Посттоталитарното арткино
The Post-Totalitarian Art Film

Summary/Abstract: The article deals with the specifics of the contemporary Eastern-European art film, outlining the achievements of the Eastern-European art film under totalitarianism that have set the scene for its development. The Soviet bloc film industries have made significant art films in the 1960s, 1970s and the 1980s, expressing indirect aesthetic opposition to the political dictatorship. Presently, the works by Miklós Jancsó, Andrei Tarkovsky, Sergei Parajanov among other Eastern-European directors/writers are critically acclaimed as groundbreaking art films. Developing in the context of turbulent social transformations and media globalisation, the post-totalitarian art film, which comes from that tradition, has oriented towards a more communicative style without, though, giving up its specific metaphors. Considering works by Cristian Mungiu, Bogdan Mirică, Dejan Zečević, Kostadin Bonev, etc., the article seeks to reveal how this quest entwines with the topical trend towards the pursuit of universal messages and abandoning direct relevance to the modern day in the latest Eastern-European art films. A special emphasis is put on the ever so noticeable incorporation of techniques of the westerns and horror movies and/or other genres popular with the general audiences into the post-totalitarian art film.

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