5 - Marcela Pittermannová : Barrandov Dramaturges as Clients, Brokers, and Patrons

Summary

Abstract: Marcela Pittermannová became a member of a creative group at Barrandov in 1961. After its previous head, Jan Procházka, was made persona non grata in 1970, the group was run by Ota Hofman until 1982, then by the writer Stanislav Rudolf from 1982 to 1984, and finally by Pittermannová until 1990. She was a dramaturge in the successful area of production for children for almost three decades. In effect, an analysis of her position, decisions, and negotiations in relation to both the indigenous bureaucracy and to foreign coproduction partners can help to understand dynamics of the structure-agency relationship at Barrandov since the 1960s to the end of state-socialist era. This chapter focuses on the role of clients, patrons, and brokers in the dramaturgical job to understand its dynamics and functions in the production system.

Keywords: state-socialist cinema; patronage; film production; Barrandov; film dramaturgy; structure and agency

This chapter intends to provide a specific perspective on Barrandov's production history across three decades, from the 1960s to the 1980s. The story is mediated through a personality who is not recognized by the canonical version of Czech cinema history, but who undoubtedly was an effective member of the production machine and who significantly contributed to the reputation of Czech children's cinema: the dramaturge Marcela Pittermannová. She joined film production at Barrandov in October 1961 at the age of twenty-eight to work in the Švabík-Procházka creative group, and stayed on in Barrandov's dramaturgy of children's films as a respected practitioner for three decades, from 1961 to 1991. After twenty-three years in the position of an ordinary dramaturge, she became the head of the creative-dramaturgical group3 for children's films in September 1984, leaving her position in 1989, and Barrandov Studios in 1991.

To focus on her as agent who was influencing the standards and norms of children's cinema for thirty years provides a unique opportunity to understand some of the practices of state-socialist cinema and its dramaturgy as they were applied at Barrandov Studios. This chapter scrutinizes the dynamics of everyday routine, power negotiations, and individual decisions as they were made in the milieu of state-socialist economics and culture.