Prague Spring on Screen IV: Cinematic Refractions of the Prague Spring

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

The period of liberalization in Communist Czechoslovakia that culminated in the Prague Spring of 1968—and that was terminated by the Soviet invasion of August, 1968—was the defining historical experience for more than one generation of Czechs and Slovaks. This panel will examine some of the different ways that the tumultuous changes of those times have been inscribed in a number of feature films: films from the 1960s to the 2000s; films made by Czech, Slovak and American directors. In their own arguments and in their dialogue with each other, the papers on this panel will propose answers to the following questions: What new space did the Prague Spring open up for cinematic expressions of national identity, and how did those expressions change after August, 1968? How do depictions of the Prague Spring in films made one or two generations later distort the social and political realities of Czechoslovakia in 1968? How have screenwriters and directors approached the adaptation of literary texts centered on the Prague Spring, and what gaps might there be in each case between the vision of the literary author and the vision of the filmmakers? Does the Prague Spring mean something distinctly different for Czech, Slovak and American artists, respectively? Does the Prague Spring mean something fundamentally different for those who lived through it than it does for those who had no direct experience of it?

Sub Unit

• Cinema/Television/Electronic Media

Chair

• Julian W Connolly, U of Virginia

Papers

• The 1968 Prague Spring in Czech Post-Communist Feature Films - Jan Culik, U of Glasgow (UK)

• A Nation of Orphans: Changing Attitudes towards Ethnic Identity in Slovak Film from 1968 to 1969 - Nicholas Hudac, Charles U in Prague (Czech Republic)

• The Narrative Function of August 1968 Invasion Footage in Philip Kaufman's Film Adaptation of 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being' - Christopher W. Harwood, Columbia U

Discussant

• Karen von Kunes, Yale U