Abstract
Existing English-language studies on the history of East-Central European film industries have concentrated primarily on the shifting relationships between communist authorities and prominent filmmakers, leaving rather overlooked such important matters as popular culture and day-to-day production practices. This book, by contrast, devotes particular attention to the management of day-to-day creative activities within a system that designated the state as the only official producer and to the organizational solutions that were introduced in the attempt to strike a harmonious balance between centralized state control and creative freedom.
It also focuses on the operations of this mode of production in the context of the historical realities of the local production community. Rather than limiting its perspective to renowned auteurs, the book instead examines collaborative production practices and popular genres, primarily comedy.
This project takes as its case-study the Barrandov studios in the Czechoslovak capital of Prague.