Czech Film in Exile (Český film v exilu)

Abstract

CZECH FILM IN EXILE (ČESKÝ FILM V EXILU). Jiří Voráč. Brno, Host 2004. 192pp, stills, index, English summary. ISBN: 8072941399.In Czech Film In Exile, Jiří Voráč turns to a topic painfully relevant for the cultural history of his country, yet ignored by his compatriot researchers for years. In the stifling times of the pre-1989 Communist dictatorship, the subject of the exile culture was strictly taboo. More surprising was that it continued to be neglected for almost fifteen years after the "velvet revolution" and subsequent democratization. Among the reasons may have been the geographic fragmentation, linguistic diversity and disorganization of the sources which had to be researched in countries on several continents. Another factor may have been a sort of ideological inertia among some of the Czech academic community, which did not seem to consider its own film exile a worthwhile academic subject.For Voráč, a film historian at Brno's Masaryk University,...