THE CINEMA OF CENTRAL EUROPE

The cinemas of Hungary, Poland and the former Czechoslovakia can each claim their pioneers of early cinema and all attained significant levels of production between the wars. They first attracted international attention in the 1930s, confirming this with a succession of politically and aesthetically challenging films from the 1950s, through the period of Communism and into the post-1989 era. The work of directors such as Andrzej Wajda, Miklos Jancso, Jiri Menzel, István Svabó, Marta Meszaros, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Jan Svankmajer and Béla Tarr is discussed with in-depth studies of films such as Ashes and Diamonds (1958), Knife in the Water (1962), The Round-Up (1965), A Shop on the High Street (1965), Closely Observed Trains (1966), Alice (1988), The Decalogue (1988) and Satantango (1994).

November 2004
312 pages

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Peter Hames is Honorary Research Associate in Film and Media Studies at Staffordshire University. His books include The Czechoslovak New Wave and, as editor, Dark Alchemy: The Films of Jan Svankmajer (2008).

‘This new volume in Wallflower’s superb 24 Frames series is an authoritative text on classic and contemporary eastern European cinema …The essays throughout are deeply felt, factually accurate, and carefully written … ideal for both students and general readers. Essential.'
– Choice

'A lively, insightful and critically astute volume that offers the reader wonderfully diverse and eclectic entry-points and pathways for understanding the intellectual, cultural, political and artistic struggles, upheavals and high moments of cinematic expression in this region of Europe.'
– Daniel J. Goulding, Oberlin College

'An exciting collection of first-rate essays covering a range of great films ... the volume marks a new period in the study of East Central European film, tackling classic films by famous directors and others whose work remains insufficiently known in the West.'
– Dina Iordanova, University of St. Andrews

'The collection is particularly welcome because of its coverage not only of well-known cinema, but some excellent films virtually unknown in the West, for example, Frantisek Vlacil's 1967 Marketa Lazarova. In this way, Peter Hames has brought the films of this region back into the limelight where they belong... In Ewa Mazierka's perceptive study of Polish director Andrzej Munk's Eroica...she compares camera work and editing styles with those of his contemporary, Andrzej Wajda: Wajda tends to employ close-ups and point-of-view shots, for example, whereas Munk distances his protagonists from the camera. Mazierka also discusses director of photography Jerzy Wojcik's use of deep focus which marked a significant technical innovation in East European film-making. Other excellent essays include David Robinson's essay on Karoly Makk's Love, John Cunningham's on Istvan Szots's People of the Mountains, and Janina Falkowska's on Andrzej Wajda's Ashes and Diamonds.'
– Cesar Ballester, School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London