Iluminace, 2018 (vol. 30), issue 2
Acting in Film, Television and Theater

Herectví mezi filmem, divadlem a televizí

Šárka Gmiterková

Iluminace 2018, 30(2):5-8  

The editorial presents a collection of texts focused on theoretical reflection on film acting in the Czech environment, examining the acting profession in the transmedia context of film, theater, and television, from the era of silent cinema and the phenomenon of stars such as Oldřich Nový and Marta Kubišová to institutional experiments such as the State Film Theater and current casting practices.

Living Meaning. The Fluency of Film Performance (Czech translation)

Andrew Klevan

Iluminace 2018, 30(2):9-20 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1561  

Through detailed analyses of scenes from classic Hollywood films, Andrew Klevan's text explores the concept of fluidity in film acting and shows how the "living" meaning conveyed by stars such as Greta Garbo, James Stewart, and Charlie Chaplin is constantly changing, thus eluding film critics' attempts at static interpretation.

Film Acting, Czech Silent Cinema, and Questions of Film Style Research

Radomír D. Kokeš

Iluminace 2018, 30(2):21-57 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1562  

This article focuses on formally analytical research of film acting and raises two questions. (1) To what degree it is a feasible approach towards film acting outline and how does it explain the continuities and discontinuities of a stylistic history of Czech silent cinema till 1922? (2) To what degree such aim is or is not attainable with the help of existing knowledge in the field of international film style historiography? In its first part, this study follows top-down argumentation. It reflects the already existing interpretative frameworks associated with the early history of film acting, mainly in large foreign cinemas (for example the American...

"He is in Love and not Corrupted by Wealth". Oldřich Nový as a Film Actor between the Years 1936-1969

Šárka Gmiterková

Iluminace 2018, 30(2):59-75 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1563  

Despite being fondly remembered as one of the brightest stars of the so-called First Republic era (1918-1938), the popular discourse surrouding Nový, articulated in numerous books, television biopics and exhibitons only rarely scrutinizes his strong perfoming assets. Staring in 22 films up to the year 1945, Nový was not only a celebrated stage actor and singer, but a film actor as well. In spite of not cultivating any direct connection between his stage career and film parts (in terms of screen adaptations of his theatre repertoire), his star persona nevertheless demonstrates recognizable patterns on the level of performance, genre and narrative. This...

Marta Kubišová: The Non-Actress with the Thalia Award. The 1960s Czech Pop-Stars between Theatre, Cinema, and Television

Miroslava Papežová

Iluminace 2018, 30(2):77-92 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1564  

The article deals with the phenomenon of the 1960s Czech pop-stars and their engaging on multiple platforms - theatre, cinema and television. Although most of them were not professional actors and actresses, they left a significant mark in the 1960s audiovisual cultural production in Czechoslovakia. The media industries, as well as the period discourse accepted them not just as singers, but as actors too. The case study focuses on Marta Kubišová, a famous Czech pop-star, who had a contract with one of the popular small theatres, and who acted in films and television shows. This part centres on analyzing Kubišová's musical and physical performance (movement...

The Actor between Theatre and Film (An Introduction to an Edition)
Project Divadlo státního filmu 1948-1951

Šárka Gmiterková

Iluminace 2018, 30(2):98-120 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1566  

This edition of archival materials with an introductory study maps the creation and inglorious demise of the State Film Theater (1948–1951), which was supposed to institutionally resolve the problematic release of actors from theater contracts for filming purposes, but due to organizational and economic difficulties, it was ultimately abolished and replaced by the Film Actor Studio.

Peripeties of One Art School and One Research Project (Martin Franc - Lenka Krátká - Petr Bednařík - Jitka Rauchová, Dějiny Akademie múzickych umění v Praze)

Tereza Czesany Dvořáková

Iluminace 2018, 30(2):135-138  

The text reviews the publications of a project mapping the history of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, which combines archival research and oral history to reconstruct the institutional development of the school and its faculties. The author particularly appreciates Petr Bednařík's treatment of FAMU's history, but criticizes the fact that the collected source materials remain inaccessible to other researchers.

Inspirational Cracks, Echoes of Slavoj Zizek and the Culture of Czech Stalinism (Vít Schmarc, Země lyr a ocele: Subjekty, ideologie, modely, mýty a rituály v kultuře českého stalinismu

Martin Mišúr

Iluminace 2018, 30(2):139-146  

A review of Vít Schmarc's book Země lyr a ocele (Land of Lyre and Steel) praises the author's linguistically refined and theoretically grounded analysis of Czech Stalinist culture, inspired by the thinking of Slavoj Žižek, but also criticizes the absence of deeper archival research into cultural-political mechanisms and the problematic inclusion of an older chapter on the film Tomorrow There Will Be Dancing Everywhere.

United by Surrealism (Bruno Solařík (ed.), Jan Švankmajer)

Luboš Ptáček

Iluminace 2018, 30(2):147-149  

The text reviews a lavish publication by CPress dedicated to Jan Švankmajer, which editor Bruno Solařík conceived not as a traditional academic monograph, but as a surrealistic "imaginative biography" composed of collages of texts and images, which, according to the reviewer, aptly and playfully reflects the creative principles of the artist portrayed.

Sama sobě objektem (Maria Lassnig 1919-2014; Národní galerie)

Matěj Forejt

Iluminace 2018, 30(2):150-152  

The text reviews an exhibition project by the National Gallery in Prague dedicated to Maria Lassnig, in which the author criticizes primarily the spatial and conceptual isolation of the artist's animated films in the Moving Image Department section from her paintings, which, together with technical shortcomings in the exhibition, weakened the comprehensive message of her feminist exploration of physicality.

Casting is a Creative Profession. An Interview with Kateřina Oujezdská

Šárka Gmiterková

Iluminace 2018, 30(2):93-97  

An interview with casting director Kateřina Oujezdská highlights the specifics of her practice, which combines casting films with representing actors, while also addressing the perception of casting as a fully-fledged creative profession in the context of problems in the Czech environment, including the absence of film acting courses at vocational schools and the lack of quality female roles.

Kolár Jan Stanislav (1896-1973)

Petr Hasan

Iluminace 2018, 30(2):121-124 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1567  

Through a description of his personal collection stored in the National Film Archive, the text outlines the three key professional careers of Jan Stanislav Kolár, who shaped Czech cinema as an important director of the silent era, a film official promoting protectionist measures, and, at the end of his life, as a film historian and archivist.

Digitally Curating Portals for Critical Editions and Towards Building an Audiovisual Corpus

Michal Klodner

Iluminace 2018, 30(2):125-134 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1568  

Michal Klodner's text analyzes the transformation of traditional archival practice in the digital environment through the concepts of digital curation and recontextualization, emphasizing the importance of detailed segmentation, annotation, and the building of audiovisual corpora for new forms of research and access to film heritage.

New Acquisitions of the NFA Library

Iluminace 2018, 30(2):153-163