Screening Social and Economic Transformations in East-Central Europe: Film and Television as Writers and Rewriters of Post-1989 History (Cluj-Napoca, Babes-Bolyai University, November 10-11, 2023) 

Conference program in downloadable format here.

Venues:

  1. Panels, conference opening, closing remarks: Faculty of Theatre and Film, Kogălniceanu St. 4, Cinema Room (43)
  2. Conference soiree: Harag Hall
  3. Friday lunch: Pyramid Restaurant UBB
  4. Saturday lunch: Garlic Restaurant

For more information on venues, click here.

Friday, November 10 

Conference Opening, 9,30 to 10.00 am

Constantin Parvulescu, Janovics Center for Screen and Performing Arts Studies, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca

Panel 1: Television Genre, 10.00 to 11.30 am  

Chair: Miruna Runcan, Janovics Center for Screen and Performing Arts Studies, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca

  • Balazs Varga, Film Studies, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest: Redefining Late Socialism in Contemporary Eastern European Espionage Series  
  • Lucian Georgescu, Screenwriting and Film Studies, UNATC, Bucharest: Incipient Formats of TV Scripting in Post-Decemberist Romania
  • Jakub Kazecki, German and Russian, Bates College, US: Willig und billig (Willing and Cheap)? The Image of Polish Migrant Women Workers in German TV Productions of the 2010s (video online)  

Panel 2: History, Orientalization, Social Antagonism, 11.45 am to 13.30 pm 

Chair: Nicoleta Sălcudean, Cinema and Media, Faculty of Theater and Film, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca 

  • Anca Șerbanuță, Cultural Studies, University of Bucharest, Bucharest: Baseball Caps, Cowboy Hats and Traditional Shirts: Demolishing the Mythical Image of the Romanian Peasant in the TV Series Las Fierbinți  
  • Camil Ungureanu, Political Science, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona: Post-Communism, Social Antagonism, and Evil: A Spiritual Turn in Cristi Puiu’s Cinema?   
  • Anda Ionaș, Social Work, Journalism, Public Relations, and Sociology, „Lucian Blagaˮ University, Sibiu: California Dreamin’ (Endless): A Parody of Romanian Society in Transition to Capitalism 

Lunch: University Club, 1.30 to 2.45 pm

Panel 3: The Lives of Others, 3.00 to 4.45 pm

Chair: Horea Avram, Film Studies, Babes-Bolyai University

  • Jan Hanzlik, Arts Management, Prague University of Economics and Business, Prague: We Have Never Been Modern (2023): (Re)constructing Present-Day Debates in the Past  
  • Mónika Dánél,  Literature, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest: Post-Socialist Accented Gender Roles in Contemporary Hungarian and Romanian Cinema  
  • Andrea Virginás, Theatre and Film, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca: Midcult Aesthetics and Cultural Memory Work: ‘Translating’ between Historical Events, Media(L) Narratives and Class Positions in 21st Century Eastern Europe 
  • Olga Gradinaru, Economics and Business Administration, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca: Documentaries and Identity Production: The Young Guard in Ukraine  

Panel 4: Migration, Rules of Engagement, and the West, 5.00 to 6.45 pm 

Chair: Șerban Mark Pop, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca 

  • Claudiu Turcuș, Cinema and Media, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca: Can the East Speak? Screening Economic Migration in Fixeur (Adrian Sitaru, 2016) and Lemonade (Ioana Uricaru, 2018). 
  • Andi Cristian Mihai, Cinema and Media, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca: Metronom: Film between Artistic Fiction and Historical Reality  
  • Aida Vidan, Literary and Visual Studies, Tufts University, US: Rules of Indifferent Places: Public Institutions and Youth in Two Croatian Films (online talk)

Conference Soiree, Harag Hall: 7 pm


Saturday, November 11 

Panel 5: Understanding Postsocialism, 10 to 11.45 am

Chair: Constantin Parvulescu, Cinema and Media, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca

  • Adam Straka, Film Studies, Academy of Performing Arts, Bratislava: The Position of the Slovak Documentary Movies Towards the Truth – Or Why Should We Not Be Surprised that Slovak Filmmakers Have Not Made a Documentary Film about The Most Important Event in The Modern History of Slovakia?  
  • Fanni Antalóczy, English and American Studies, Catholic University Károly Eszterházy, Eger: A Tale of the 1990s: Temporal and Spatial Structures in The Whiskey Bandit  
  • Marek Paryż, English, University of Warsaw, Warsaw: The Uses of the Western in Film Depictions of Post-1989 Poland 
  • Bogdan Popa, Literature and Cultural Studies, Transilvania University, Brașov: Montage and Capitalism: Our Improved Formula (Solomon, 2010) and Do not Expect Too Much from the End of the World (Jude 2023) 

Panel 6: Historical Controversy and Trauma, 12.00 to 14.45 pm 

Chair: Daniel Iftene, Cinema and Media, Babes-Bolyai University

  • Boglarka Farkas, Cinema and Media, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca: Who’s Got the Power? – Ageing Characters Representing Corruption in Post-Communist Romanian Cinema   
  • Beatrice Leeming, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK: Rethinking the Romanian New Wave: Memory and Nostalgia 
  • Marian Țuțui, The Institute for the Art History “G. Oprescu”, Romanian Academy, Bucharest: Queen Marie of Romania (2019): An Important Episode of Romanian History from a Feminist Point of View  
  • Krystian Przybylski,  Film, Media and Audiovisual Arts, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań: A Test of Maturity – A Comparison of Selected Works by Contemporary Polish and Romanian Filmmakers in The Key of “New Sincerity”  

Closing Remarks

Lunch: 14.45 to 16.00 pm