A School of Opportunism. Short Filmmakers Caught in a Web of Commissions and Dealings
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2014 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Iluminace : časopis pro teorii, historii a estetiku filmu |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Mass media, audiovision |
| Keywords | Czech nonfiction film; Czech documentary film; useful cinema; nontheatrical film |
| Description | This essay examines short film production in Czechoslovakia in the late 1940s and early 1950s, examining how power structures and the imperatives of the commissioning production system influenced film content, form, and style. Considering the editorial boards to have been the most influential agents in this process, the essay focuses on their motivations as well as those of others involved therein. State archives, filmmaker's personal collections, and editorial board meeting reports reveal how filmmakers and the editorial boards clashed over ideological issues and time pressure. An analysis of the boards' editorial criteria also reveals which professional standards were valued within this system. These included an emphasis on documentary's educational and ideological values, on the popular hero, on recycling as much stock footage as possible, and on emulating Soviet documentaries. |
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