christina stojanova

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Christina Stojanova, PhD, is a media scholar, specializing in philosophical, ideological, and analytical-psychological aspects of representation in the cinemas of Quebec, interwar Germany,and of Eastern and Central Europe. A Media Professor at the Department of Film, University of Regina, since 2005, she has contributed 20 chapters to internationally acclaimed academic publications, two of which – "Wittgenstein at the Movies" (2011, Lexington Press, USA) and "The Legacies of Jean-Luc Godard" (2014, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Canada) – she has co-edited. Editor of "The New Romanian Cinema" (2019, Edinburgh University Press, UK), she is currently working on monograph about Canadian animator Caroline Leaf. As member of Quebec Film Critics Association, she publishes regularly in English, French, and Bulgarian mainstream media and sits on international FIPRESCI juries.

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Vinogradov Russian Language Institute

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Tufts University

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Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"

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Université Saint-Louis - Bruxelles

Régis Dandoy

Universidad San Francisco de Quito

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Stockholm University

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Christian Theological Academy in Warsaw

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Institute of the Lithuanian Language

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Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"

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Bamberg University

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東欧映画の現状 (第2特集変貌するシネマ--世界の映画はいま)

アステイオン, 2001

Millennial Thoughts from Central and Eastern Europe

Kinema, Nov 20, 1999

Fall 1999 Issue of KINEMA Where is that fragile line between different cultures, different religi... more Fall 1999 Issue of KINEMA Where is that fragile line between different cultures, different religions, different national or personal identities?-Agnieszka Holland THE 19th CENTURY politician Metternich, a champion of Western European isolationism and Austrian xenophobia, is credited with saying that Asia begins at the Landstrasse, that is, at the street that leads out of Vienna toward Hungary. Over the last two hundred years of our millennium, Central and Eastern European countries have struggled to overcome this deep prejudice and reclaim their place in Europe independent political and cultural entities. And while it has been very difficult to do so in terms of economic and political modernisation; in terms of establishing long lasting state and social institutions that are capable of generating and perpetuating democracy, in terms of culture Central and Eastern European countries have scored much more successfully. In fact, often times much better than their Western European counterparts. Ten years after the fall of Communism, notwithstanding the financial hurdles caused by the dismantling of state support for cinema, the Central and Eastern European program, presented at this year's festivals in Montreal and Toronto, looked rather encouraging in terms of its vitality, professionalism and intensive moral concern. A new generation of film-makers, born in the first half of the 1960s, is taking quickly centre-stage. And while the masters are still engaged in exploring the Communist and post-Communist legacy (1) , the films of the middle-aged and young directors are treating themes and personages that, without losing their local identification and character, are much closer and comprehensible for the Western viewer. According to their films, Central and Eastern Europeans seem to be affected by millennial contemplations and ideas that are to be found in the works of film-makers across the globe. And if I am allowed to summarise these contemplations and ideas, I would call them essays on the encounters with the God within. These sublime encounters, however, are not represented in any spectacular or mysterious fashion. They usually occur in mundane surroundings and with ordinary people, and most often result in moral revelations or extraordinary acts of love and personal sacrifice. A Christ-like figure could be the central character and agent of the sublime transformation or could also, through her/his suffering, become a catalyst for the moral transformation of the principal character(s). Certainly, the much argued Cannes award winner L'humanité by French director Bruno Dumont; the Montreal film festival favourite, the Grand prix des Amériques winner La couleur du paradis, by Iranian director Majid Majidi; the Israeli film Kadosh (Amos Gitai) and The Third Miracle (dir. Agnieszka Holland) fit into the above outline. Even the Québécois film Souvenirs Intimes (Jean Beaudin) could loosely be added to this list. The suffering, the redemption and the sacrificial motifs are incorporated through the complex interpretation of another biblical archetype-that of the Madonna and her illegitimate child. It is hardly necessary to mention that evoking biblical metaphors and archetypes results in works that are politically and socially heavily charged. In the cases of the above mentioned films, however, the confessional affiliation of the characters does not play a decisive role. Their spirituality is distinctly separated from the ritualised religion and is seen as something deeply personal and intimate whose only expression is unconditional love for your fellow human being(s). They could be Muslim as in The Colour of God, or adhere to ultra-orthodox Judaism as in Kadosh or be ardent Catholics as in The Third Miracle or be atheists as in L'humanité and Souvenirs Intimes. In any case, the role of the institutionalised religion as the sole symbol and repository of spirituality is either subdued and or even rendered hostile, as is the rigour of the rabbi in Kadosh. Through his principal characters-a pious scholar of the Talmud and his equally pious and loving wife-the director of Kadosh (which in translation means "holy") carefully juxtaposes the institutionalised and the innermost types of spirituality. Believed barren, Rifka is forced to leave her husband so that he could marry another woman to bear him a child. After weeks of silent suffering, she violates the proscription and comes home to die in the arms of her husband who still loves her dearly. The director prefers to pose questions instead of offering answers and easy solutions to this tragic dilemma. Even the fate of Rifka's sister who leaves the community as she cannot bear a life without love in a forced marriage, 1

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