Magic Realist Cinema in East Central Europe - (Traditions in World Cinema) by Aga Skrodzka (Paperback)

About the Book

Magic Realist Cinema is the first book-length critical analysis of magic realism in cinema.

Book Synopsis

Magic Realist Cinema in East Central Europe explores the interlocking complexities of two liminal concepts: magic realism and East Central Europe. Each is a fascinating hybrid that resonates with dominant currents in contemporary thought on transnationalism, globalisation and regionalism.
In this critical and comprehensive survey, Aga Skrodzka moves the current debate over magic realism's political impact from literary studies to film studies. Her close textual analysis of films by directors such as Jan Svankmajer, Jan Jakub Kolski, Martin Sulík, Ivo Trajkov, Dorota Kędzierzawska, Ildikó Enyedi, Béla Tarr and Emir Kusturica is accompanied by an investigation of the socio-economic and political context in order to both study and popularise an important and unique tradition in world cinema. The directors' artistic achievements illuminate the connections between a particular aesthetics and the social structure of East Central Europe at a precise moment of contemporary history.

Provides the first comprehensive analysis of magic realism in cinemaOffers an examination of the post-socialist cinema as representative of the hybridised space and consciousness of East Central EuropeGives chronological overview of the existing theories of magic realism to the extent in which they apply to globalised visual culturesConsiders the cinema of East Central Europe in the context of transnationalism and postcoloniality

From the Back Cover

Traditions in World Cinema General Editors: Linda Badley and R. Barton Palmer Founding Editor: Steven Jay Schneider This series introduces diverse and fascinating movements in world cinema. Each volume concentrates on a set of films from a different national, regional or, in some cases, cross-cultural cinema which constitute a particular tradition. Endorsements to follow Magic Realist Cinema in East Central Europe explores the interlocking complexities of two liminal concepts: magic realism and East Central Europe. Each is a fascinating hybrid that resonates with dominant currents in contemporary thought on transnationalism, globalization, and regionalism. In this critical and comprehensive survey, Aga Skrodzka moves the current debate over magic realism's political impact from literary studies to film studies. Her close textual analysis of films by directors such as Jan Svankmajer, Jan Jakub Kolski, Martin Sulík, Ivo Trajkov, Dorota Kędzierzawska, Ildikó Enyedi, Béla Tarr and Emir Kusturica is accompanied by an investigation of the socio-economic and political context in order to both study and popularize an important and unique tradition in world cinema. The directors' artistic achievements illuminate the connections between a particular aesthetics and the social structure of East Central Europe at a precise moment of contemporary history. This fascinating introduction to a unique regional trend in cinema will be welcomed by undergraduate and postgraduate students in Film Studies, as well as scholars researching magic realism and world cinema. Aga Skrodzka is Assistant Professor in Film Studies at Clemson University

About the Author

Aga Skrodzka is an Associate Professor of Film Studies at Clemson University. She is the author of Magic Realist Cinema in East Central Europe (2012) and co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Communist Visual Cultures (2020).