Iluminace, 2019 (vol. 31), issue 4

Decline of Quality and Prestige? Czech Film Reviews in the Digital Era

Petr Mareš

Iluminace 2019, 31(4):5-26 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1641  

The rise of digital media shook the sphere of film criticism because not only professional journalists but also fans and common users got the opportunity to write film reviews. Under these conditions, the shape of reviews changes and becomes more diverse. This article deals with the issues of structure, functions and language of contemporary Czech film reviews published on the internet in comparison with reviews in the press. The reviews posted on websites vary in many aspects, but some characteristic features and tendencies are evident. While reviews in the press often give prominence to description and interpretation of examined films, reviews on...

Devastating Dreamjobs. Ambivalence, Emotions, and Creative Labor in a Post-socialist Audiovisual Industry

Johana Kotišová

Iluminace 2019, 31(4):27-45 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1642  

Recent studies of creative labor have stirred up a discussion about the most appropriate theoretical framework for studying it: is creative labor a brute form of oppression? Or does it rather generate new and multiple subjectivities? Does creative labor subject the workers to a regime of self-discipline and governmentality? Or does it have purely positive features that cannot be reduced to compensatory mechanisms? Discussion of the accuracy of the different approaches still needs to be better grounded in empirical research. In particular, what is missing in the emergent work on creative labor is insight into non-Western creative workers' identities...

The Sound of Saute ma ville

Sara Pinheiro

Iluminace 2019, 31(4):47-60 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1643  

Saute ma ville (1968) is the first film by Chantal Akerman (1950-2015). Her portfolio includes conventional and experimental approaches, both in fiction and documentary, essays, visual portraits. Every film is a new attempt, searching for an approach that altogether still remains as her individual aesthetics. In this film, most of Akerman's attitude is already shaped: the simplicity, the intentional nativity that distracts the audience for what is to come, the feeling of verité, as much as the feeling of 'nothing happens' so characteristic of hers. Under the scrutiny of Acousmatic Foley's concepts ('sound-prop', 'sound-actor' and 'sound-motif '), this...

When National Female Bildungsroman Meets Global Fantasies about Nazis. Historical Roots and Current Troubles in Lída Baarová

Victoria Shmidt

Iluminace 2019, 31(4):61-78 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1644  

This text explores Lída Baarová (2016) by Filip Renč, a film that exceeds the limits of storytelling practices shaping views on female emancipation. Altman's semantic/syntactic/pragmatic approach to the genre frames the deconstruction of the film as an example of non-random cannibalization of narrative strategies and cultural codes. Introducing Renč's filmography sheds light on a specific set of intertexts for contextualizing Lída Baarová as mixing meta-cinematic farce and female bildungsroman. Examining Lída Baarová in the context of European meta-cinematic farce about female representatives of mass culture in fascist regimes aims to recognize the...

"So Far, We Are Poor Bastards, and It's Hard to Be Ok with It!"

Jaroslav Lopour

Iluminace 2019, 31(4):90-92 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1647  

Jaroslav Lopour's editorial text presents and contextualizes a collection of preserved memoirs by direct participants, which map and illuminate the earliest period of Czech film production from 1898 to 1914 from various perspectives, beginning with the pioneering activities of Jan Kříženecký and ending with the production of the first professional companies such as Kinofa and ASUM.

Memories of the Beginnings of Czech Film Production until 1914

bez autorů

Iluminace 2019, 31(4):93-126  

This edition of historical materials brings together ten preserved memoirs, personal letters, and contemporary articles from direct eyewitnesses and creators (including J. Šváb-Malostranský, E. A. Longen, and V. Pokorný), who provide detailed personal perspectives on the amateur and pioneering beginnings of Czech film production, from Jan Kříženecký's first attempts in 1898 to the activities of early companies such as Kinofa and ASUM before World War I.

Spectatorship as World Creation. An Interview with Timothy Corrigan

Tereza Hadravová, Andrea Slováková

Iluminace 2019, 31(4):79-84  

Tereza Hadravová and Andrea Slováková's interview with theorist Timothy Corrigan focuses on the changes in film viewing in the digital age, analyzing the transition from the traditional to the interactive model of reception and emphasizing the central role of writing, describing, and film essays as productive tools that enable viewers to actively shape meanings and help counter the threat of so-called digital narcissism.

The Little Czech Who Dreamed about Pixels (Jaroslav Švelch, Gaming the Iron Curtain)

Tamas Beregi

Iluminace 2019, 31(4):131-135  

Tamás Beregi's review presents Jaroslav Švelch's English-language monograph Gaming the Iron Curtain, which uses a sociocultural perspective and the history of everyday life to map in detail the specific conditions of computer enthusiasm, amateur programming, unofficial distribution, and the emergence of unique gaming subcultures in communist Czechoslovakia in the 1980s.

Film Archive and Copyright: A Study of One Relationship (Claudy Op den Kamp, The Greatest Films Never Seen)

Ivan David

Iluminace 2019, 31(4):136-139  

Ivana David's review presents Claudy Op den Kampová's publication The Greatest Films Never Seen, which uses the example of the Dutch archive to examine the complex relationship between copyright and film archiving. The reviewer particularly highlights its clarity and practical contribution to understanding the influence of legal norms on the accessibility of works and the formation of film history.

To Make Courageous Decisions. An Interview with Dušan Barok

Adéla Kudlová

Iluminace 2019, 31(4):85-89  

An interview with researcher and artist Dušan Barok maps the circumstances surrounding the creation and development of Monoskop, a non-profit community online platform focused on sharing knowledge about avant-garde and media culture, while also reflecting on his current research devoted to the specifics and challenges of institutional conservation and preservation of contemporary new media artworks.

Vlasta Fabianová (1912-1991)

Kristýna Doležalová

Iluminace 2019, 31(4):127-130 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1649  

Kristýna Doležalová's text charts the life and successful theatrical, film, and teaching career of the prominent Czech actress Vlasta Fabianová, while also presenting in detail the contents of her personal archive stored at the National Film Archive.

New Acquisitions of the NFA Library

Iluminace 2019, 31(4):140-148