Cinema, State Socialism and Society in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, 1917-1989 : Re-Visions

This book presents a re-examination of the cinemas of a range of countries in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in communist times. It argues that, since the end of communism in these countries, scholars of film are able to view the cinemas of those countries in communist times in a different way, no longer bound by a Cold War outlook, an outlook which tended to view such cinemas only in Cold War terms.

This book presents a comprehensive re-examination of the cinemas of the Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe during the communist era. It argues that, since the end of communism in these countries, film scholars are able to view these cinemas in a different way, no longer bound by an outlook relying on binary Cold War terms. With the opening of archives in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, much more is known about these states and societies; at the same time, the field has been reinvigorated by its opening up to more contemporary concepts, themes and approaches in film studies and adjacent disciplines. Taking stock of these developments, this book presents a rich, varied tapestry, relating specific films to specific national and transnational circumstances, rather than viewing them as a single, monolithic "Cold War Communist" cinema.