand > Prix at the Festival of Polish Films. > 1992 Poland joins the Eurimages Foundation. Krzysztof Zanussi’s multinational > (Polish, British, Danish) Dotknięcie ręki (The Silent Touch). Władysław > Pasikowski’s film about the 1989 political transition in Poland, Psy (The Pigs), > starring Bogusław Linda, considered a cult film among young viewers. Rozmowy > kontrolowane (Controlled Conversations), Sylwester Chęciński’s comedy about the > introduction of martial law. Wszystko co najważniejsze (Everything of Utmost > Importance), Robert Gliński’s film about Poles deported by Stalin to Kazakhstan, > wins the Festival of Polish Films. > 1993 Jańcio Wodnik (Johnnie the Aquarius), the essence of writer- director Jan > Jakub Kolski’s magic-realist style. Grzegorz Królikiewicz’s Przypadek > Pekosińskiego (The Case of Pekosiński) and Radosław Piwowarski’s Kolejność uczuć > (The Sequence of Feelings) win the Festival of Polish Films. Trzy Kolory: > Niebieski (Three Colors: Blue), Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Polish-French- Swiss > coproduction, wins Venice Film Festival. First International Festival of the Art > of Cinematography “Camerimage” in Toruń (since 2000 in Łódź). > 1994 Kazimierz Kutz triumphs at the Festival of Polish Films. His political > tragedy Śmierć jak kromka chleba (Death as a Slice of Bread) receives the > Special Award of the Jury and political comedy Zawrócony (The Turned Back) is > awarded the Grand Prix. Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Trzy kolory: Biały (Three Colors: > White) wins Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. Kieślowski’s Trzy kolory: > Czerwony (Three Colors: Red) receives, among other honors, three Academy Award > nominations (in 1995) and New York Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign > Language Film. Dorota Kędzierzawska’s art-house success Wrony (Crows). Strong > Polish involvement in Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List. Allan Starski (set > design), Ewa Braun (costumes), and Janusz Kaminski (who lives permanently in > United States, cinematography) receive Oscar awards. > 1995 Aleksander Kwaśniewski is elected president. Juliusz Machulski’s Girl Guide > wins the Festival of Polish Films. Maciej Ślesicki’s action melodrama Tato > (Daddy). Pokuszenie (Temptation), Barbara Sass’s examination of the Stalinist > period. > 1996 Poland joins NATO. Krzysztof Kieślowski’s premature death at the age of > fifty-four. Krzysztof Zanussi’s semiautobiographical Cwał (In Full Gallop), > Krzysztof Krauze’s political thriller Gry uliczne (Street Games), and Filip > Bajon’s Poznań 56 (Street Boys) receive special awards at the Festival of Polish > Films (no Grand Prix awarded in 1996). Jacek Bromski’s comedy Dzieci i ryby > (Seen but Not Heard). Kazimierz Kutz’s popular political comedy about the > Stalinist period, Pułkownik Kwiatkowski (Colonel Kwiatkowski). The number of > Polish films released: twenty-one. > 1997 Jerzy Stuhr’s Historie miłosne (Love Stories), winner of the Festival of > Polish Films. Gangster comedy Kiler, Juliusz Machulski’s box-office success. > Leszek Wosiewicz’s Kroniki domowe (The Family Events). Sławomir Kryński’s Księga > wielkich życzeń (The Book of Great Wishes). > 1998 Jan Jakub Kolski’s Historia kina w Popielawach (The History of Cinema > Theater in Popielawy) wins the Festival of Polish Films. Jacek Bromski’s comedy > U pana boga za piecem (Snug as a Bug in a Rug). Witold Adamek’s Poniedziałek > (Monday). > 1999 Epic adaptations of the national literary canon, Jerzy Hoffman’s Ogniem i > mieczem (With Fire and Sword) and Andrzej Wajda’s Pan Tadeusz, are the most > successful films to have premiered in Poland after 1992. With their help, Polish > films share an unprecedented 60 percent of the local market. Krzysztof Krauze’s > celebrated film about the weakness of law, Dług (Debt), wins the Festival of > Polish Films. Jerzy Stuhr’s Tydzień z życia mężczyzny (A Week in the Life of a > Man). Lech Majewski’s biopic Wojaczek. First annual film awards, Polskie Nagrody > Filmowe “Orły” (Polish Film Awards “Eagles”), granted by the members of Polska > Akademia Filmowa (Polish Film Academy). > 2000 Andrzej Wajda receives an American Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. > Jan Jakub Kolski’s Holocaust drama Daleko od okna (Keep Away from the Window). > Jerzy Stuhr’s Duże zwierzę (The Big Animal). Teresa Kotlarczyk’s film about the > internment of the Polish Catholic primate Stefan Wyszyński, Prymas. Trzy lata z > tysiąclecia (The Primate: Three Years Out of the Millennium). Krzysztof > Zanussi’s Życie jako śmiertelna choroba przenoszona drogą płciową (Life as a > Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease) wins the Festival of Polish Films and the > Moscow Film Festival. > 2001 Henryk Sienkiewicz’s popular adaptations, Gavin Hood’s W pustyni i w > puszczy (In Desert and Wilderness), and Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s Quo Vadis. With a > budget of eighteen million dollars, Quo Vadis becomes the most expensive Polish > film ever made. Robert Gliński’s realistic Cześć Tereska (Hi, Tereska) wins the > Festival of Polish Films. Andrzej Wajda founds his private film school, > Mistrzowska Szkoła Reżyserii Filmowej Andrzeja Wajdy (Andrzej Wajda Master > School of Film Directing). > 2002 Marek Koterski’s bitter comedy Dzień świra (The Day of the Wacko) wins the > Festival of Polish Films. Piotr Trzaskalski’s well-received debut Edi. > Przemysław Wojcieszek’s Głośniej od bomb (Louder Than Bombs). Roman Polański’s > Holocaust epic Pianista (The Pianist, French-Polish-German-British coproduction) > receives international acclaim and three Academy Awards, including Best Director > for Polański. Andrzej Wajda’s adaptation of Aleksander Fredro’s classic play, > Zemsta (Revenge). > 2003 Jerzy Stuhr’s Pogoda na jutro (Tomorrow’s Weather). Konrad Niewolski’s > prison film Symetria (Symmetry). Dariusz Gajewski’s Warszawa wins the Festival > of Polish Films. Andrzej Jakimowski’s Zmruż oczy (Squint Your Eyes). Ryszard > Brylski’s Żurek (White Soup). > 2004 Poland joins the European Union. Krzysztof Krauze’s biopic Mój Nikifor (My > Nikifor) about the “primitive” painter known as Nikifor Krynicki receives > critical acclaim in Poland and wins awards at film festivals in Chicago and > Karlovy Vary. Magdalena Piekorz’s first film, Pręgi (The Welts), wins the > Festival of Polish Films. Juliusz Machulski’s crime comedy Vinci. Wojciech > Smarzowski’s social satire Wesele (The Wedding). > 2005 Founding of the Polish Film Institute (PISF). Feliks Falk’s Komornik (The > Debt Collector) wins the main award at the Festival of Polish Films. Wosiewicz’s > Rozdroże café (The Crossroads Café) and Zanussi’s Persona non grata receive > critical recognition. > 2006 Several film retrospectives and filmic events commemorate the tenth > anniversary of Kieślowski’s death. Plac Zbawiciela (Savior Square), directed by > Krzysztof Krauze and Joanna Kos-Krauze, wins the Festival of Polish Films.