East/West European Renaissance

Flashcards about East/West European Renaissance cinema, including New German Cinema and Postwar Polish Cinema.

Postwar Eastern Europe (1945–1953)

Postwar Eastern European countries were either occupied by the Nazis or colluded with them during WWII, leading to Soviet influence.

Soviet Influence on Eastern European Film

Film industries in Eastern Europe were nationalized by the Soviet Union, promoting socialist realism and establishing state-operated film schools.

Liberalization and Thaw

A period initiated by Nikita Khruschev after Stalin's death, allowing filmmakers to use film for social critique and ideological debate.

Postwar German Cinema

West Germany, controlled by the Allies after WWII, became a significant film producer, known for Heimatfilme ('homeland films').

The New German Cinema

A movement born at the 1962 Oberhausen Film Festival, calling for a 'young German cinema' and leading to the formation of the Young German Film Board.

Traits of the New German Cinema

Formal beauty, defense of individualism, satirical or symbolic themes, and vague or oblique meanings.

Young Törless

Directed by Volker Schlödorff in 1966.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Primary theme: untreated malaise beneath the affluent surface of German society; high regard for melodrama.

Werner Herzog

The great 'mad man' of the New German Cinema; explores primary themes such as the flawed nature of humanity, metaphysics, and the cruelty of nature.

Aguirre, The Wrath of God

Herzog's film released in 1972, often starring Klaus Kinski.

Fitzcarraldo

Herzog's film released in 1982, often starring Klaus Kinski.

Liberalization and Thaw in Poland

After Stalin's death, filmmakers were able to use film for social critique and ideological debate.

Postwar Polish Cinema

The Polish film industry was nationalized under Film Polski in 1945; hampered by socialist realism from 1945–1953.

Jerzy Toeplitz

Director of the Polish Film School, called for a new national cinema in 1954.

Polish Film School Movement

Result of the 1956 Polish de-Stalinization and the graduation of the first wave of directors from the Polish Film School at Lodz; focused on Polish history with romantic fatalism.

Andrzej Wajda

First Eastern European director whose films were widely seen in the West; known for films about Polish history and heroism.

A Generation

Wajda film (1955) focused on the 'lost generation' of Poles, holding up the ideals of socialism against fascism.

Kanal

Wajda film (1956) deals with Home Army fighters trapped during the failed Warsaw Uprising of 1944, depicting a despairing vision of heroism.

Ashes and Diamonds

Wajda film (1958) depicts the last few hours in the life of a resistance fighter, presenting a disillusioned portrait of heroism.

Second Generation Polish Cinema

Ended in the early 1960s due to increased censorship and police surveillance; many Polish directors left the country.

Roman Polanski

Began as an actor; directed absurdist short films; known for pessimistic and dark humor; made only one feature film in Poland before going to England and the U.S.

Knife in the Water

Polanski film (1962): Thriller about sexual rivalry during a weekend yachting trip, internationally hailed as a debut masterpiece.

Repulsion

Polanski film (1965): Chilling study of a sexually repressed young woman’s descent into madness, starring Catherine Deneuve.

Rosemary’s Baby

Polanski's Hollywood debut (1968); his most popular and commercially successful film that effectively depicts super-natural evil through banal, everyday circumstances.

Macbeth

Polanski film (1971); extremely dark, nightmarish, graphically violent take on Shakespeare’s play, interpreted as Polanski’s response to Sharon Tate’s murder.

Oberhausen maniphesto

A 1962 declaration by young filmmakers in West Germany advocating for a new wave of cinema that emphasized artistic freedom and independent production.