BALKAN CINEMA in the 90s: AN OVERVIEW

Afterimage, Jan, 2001 by Dina Iordanova

While other lesser-known national cinemas are moving from obscurity into the international spotlight, the treasures of Balkan cinema remain unknown even to cineastes. With the exception of the systematic work on Yugoslavian film by such critics as Daniel Goulding, [1] Ronald Holloway [2] and Andrew Horton, [3] little has been published on one of the most interesting film cultures in Europe. The masterpieces of Dimither Anagnosti, Kujtim Cashku, Liviu Ciulei, George Dyulgerov, Branko Gapo, Nikos Kunduros, Zeki Okten, Ali Ozgenturk, Zivojin Pavlovic, Mircea Veroiu, Rangel Vulchanov, Pantelis Vulgaris, Binka Zhelyazkova, Zelimir Zilnik and many others remain virtually unknown beyond the borders of their respective countries, and even the works of internationally celebrated veterans such as Theo Angelopoulos, Michalis Cacoyannis, Yilmaz Gunei, Dusan Makavejev and Lordan Zafranovic are considered exotic and are rarely shown.

It would be misleading to conceive of the cinema of the Balkans in monolithic terms. The groups that inhabit the region do not share a common heritage in linguistic, religious and political terms, nor are they reputed for cooperating in the field of culture--a cooperation that makes the talk of a Scandinavian cinema, for example, perfectly legitimate. I have chosen to lump these cinemas together and talk of Balkan cinema, as opposed to the cinemas of the individual countries in the region, because a regional approach allows us to discover recurring concerns and visions that otherwise remain ignored, but more importantly because I believe that there is such a thing as Balkan cinema--one with analagous sites and conditions of production--a clearly definable category with clearly set thematic and stylistic dimensions.

BALKAN CINEMA: MAIN FEATURES

While there are distinct characteristics and features that characterize Balkan cinema, to outsiders the very claim that there is such a thing as "Balkan" culture may sound unacceptable. They have been told repeatedly that people in the Balkans do not share a feeling of togetherness, that the culture of each Balkan country stands for itself, separated from the others by language barriers and long-standing ethnic hostilities, and that there is not much artistic exchange among the groups in the region--Bulgarian, Romanian, Bosnian, Greek, Serb, Turk, Albanian, Kosovar, Montenegrin, Croat, Slovenian and Macedonia.

A closer look, however, reveals that even though the cultures of these countries stand on their own, their independent cultural output testifies to a similar mentality derived from a shared socio-cultural space. Because the problems, across borders, are the same--turbulent history and volatile politics, marginality, a specific Orientalism, the legacy of patriarchy and economic dependency--it is not a surprise that the new cinema of the Balkan countries presents similarities in theme and style. [4]

Thematic

Thematically, Balkan film includes features that address the specific positioning of the region between East and West, variably interpreted either as a civilizational crossroads of Orient and Occident, or as a European margin. All include films that focus on clashes between Christianity and Islam, even if these clashes are seen and interpreted differently. All explore the controversial interference of western powers in the Balkans, most often mocked for their undisguised colonial-type policies.

Even when the history is contested or is just a record of adverse confrontations, it is the source of common themes. Yugoslav cinema focuses on controversial moments of political violence in history such as the Ilinden uprising (Republikata vo plamen, Republic in Flames, 1969, by Lubisa Georgievski), the Ustasha terror (Okupacija u 26 slika, Occupation in 26 Scenes, 1978, by Lordan Zafranovic), or the self-styled anarcho-socialism of the early Yugoslav years (Caruga, Charuga, 1990, by Rajko Grlic). Similarly, political violence and lawlessness perpetrated by the powers-that-be is the theme of Gunei's Yol (1981), a film full of rough encounters and endless background shooting.

Many of the adverse encounters in Balkan history are the subject of Angelopoulos's To vlemma tou Odyssea (Ulysses Gaze, 1995), where, during the protagonist's Balkan-wide travels, it gradually becomes obvious that the history of each Balkan nation is often determined by confrontations--subtle or overt--between neighbors.

In many films the filmmakers have addressed the unease of political and national tensions. For example, a seemingly minor historical episode, the 1902 abduction of an American missionary by Macedonian rebels, was the subject of two of the best-known films from the region: the Macedonian Mis Ston (Miss Stone, 1958, by Zika Mitrovic) and the Bulgarian Mera spored mera (Measure for Measure, 1982, by George Dyulgerov). The 1965 Padurea spinzuratilor (Forest of the Hanged, by Liviu Ciulei, Romania), based on the novel by Liviu Rebreanu, tells the difficult story of an ethnic Romanian drafted in the Austro-Hungarian army who refuses to fight against his kinsmen and comes to face the death penalty. In lyrical overtones, the Bulgarian classic Kradetsat na praskovi (The Peach Thief, 1964, by Vulo Radev), depicts the politically awkward infatuation of a Bulgarian officer's wife with a Serbian POW during World War I. Crno Seme (Black Seed, 1971, by Kiril Cenevski) explores the horrific treatment of the Macedonian parti cipants in the Greek civil war of 1945-49.