The last Sight and Sound poll for the best film of all times shows that the place of Eastern European films in the global canons of films is rather modest, with only two films from this region (excluding Russia and the Soviet Union) making it into the first hundred: Daisies (1966) by Věra Chytilová in 28th place and Sátántangó (1994) by Béla Tarr in 78th place. While Eastern Europeans inevitably celebrate the success of these two films and their directors, the question can be asked why the proportion of EE films is diminishing in this list? Is it, perhaps part of a worldwide phenomenon: the decreasing global visibility of (Eastern) European screen cultures in general? Is it also due to more specific institutional factors such as such as the relatively low impact of national critical discourses on canonisation? Or is there a mismatch between what the local audience regard as their classics and what is perceived as canonical by external observers?
This special issue of ‘Studies in Eastern European Cinema’ aims to examine the canons in Eastern European Cinemas and the contribution of Eastern European films to other film canons (European, global, political, feminist, small cinemas etc.).
Possible topics include but are not limited to:
- The formations of canons of Eastern European Cinema
- The importance of classics in Eastern European film histories and education
- National canons and their contribution to Eastern European canons
- The role of individual Eastern European directors and films in shaping of canons
- The place of diasporan and transnational directors in national canons and pan-Eastern European canons
- The place of Eastern European films in other film canons (global, feminist, political, genre-based).
Please send a 200-word article proposal, together with a short bio, to Ewa Mazierska ([email protected]) by 1st October 2023. The deadline for finished articles is 1 March 2024.
