Complexities of Resistance:
Partisan Films from Eastern Europe and the Balkans Film Series
In the aftermath of World War II, several European states started reconstructing and reimagining their identities and recent histories by producing a vast number of films
that celebrated and commemorated their guerrilla struggles against fascism. These films ranged in scope and ambition from intimate psychological dramas to overblown military spectacles, from elegiac recollections to pure pulp fiction. Similar to Hollywood westerns, partisan films were the defining genre of the socialist film industry for a significant period. Moreover, in the late 60s and early 70s, both genres reinvented themselves and underwent a political revision that ended their respective “classical periods.” Despite being hugely successful in their domestic markets and often cinematically accomplished, many examples of the partisan films never traveled abroad, and most film prints today remain locked up and in dire need of preservation in various national film archives. Aside from a handful of canonical works, the majority of films we will screen have never been shown in the U.S.
All films will be shown with English subtitles. All films will be followed by a brief presentation and an audience Q&A. Click on the links below for more info on the screening and film.
September 30, 7:00 pm, The Valley of Peace (Dolina miru)
October 7, 1 :00 pm, Rainbow (Raduga/Rajduga)
October 7, 7:00 pm, Special additional screening of I Am Cuba (Soy Cuba/Ia – Kuba), presented in collaboration with Films at the Whitney
October 26, 7:00 pm, Double feature! The Bride and the Curfew (Nusja dhe shtetrrethimi) and Conscience (Sovist’)
November 10, 7:00 pm, Manhunt (Hajka)
December 9, 7:00 pm, Kanal (Kanał) 35mm Print Courtesy of the George Eastman Museum
January 20, 7:00 pm, White Bird with a Black Mark (Bilyi Ptakh z Chornoyu Oznakoyu), DCP. Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Center, Kyiv.
February 03, 7:00 pm, Don’t Look Back, My Son (Ne Okreći Se, Sine), 35mm print. Croatian Cinematheque, Zagreb.
February 17, 7:00 pm, The Bell Tolls for the Barefooted (Zvony Pre Bosych), 35mm print. Slovak Film Institute, Bratislava
March 30, 3:00 pm, The Pine Tree on the Mountain (U Gori Raste Zelen Bor), 35mm print. Croatian Cinematheque, Zagreb **Special Event: April 09, 7:00 pm, Four Winters with Q&A by Director Julia Mintz, DCP. USA **New Location in Auditorium of 53 Wall St. building. , 2022. 1h 30m. DCP. New Moon Films
- Screening of Four Winters: A Story of Jewish Partisan Resistance and Bravery in WW2. Featuring filmmaker Julia Mintz on hand to present her award-winning documentary.
**April 11, 7:00 pm, Farewell Until the Next War (Nasvidenje v Naslednji Vojni), DCP. Slovenian Film Archive, Ljubljana. **New Location in HQ Rm L02
Location of Screenings (unless otherwise noted**):
Humanities Quadrangle, Screening Room L01
320 York Street, New Haven, CT 06511
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Free and open to the public
Generously Sponsored by the Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempf Memorial Fund, the European Studies Council, the Whitney Humanities Center, the Yale Film Archive, the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, and the Film and Media Studies Program.