The Cinema of Central Europe (24 Frames)

This new volume in the Twenty-Four Frames series focuses on twenty-four key Czech, Slovak, Hungarian, and Polish films from the twenties to the present. Between the wars the cinemas of Hungary, Poland, and the former Czechoslovakia each claimed their pioneers of early cinema and attained significant levels of production. They first attracted international attention in the 1930s, confirming this status with a succession of politically and aesthetically challenging films from the 1950s to the present. The work of directors such as Andrzej Wajda, Miklós Jancsó, Jirí Menzel, István Szabó, Márta Mészáros, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Jan Ävankmajer, and Béla Tarr are discussed. There are in depth studies of films such as Ashes and Diamonds, The Round-Up, The Shop on Main Street, Closely Watched Trains, Alice, The Decalogue, and Satantango.