The paper deals with transformations of the traditional Balkan identity via constructions of cinematic space in some contemporary films about the Balkans. It analyses some typical as well as some innovative methods of space construction of the Balkans in Balkan cinema, and points out their structural embeddedness in Balkanism. Balkanism is shown as a structurally non-dialogical but still predominant paradigm of space construction even in some non-traditional cinematic works, which leads to the acceptance of a recent notion of the Balkan (cinematic) genre elaborated by Nevena Dakovic in her recent book (2008) on this subject. The notion of genre reduces earlier emphasis on power relations determining representation of the Balkans while still including the notion of limits that organise these representations.
The text deals with a documentary film The Border directed by Jaroslav Vojtek and carried out in 2009. It itself is conceived as a group portrait of the residents of the village Slemence and raises several questions about constructing collective identities in areas divided by state borders. The village is currently divided between Slovakia and Ukraine. The split occurred in 1946 and is actual remained. Absurdity of the Slemence case is emphasized by many factors. The inhabitants, suddenly divided between two Slavic states, are mostly of Hungarian nationality. Further, the closely guarded border didn't divide two geopolitical blocs, but the Soviet Union and the other socialistic state. Last but not least, the border remains in place today. Although in 2005 it was opened for the use of cyclists and pedestrians, in 2008 it became the border of the Schengen zone. Once again, now at least it is surveyed as closely as it was in 1949. The introduction of visa requirements for Ukrainians - and the Ukraine's reciprocal response - once again makes crossing the border a long process, involving a journey to the nearest district town which often takes several hours. The text analyses all of these facts as well as some specifically filmic means of metaphoric crossing the border.
The representation of Slovak is nearly connected by finding available pictures and national identity of ourselves in Czech film. View of Slovak like a lovable, but most social, culture and economically worse, is the important support component of own national self-confidence. The authoress describes basic trends in representation of Slovak in Czech film in last years, including wider ambit of non explicative 'too Slovak' characters, which are played by actors from Slovakia. She is interested in explicit and implicit indicating of 'too Slovak' concept, from what this concept (seen and cultivated by actual moving picture in Czech Republic) consists of and what are the strategies of its innovation, debugging, even revaluation.
The study deals with the relationship of contemporary Slovak film to place in terms of reduction of interest in ethnographic location. Employing the terminology of anthropologist Marc Auge, it uses the example of his analysis of non-places as typical signs of super modernity to examine changes in relation to location in Slovak cinematography after 2001. The analysis of the films 'Two Syllables Behind', 'Return of the Storks', 'It Will Stay Between Us' and 'Other Worlds' points to the relationship between the representation of super modern relations (or even directly non-places) and the processes of European integration, accompanied by the crisis of national identity.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.