Институционални зависимости и цензурна траектория в българското игрално кино (1944-1989)
Institutional Dependencies and Censorship Trajectory in Bulgarian Feature Film (1944–1989)

Summary/Abstract: During the Socialist era in Bulgaria, the “cultural front” was built under the whip of the imposed ideological orthodoxy. Though not officially institutionalised, censorship was everywhere. Nevertheless, a strict hierarchical structure was built to keep a check on any departure from the ideological norms and subsequently, to use its instruments to impose sanctions. If ‘grass-root’ filmmakers, related to the real filmmaking, were at the bottom of this vertical power structure, atop of it were the factors (the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party with its Agitprop and Art and Culture departments), who sanctioned both the start of the film production and the ensuing distribution and exhibition of every film. This was not a process in one act, but rather a permanent one and each stage of the film production bore its distinctive power mark. It was there, where the trajectory of censorship spread. This structure replicates a pattern functioning in all fields of the so-called “cultural front”. The structure of the interinstitutional relations and dependencies was built so that to filter the content at pre- and post-production stages of film production.

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