Bye for now, but not forever!

By Olivia Maria Hărşan

To all of my readers and followers,

It has been an absolute pleasure blogging on here for the past 5 years!

It has definitely been amazing to see how much interest there is out there in Eastern European cinema!

Thank you for all of your comments and engagement.

I will continue to post about Eastern European film and culture on the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/thecinemaofeasterneurope

So please head over there and 'like' the page to see what I'm up to regarding my research in the area, events and news on Eastern European cinema.

Ciao :-)

Film Still of the Month: Whisper of Sin/ Nuodemes uzkalbejimas (2007) Algimantas Puipa

By Olivia Maria Hărşan

In the Fog/ В тумане (2012) Sergei Loznitsa

By Olivia Maria Hărşan

Film Poster: Beauty and the Beast/ Panna a netvor (1978) Juraj Herz

By Olivia Maria Hărşan

Film Still of the Month: Andrei Rublev (1966) Andrei Tarkovsky

By Olivia Maria Hărşan

Visual Diary: Aelita (1924) Yakov Protazanov

By Olivia Maria Hărşan

Film Still of the Month: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Miss Osbourne/ Docteur Jekyll et les femmes (1981) Walerian Borowczyk

By Olivia Maria Hărşan

Visual Diary: Amphibian Man/ Chelovek-amfibiya (1962) Vladimir Chebotaryov and Gennadi Kazansky

By Olivia Maria Hărşan

Film Still of the Month: Čaruga (1991) Rajko Grlić

By Olivia Maria Hărşan

Visual Diary: Mellow Mud/ Es esmu šeit (2016) Renārs Vimba

By Olivia Maria Hărşan

Film Still of the Month: Face to Face/ Ballë për Ballë (1979) Kujtim Çashku

By Olivia Maria Hărşan

Film Review: Some of Us/ (2014) Anja Kavic

By Olivia Maria Hărşan

It is hard to believe that Anja Kavic’s powerful drama Some of Us is a short film because the theatrical delivery of the narrative engrosses the viewer to a point where time seems as though it has lapsed. The film begins as a young woman paces through a run down train in a rail yard. Suddenly voices begin to echo throughout the carriage as if to taunt the woman and the viewer will question: Are these voices from the past or the present? She steps out of the train where another woman awaits seated on the steps of another carriage. A menacing atmosphere invades the viewer’s conscious at this point as the women begin to talk. We find out that they are sisters and, as the tension in their interaction rises, we come to understand that their relationship as siblings is dysfunctional. The drama is intense in Some of Us and this is due to the phenomenal acting – we really begin to believe the extent of the issues between the sisters, particularly when one takes out a gun threatening to shoot the other. And yet, the trains remain motionless and silent in opposition of their purpose. There is no progression, only a collapse of negative emotions and eventually a disturbing meltdown

Film Review: Post Mortem (2015) Jakov Torić

By Olivia Maria Hărşan

In Post Mortem Jakov Torić presents a dissection of a summer past through a compilation of shots taken at a beachside resort during the colder months of the year. The spaces filmed are deserted and bleak while Torić teases his audience with diegetic sound captured during a crowded summer season – we hear children playing, a boat splashing across the water, people gathered together, chatting and enjoying their holiday. Now only remnants of the past linger – shops that were once populated are temporarily closed while the streets remain empty with no one in sight. Torić’s film captures the idea that without the sun, without the warmth this place is nothing. Even paradise fails to last forever.

Visual Diary: Kolka Cool (2011) Juris Poškus

By Olivia Maria Hărşan

Film Still of the Month: Devil Servants/ Vella kalpi (1970) Aleksandrs Leimanis

By Olivia Maria Hărşan

Film Review: Der Kübelreiter (2015) Stefan Malešević

By Olivia Maria Hărşan

Mentored by none other than Béla Tarr, Film Factory student Stefan Malešević delivers a black and white short in the tradition of the renowned Hungarian filmmaker. We have a lonely man, a simple and cold dwelling with a coal heater, apocalyptic weather dominated by a blizzard and a strange interaction between two individuals. However, unlike Tarr’s films, there is something subhuman about the characters in Der Kübelreiter. Malešević’s references to Kafka are uniquely expressed through the amalgamation between human and animals – the characters croak like frogs when they communicate – but we also notice sensitivity within these creatures. Malešević presents us with a postmodern meditation of life, stripped to its bare necessities whereupon simple man becomes problematic.