The Romanian Cinema Of Nationalism

Prior to the collapse of communism, Romanian historical movies were political, encouraging nationalistic feelings and devotion to the state. Vlad the Impaler and other such iconic figures emerged as heroes rather than loathsome bloodsuckers, celebrating a shared sense of belonging. The past decade has, however, presented Romanian films in which ordinary people are the stars--heroes, go-getters, swindlers and sore losers. The author explores a wide selection, old and new, of films set in the Romanian past.

 Prior to the collapse of communism, Romanian historical movies were political, encouraging nationalistic feelings and devotion to the state. Vlad the Impaler and other such iconic figures emerged as heroes rather than loathsome bloodsuckers, celebrating a shared sense of belonging. The past decade has, however, presented Romanian films in which ordinary people are the stars—heroes, go-getters, swindlers and sore losers. The author explores a wide selection, old and new, of films set in the Romanian past.

“A stellar representative of the New Romanian Cinema, Radu Jude also belongs to a select group of politically-minded East European filmmakers who have taken as their subject the nature of the media and the circulation of images (Vertov and Eisenstein, Dušan Makavejev, the Ukrainian documentari- an Sergei Loznitsa). For that reason, Andrei Gorzo and Veronica Lazăr’s Beyond the New Romanian Cinema: Romanian Culture, History, and the Films of Radu Jude is both welcome and essential.” / J. Hoberman, author of The Red Atlantis: Communist Culture in the Absence of Communism “Beyond the New Romanian Cinema: Romanian Culture, History, and the Films of Radu Jude delivers what it promises in its title, and offers more. It locates Radu Jude’s films against the backdrop of the New Romanian Cinema, a phenomenon which put Romanian cinema on the map of European and world cinema, arguing that Jude overcame a certain sterility and timidity of this movement by creating a very rich and versatile body of work, comprising films of different genres and formats. At the same time as offering a meticulous and thought-provoking analysis of Jude’s films, the authors use them to explore the strengths and limitations of the auteurist paradigm, both in Romania and more widely.” / Ewa Mazierska, Professor of Film Studies, University of Central Lancashire “This impressive study of filmmaker Radu Jude is invaluable not only for its acute critical observations, but also for its intelligent, informed commentary on Romanian cinema, culture, and society in general. I learned something impor- tant on virtually every page. Highly recommended.” / James Naremore, author of The Magic World of Orson Welles, Acting in the Cinema, and On Kubrick “Andrei Gorzo and Veronica Lazăr offer a comprehensive and refined analysis of the films of Radu Jude, a filmmaker who has emerged with one of the most uncompromising voices ranging from the farcical macabre political satire to a philosophical interrogation of representation, and who has addressed the most daring topics after the first wave of the so-called New Romanian Cinema. The monograph manages to combine a wide-angle film-historical and cultural perspective with an in-depth investigation unravelling the ways in which Jude’s cinema is ‘updating’ the legacy of European modernism in order to engage with pressing issues of Romanian culture and history.” / Ágnes Pethő, Professor of Film Studies, Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania

This volume explores the philosophical and metaphysical manifestations of contemporary cinema. Starting with the hypothesis that movies provide an experience that is both a pathway into the thinking mechanisms of modern humans and into our collective psyche, this study focuses on the elements that form the “Romanian cinematic mind” as part of the European cinema-thinking. While this book is based on specific case studies provided by recent productions in Romanian filmmaking, such as Proroca (2017) and Touch me Not (2018), it also contextualises the national cinema within the larger, European art of making movies. Offering close interpretations of the works of world-renowned directors like Cristi Puiu, Cristian Mungiu, Corneliu Porumboiu or more recently Adina Pintilie and Constantin Popescu, this book questions the “Romanianess” of their cinematic techniques, and places their philosophical roots both in a particular mode of thinking and within continental philosophy.

This book offers an interdisciplinary mode of analyzing transitions from communism and planned economy to democracy and capitalism focusing on how the various social and political transformations are reflected within one hundred Romanian films produced during communism, transition, and post-transition.

The collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe produced a fundamental change in the political map of Europe. In Romania, nationalism re-emerged forcefully and continued to rally political support against the context of a long and difficult transition to democracy. Extreme right-wing party The Greater Romania Party gained particular strength as a major political power, and its persuasive appeal rested on a reiteration of nationalism and identity - and themes such as origins, historical continuity, leadership, morality and religion - that had been embedded in Romanian ideological discourse by earlier nationalist formations. Radu Cinpoes here examines the reasons for the strength and resilience of nationalism in Romania, from the formation of the state to its accession in the EU.

This book analyzes Ceausescu's tools and goals, that is, party structure and how it was transformed in order to implement Ceausescu's concept of modernization which became interchangeable with the concept of building communism.

Covering more than 40 films made since 2001 -- including "The Death of Mr Lǎzǎrescu," "The Paper Will Be Blue," and "Beyond the Hills" -- this pioneering collection is the first to contextualize New Romanian Cinema aesthetically, theoretically and historically. The book examines its approach to national and gender identity, and its unique convergence of ethics and aesthetics. With thorough bibliographic and filmographic references, and a comprehensive historical overview, the anthology is a systematic guide to New Romanian Cinema as a consolidated movement, highlighting its potential as a rich interdisciplinary field of study