Hungarian Film 1929 - 1947

National Identity, Anti-Semitism and Popular Cinema

Add to my list

by Gábor Gergely

Type

Studies

Subject

Countries > Europe

Keywords

Hungary, history of cinema, ideology, Eastern Europe

Publishing date

2017

Publisher

Amsterdam University Press

Collection

Eastern European Screen Cultures

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Hardcover • 360 pages
6 ¼ x 9 ½ inches (16 x 24 cm)

ISBN

978-94-6298-076-1

User Ratings

(0 vote)

X

Average rating:

0	rating	= We can do without
0	rating	= Good book
0	rating	= Excellent book
0	rating	= Unique / a reference

Your rating: -

Book Presentation:
What does it mean for someone or something to be Hungarian? That was the far-reaching question that people grappled with in Hungary in the wake of the losses and transformation brought by World War I. Because the period also saw the rise of cinema, audiences, filmmakers, critics, and officials often looked at films with an eye to that question, too: Did the Hungary seen on screen represent the Hungary they knew from everyday life? And—crucially—did the major role played by Jewish Hungarians in the film industry make the sector and its creations somehow Jewish rather than Hungarian? Jews, it was soon decided, could not really be Hungarian, and acts of Parliament soon barred them from taking major roles in cinema production. This book tells the troubled story of that period in Hungarian cinematic history, taking it up through World War II.

About the Author:
Gábor Gergely is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Manchester.

Press Reviews:
BAFTSS 2018 Best Monograph Runner-up. Comments by the panel: "The subtitle of the book strikes at the heart of Gergely’s concerns both as a critique of the cinema and as an appraisal of the gap in much of the extant academic literature. What is a real pleasure within the book, though, is the extent to which the author is keenly aware of the general ignorance around Hungarian culture for his mainly English-speaking readership, and as a history book more generally, the texts sits well alongside the style of cultural historians like Arthur Marwick. As such, this book speaks across disciplines and is truly enlightening."

See the publisher website: Amsterdam University Press