Introduction: Once upon a (Central European) Time

Summary

This book is meant as an introduction. It wants to present to readers not familiar with the subject one of the oldest and crucially important film studios of Central Europe, which also boasts to have been one of the biggest at the time it was founded – the Barrandov Studios in Prague, Czech Republic. Situated on top of the Barrandov Hills, Barrandov Studios functions as a truly Central European Hollywood, explicitly ‘planned as a centre for international production’ (Hames 2000, 64). The studios ‘opened officially in the year marked by the advent of the “talkies” (1931)’ (Iordanova 2003, 24). For their now more than ninety years of existence, the studios have been the location of choice for the production of more than 5,000 Czech and international films.

As with its analogous geographical eponyms, such as ‘Hollywood’ or ‘Babelsberg’, the label ‘Barrandov’ encapsules a wealth of connotations that far exceeds the confines of the physical studios themselves. Depending on the context the name can be used to describe a studio complex in the south of Prague, the neighborhood where the film factory is located, or a production company. At the same time, the word is more often than not employed as a general shorthand for the management apparatus that oversaw the state-run film production under communism or for the entire Czech (but not Slovak) film industry and its creative output more generally. At a certain point, the concept of ‘Barrandov’ achieves mythological implications that are simultaneously linked to both the Czech national identity and with an internationally attractive technological production standard.

While most readers might be familiar with the Czech New Wave (Nova vlna), the institution behind these successes is likely less well-known. Its story has so far not been told to an English-speaking readership. This collection aims at correcting this, presenting the studio's rich history, production culture, and some of its esteemed directors and their films.

A word about the phrase ‘Central Europe’. While the diehard connotation of the Czech Republic as being part of Eastern Europe seems to be a default label still alive in the heads of many people (and politicians amongst them as well), it is simply a wrong (and ‘ill-educated’) notion.