A Post-Communist Production World: Barrandov Film Studios between the Cold War and Narnia
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| Year of publication | 2010 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | The key question I raise in my paper is how historicity of local production culture is manifested in industrial reflexivity and career trajectories, both affected by the focus on foreign services. Under the socialist state monopoly, Barrandov had been involved in dozens co-productions and serviced both Socialist and Western producers. Services to Western producers were (unlike co-productions) judged solely in economic, not ideological terms, because they were clearly too profitable, bringing desperately needed hard currency. After the fall of the regime and privatization of the Studios, the business was at first dominated by former executives of the Barrandov s foreign department. The local infrastructure had been underdeveloped, and most of foreign producers brought their key crews with them. The situation changed in mid 1990s, when the new management succeeded to attract big-budget Hollywood projects and the older generation was replaced by new one, often foreigners like the most successful company Stillking. The production culture changed significantly with transitions from capitalism to Nazi occupation, then state monopoly and again free market. On the other hand, some shared practices persisted since the late 1920s. Without attempting to define an essentialist image of the local community, I’ll focus on how historical ruptures may reveal, beneath the surface, what could be called a longue durée of film-production culture. If we compare e.g. how Czech filmmakers reflected upon servicing Duvivier s Golem (1935), Guillermin s The Bridge at Remagen (1968) and Casino Royale (2006), we see they insisted on improvising as a key method in Czech production, as opposed to precise organization in the West. These historical continuities apply especially for below-the-line crews, the “flesh” of the Studios. |
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