Our Favourite Films by Female Directors from the ‘New East’

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a culture critic and journalist, especially interested in the realm of the former communist East. She’s the author of “Poor But Sexy: Culture Clashes in Europe East and West” (2014) and forthcoming memoir “A Girl and a Gun” (2020).

There is little doubt that female film directors have a harder time getting ahead in the business. Sexism is still rife in the industry, which habitually neglects women in the award season, and strong female characters are still extremely rare. Actresses past the age 35 struggle to get employment. This is no different in Eastern Europe, despite the fact that some of the most outstanding films of the communist era were made by female directors, such as Věra Chytilová, Kira Muratova or Larisa Shepitko. After the collapse of communism, things didn’t exactly get easier for women – the dominant image from the most fêted films of the last 30 years in the region is rather one of a male anti-hero, gangster or struggling member of the intelligentsia, trying to survive in the new reality.

The last decade in our region brought specific problems to the fore. If the 1990s were reflecting a painful need to ‘be like the West’, then the last 10 years documented profound divisions in Eastern European societies. The new capitalist economy became entrenched, several of the countries were already members of the European Union and underwent severe social and class transformations. This social criticism was especially visible in the Romanian New Wave or recent Hungarian cinema, which have rarely championed female directors. Still, women gave the changing post-socialist society a distinct look and vision. Ever subtle, even if striving for social commentary, directors examined especially the new female roles in the capitalist, consumerist society.

Lastly, their films reflect heated discussions on women’s rights in our region, as conservative governments have taken power in several countries. The recent popularization of feminism and the eruption of the #MeToo movement has provoked intensified discussions of how to better include women in film. However, this is not the sole reason for the following list; it is not a strange affirmative action to promote appreciation of female directors in the region. It is rather an attempt to highlight ‘another way’ of looking from the past decade (to borrow the title of the feminist Hungarian film from 1982 – again, made by a man, Károly Makk) and grasp female reflections on the new challenges facing the region, as well as the

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Agata Pyzik:

a culture critic and journalist, especially interested in the realm of the former communist East. She’s the author of “Poor But Sexy: Culture Clashes in Europe East and West” (2014) and forthcoming memoir “A Girl and a Gun” (2020).

Publish date: 04.02.2020

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Carmen Gray:

a freelance film critic, journalist and curator who was born in New Zealand and now lives in Berlin. She has written on art, culture and politics for “The New York Times”, “The Guardian” and “The Observer”, among others, often focusing on Central and Eastern Europe, and the Caucasus.

When it comes to cinema, the idea of a European ‘New East’ might just be a mirage. The term is often used in the Western media as a simple category to keep lumping post-communist countries together, as if they still have something distinctly in common. Perhaps they don’t, and do not wish to be forever cursed to be ‘not West’, an imaginary other defined in opposition. But no great cinema exists outside history, or the past’s legacy, even when its project is breaking free from tired limitations and labels, and transforming the world anew. In tribute to where the past decade has taken countries of the New East, or rather, where they have taken it, and their identities, creatively, we have compiled a list of 10 of the best films. These are 10 of the era’s best, from the region, sure, but from anywhere, full stop. So oppressive groupings or labels need not apply. Other strong examples of what these 10 films do so well also get special mentions.

All These Sleepless Nights

If there’s any film of the last decade that embodied a young generation’s optimistic hope, it has to be Michał Marczak’s All These Sleepless Nights (2016), an intimate and fluid blend of documentary and fiction. “I Hear A New World”, a pop number by experimental trailblazer Joe Meek, sounds out as the camera glides across Warsaw’s night skyline, fireworks exploding around the Palace of Culture. As a gift from Stalin, the gargantuan building has been a symbol of oppression, but this opening signals a readiness to remake the capital anew, shaking off the grasp of troubling memory. We join two art school friends, Krzysztof (Krzysztof Bagiński) and Michał (Michał Huszcza) through a summertime haze of parties. They are open to new experiences, yet introspective, at a crossroad in their lives. Warsaw appears as a city that has come into its own identity, a vanguard of vibrant creativity, with no insecure need to imitate some hipper elsewhere. Infused with buoyant possibility, the film came out before the Brexit vote, before Trump’s election, before a sharp rise in nationalism across the globe, and before heightened anxiety over the climate crisis. The energy of a transformative youth culture also infuses And Then We Danced (2019), shot in Tbilisi by Levan Akin. Partly shot within the Georgian capital’s thriving nightlife, it focuses on a taboo gay romance in a traditional dance troupe, embodying the clash between old and new ways of thinking.

Our Favourite Films by Female Directors from the ‘New East’

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Our Favourite Films from the ‘New East’

All These Sleepless Nights

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