RÉSEAUX ET STRATÉGIES POUR LA DIFFUSION DU CINÉMA ROUMAIN EN FRANCE DE 1950 À 1954
NETWORKS AND STRATEGIES FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE ROMANIAN CINEMA IN FRANCE FROM 1950 TO 1954

Summary/Abstract: Since communists came to power in Romania, cinema became an important propaganda tool. The government invested largely, in addition to the production field, in the development of distribution and exploitation of movies. Whereas the rural area represented the major target, the foreign exportation was the last domain that concern the government. Nevertheless, in the bipolar context of cold war, the new Romanian cinema policy promoted by the communists created the conditions for a larger participation, through cinema, at the ideological fight between East and West. This article analyses the resources, the strategies, the networks and the policies of Romanian political and cultural authorities to distribute, to promote and to make known the Romanian cinema in France at the beginning of the 50s. The main actors of this process are the Romanian legation in Paris and the local relay, the France-Roumanie Association, who show Romanian movies pictures and documentaries during the cultural events they organize. In spite of the weak logistical and technical support from Romania and the obstruction of French censorship towards the eastern bloc movies, the Romanian films benefit from the tribune that has been offered to them by the cultural French press, like “Les lettres fraçaises” and “L’écran français”. Thus, the circulation of Romanian films takes place in the reduced place of communist circles, participating therefore to the cultural confrontation of the cold war.

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