The Paradoxes of East-Central European Cinema (2011)

Undergraduate: Allison Howard

Faculty Advisor: Chad Bryant
Department: History

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When a totalitarian regime is the gatekeeper to artistic production, artists may form a paradoxical relationship with the state. This dynamic arose under the communist regimes of Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, and shaped the films conceived and produced in this Communist system.

In each of these countries, the cinema was internationally celebrated for speaking out against the political system that suppressed it. Paradoxical relationships were created between filmmakers and the government, one where Soviet implementation saved the film cultures and industries of the respective countries, and one where a supposedly oppressive system financed the films, educated the filmmakers, and allowed the films the opportunities to be critically successful on the international circuit and commercially successful with audiences.

Many in the film industry thought the end of Communism would bring freedom and prosperity. But the film industry had been cast into a new environment: the free market. Filmmakers were quickly reduced from being underwritten by the government to making commercial product, and struggled in discovering what to say. After decades of state control, the film industry was stymied by its ostensible freedom. This created the paradox of “Freedom Shock”, nostalgia and disillusionment in a time of freedom.

This research analyzes historic shifts and its relation to this region’s cinema and how these paradoxes illuminate political power and economic patronage.