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Popular Cinemas in East Central Europe
Film Cultures and Histories
Edited by Dorota Ostrowska, Francesco Pitassio and Zsuzsanna Varga
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Book Presentation:
The continued interest in the social and cultural life of the former Warsaw pact countries - looking at but also beyond their socialist pasts - encompasses a desire to know more about their national cinemas. Yet, despite the increasing consumption of films from these countries - via DVD, VOD platforms and other alternative channels - there is a lack of comprehensive information on this key aspect of visual culture. This important book rectifies the glaring gap and provides both a history and a contemporary account of East Central European cinema in the pre-WW2, socialist, and post-socialist periods. Demonstrating how at different historical moments popular cinema fulfilled various roles, for example in the capacity of nation-building, and adapted to the changing markets of a morphing political landscape, chapters bring together experts in the field for the definitive analysis of mainstream cinema in the region.Celebrating the unique contribution of films from Hungary, the Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia and Poland, from the award-winning Cosy Dens to cult favourite Lemonade Joe, and from 1960s Polish Westerns to Hollywood-influenced Hungarian movies, the book addresses the major themes of popular cinema.
By looking closely at genre, stardom, cinema exhibition, production strategies and the relationship between the popular and the national, it charts the remarkable evolution and transformation of popular cinema over time.
About the authors:
Dorota Ostrowska is Senior Lecturer in Film and Modern Media at Birkbeck, University of London. At the School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication she directs the MA Film and Screen Media. She is the author of Reading the French New Wave: Critics, Writers and Art Cinema in France (2008) and co-editor of the volumes: Shaping Film Festivals in a Changing World: Practice and Methods (2025); Popular cinemas in Central and Eastern Europe: film cultures and histories (2017) and European Cinemas in the Television Age (2007).
Press Reviews:
"The collection matches its attractive, playfully pleasing cover design with a selection of carefully written and well-argued chapters on a timely topic ... The significance of this volume cannot be overstated. It represents a very successful attempt at offering a nuanced view on the popular cinemas of the region across several significant historical periods." ―Frames Cinema Journal
See the publisher website: I.B.Tauris
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