Postcommunist Film - Russia, Eastern Europe and World Culture: Moving Images of Post-Communism

217 Pages·2012·3.991 MB·English

by  Kristensen, Lars Lyngsgaard Fjord

Postcommunist Film – Russia, Eastern
Europe and World Culture
A postcommunistcondition was created through the fall of the Berlin Wall and
latertheSovietEmpire,andthisbooklooksathowthisconditionhasmanifested
itself globally in the production of postcommunist film. It deals with different
nationalcinemasanddissimilarcinematicmodes,fromRussianblockbustercin-
ematoChineseindependentcinema,fromSerbiancityfilmstorevolutionaryfilms
of Mozambique, all formulated within the postcommunist condition. Attempt-
ing to illustrate history’s role in the formation of the postcommunist film, the
bookaimsatmovingthenotionofpostcommunistfilmawayfromanexclusively
geographical foundation and into the realm of transnational cinema and World
cinema. Seeking to describe how postcommunism is a shared experience on a
geopolitical level and not limited by the borders of national states, it examines
postcommunist cross-culturalism and the rise of a global totalitarianism within
film. The chapters explore a wide range of films in relation to the postcommu-
nist era, fromsmall andlow-budgetfilmmakingto mainstream,popularcinema,
and explainpostcommunistsignifiersas manifestedin visualcultureboth inside
andoutsideformer,andcurrent,communistcountries.Thecontributorsconsistof
youngemergingscholars;predominantlyfromfilmandmediastudies,aswellas
morewell-knownnameswithinthefieldofEasternEuropeancinema.
LarsKristensenisaResearchAssistantattheSchoolofJournalism,Mediaand
Communication,UniversityofCentralLancashire,UK.
Routledge Contemporary Russia andEastern Europe Series
1 LiberalNationalisminCentral 8 TheDevelopmentofCapitalism
Europe inRussia
StefanAuer SimonClarke
2 Civil-MilitaryRelationsin 9 RussianTelevisionToday
RussiaandEasternEurope PrimetimeDramaandComedy
DavidJ.Betz DavidMacFadyen
3 TheExtremeNationalistThreat 10 TheRebuildingofGreater
inRussia Russia
TheGrowingInfluenceofWestern Putin’sForeignPolicytowardsthe
RightistIdeas CISCountries
ThomasParland BertilNygren
4 EconomicDevelopmentin 11 ARussianFactoryEntersthe
Tatarstan MarketEconomy
GlobalMarketsandaRussian ClaudioMorrison
Region
LeoMcCann 12 DemocracyBuildingand
CivilSocietyinPost-Soviet
5 AdaptingtoRussia’sNew Armenia
LabourMarket ArmineIshkanian
GenderandEmploymentStrategy
EditedbySarahAshwin 13 NATO-RussiaRelationsinthe
Twenty-FirstCentury
6 BuildingDemocracyandCivil
AurelBraun
SocietyEastoftheElbe
EssaysinHonourofEdmund 14 RussianMilitaryReform
Mokrzycki AFailedExerciseinDefence
EditedbySvenEliaeson DecisionMaking
CarolinaVendilPallin
7 TheTelengitsofSouthern
Siberia 15 TheMultilateralDimensionin
Landscape,Religionand RussianForeignPolicy
KnowledgeinMotion EditedbyElanaWilsonRoweand
AgnieszkaHalemba StinaTorjesen
16 RussianNationalismandthe 25 TheHeritageofSovietOriental
NationalReassertionofRussia Studies
EditedbyMarlèneLaruelle EditedbyMichaelKemperand
StephanConermann
17 TheCaucasus–An
Introduction
26 ReligionandLanguagein
FrederikCoene
Post-SovietRussia
18 RadicalIslamintheFormer BrianP.Bennett
SovietUnion
27 JewishWomenWritersinthe
EditedbyGalinaM.Yemelianova
SovietUnion
19 Russia’sEuropeanAgendaand RinaLapidus
theBalticStates
JaninaŠleivytë 28 ChineseMigrantsinRussia,
CentralAsiaandEastern
20 RegionalDevelopmentin
Europe
CentralandEasternEurope
EditedbyFelixB.Changand
DevelopmentProcessesand
SunnieT.Rucker-Chang
PolicyChallenges
EditedbyGrzegorzGorzelak, 29 Poland’sEUAccession
JohnBachtlerand SergiuszTrzeciak
MaciejSmêtkowski
30 TheRussianArmedForcesin
21 RussiaandEurope
Transition
ReachingAgreements,Digging
Economic,Geopoliticaland
Trenches
InstitutionalUncertainties
KjellEngelbrektand
EditedbyRogerN.McDermott,
BertilNygren
BertilNygrenand
22 Russia’sSkinheads CarolinaVendilPallin
ExploringandRethinking
31 TheReligiousFactorinRussia’s
SubculturalLives
ForeignPolicy
HilaryPilkington,
AlicjaCuranoviæ
ElenaOmel’chenkoand
Al’binaGarifzianova 32 PostcommunistFilm–Russia,
23 TheColourRevolutionsinthe EasternEuropeandWorld
FormerSovietRepublics Culture
SuccessesandFailures MovingImagesof
EditedbyDonnachaÓBeacháin Postcommunism
andAbelPolese EditedbyLarsLyngsgaard
FjordKristensen
24 RussianMassMediaand
ChangingValues 33 RussianMultinationals
EditedbyArjaRosenholm, FromRegionalSupremacyto
KaarleNordenstrengand GlobalLead
ElenaTrubina AndreiPanibratov
Postcommunist Film –
Russia, Eastern Europe
and World Culture
Moving images of postcommunism
Edited by Lars Kristensen
Thiseditionpublished2012
byRoutledge
2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,Oxon,OX144RN
SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
byRoutledge
711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017
RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness
(cid:2)c 2012forselectionandeditorialmaterial,LarsKristensen.Individualchapters,
thecontributors.
Therightoftheeditortobeidentifiedastheauthoroftheeditorialmaterial,
andoftheauthorsfortheirindividualchapters,hasbeenassertedinaccordance
withsections77and78oftheCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproduced
orutilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,
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BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Kristensen,Lars.
Postcommunistfilm:Russia,EasternEuropeandworldculture:
movingimagesofpostcommunism/editedbyLarsLyngsgaardFjordKristensen.
p.cm.–(RoutledgecontemporaryRussiaandEasternEuropeseries)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
1.Motionpictures–Socialaspects–Russia(Federation)
2.Motionpictures–Politicalaspects–Russia(Federation)
3.Motionpictures–Socialaspects–Europe,Eastern.
4.Motionpictures–Politicalaspects–Europe,Eastern.
5.Post-communism–Socialaspects–Russia(Federation)
6.Post-communism–Socialaspects–Europe,Eastern.
I.Kristensen,LarsLyngsgaardFjord.
PN1993.5.R9P652012
302.23’430947–dc23 2011032405
ISBN13:978-0-415-67164-4(hbk)
ISBN13:978-0-203-13115-2(ebk)
TypesetinTimesNewRomanbySunriseSettingLtd,Torquay,UK
Contents
Figures ix
Foreword x
Acknowledgements xiii
Notesoncontributors xiv
Introduction 1
LARSKRISTENSEN
PART I
Culturalstrategies,industryandreception 11
1 Nationalidentityinpost-9/11transnationalcinema 13
JASMIJNVANGORP
2 Balticcinema 24
ZOEAIANO
3 BelgradeasNewYork 35
VLASTIMIRSUDAR
4 ‘Haven’tyouheardofinternationalism?’ 53
ROSGRAY
5 Theremainsofsocialistrealism 75
LARSKRISTENSEN
6 SpottingtheeagleonAnglophoneturf 89
BRUCEWILLIAMS
PART II
People,placeandnation 105
viii Contents
7 Demolish,preserveorbeautify 107
EWAMAZIERSKA
8 Treadingnewpaths 121
SUNEBECHMANNPEDERSEN
9 ThecrimethatchangedSerbia 134
NEVENADAKOVIC´
10 Projectednationandprojectedself 143
YUN-HUACHEN
11 Truancy,orthoughtfromtheprovinces 154
YÜNPENG
12 RepresentationsofformerUSSRandEasternEuropean
identityinTurkishcinema 171
SERAZERPEKERMAN
References 183
Index 194
Figures
3.1 RatkoDraževic´(firstfromright)talkingtoKirkDouglas(tohis
left)inBelgrade,1964 39
4.1 Mobilecinemaunit,fromtheKuxakanemanewsreel 65
4.2 PosterforJoséCardoso’sOVentosopredonorte(1987) 68
4.3 ThefilmcrewforLicínioAzevedo’sAdeusRDA(1992)confronts
agroupofneo-NazisinrecentlyunifiedGermany 70
4.4 WilsonBuyayaasIdrissainOktyabr(1993) 71
6.1 PosterforKujtimÇashku’sMagicEye 91
6.2 BujarLakoandArtaDobroshiinÇashku’sMagicEye 97
6.3 YllkaMujoandMevlanShanajinShanaj’sBlackFlowers 100
7.1 SvetlanaKhodchenkovaasVerainLittleMoscow(2008) 110
7.2 SvetlanaKhodchenkovaasVeraandLesławZ˙urekasMichałin
LittleMoscow(2008) 111
7.3 MałgorzataBuczkowskaasAgaandBarbaraKurzajasDankain
OdetoJoy(2005) 114
8.1 Udo(WolfgangStumph)fixinghiscarfrom‘theolddays’ 124
8.2 Rita(MarieGruber)shoppingintheWest 126
8.3 Radek(RadekPastrnˇák)strugglestocourtAnna(Anna
Geislerová)inJízda(TheRide)1994 128
8.4 AdorablecountrysideinJízda(TheRide)1994 129
Foreword
Global narratives of postcommunism
Dina Iordanova
Everythingthattookplaceafter1989inEasternEuropeandbeyondcanbesub-
sumed underthe categoryof changemanagement.The dissolution of the Soviet
Unionand Yugoslaviaand their respectiveconflicts of succession,the reunifica-
tionofGermany,theeconomiccrises,thesignificantoutmigration,theadmission
ofsomenations–oldandnew–intotheEuropeanUnion,thealienationofoth-
ers, and so on – all were consequences of one of the most wide-ranging social
upheavalsofthelatterpartofthetwentiethcentury.Thestatesocialistorderhad
failed to deliver.A softrevolution,shapedby expectationsof reinvigorationand
based on hopes for rapid reinvention and prosperity, gave impetus to massive
changeacrossterritoriesandcontinents.
Duringtheyearsofcommunism,lifeinEasternEuropehadbeenmarkedbythe
anticipationofchange.ItwascleartothosetrappedintheconfinesoftheEastern
Blocthatitwaslikelytheywouldhavetomakeimportantchoicessometimesoon;
astimepassed,thesignalssuggestingthatthesystemcouldnotpossiblysurvive
without rupture intensified. While a breakthroughwas awaited, however, it was
difficulttopredictpreciselywhenandinwhatshapeitwouldarrive.
Intheaftermath,itgraduallytranspiredthatwithintheEasternBlocpeoplehad
behaveddifferentlyintheiranticipationofcommunism’send:somehadactively
worked to bring it about, some had tried to figure out in which direction things
were likely to take off, while others had no more than a vague idea about what
theirlivesweretobecome.Individuals,organizationsandcountriesmanagedthe
changedifferently.The behaviorof nationstates oftenresembledthe conductof
individuals: some were better equipped for the change; others were caught by
surprisewhenitcame.
Thereisnouniversallyagreedupon,masternarrativeofthedevelopmentsthat
took place in the aftermath of communism.One way of telling the story was to
maintain that, once liberated from the iron grip of the Soviets, the countries of
Eastern Europe finally took to the path of free capitalism and democracy and
managed to progress, soon rejoining the rest of Europe, where they had always
belonged,historicallyandculturally.Anotheraccount–onemorefrequentlyseen
infilms–offeredmoreambivalentinterpretations,oftenkeepingthefocusonthe
highhumancostofthetransition.