Eastern European Screen Cultures and Production
Course summary
The course explores Eastern European screen cultures and moving image productions, focusing on streaming platforms, runaway productions, and emerging television forms.
It examines the interplay between global cultural and industrial forces and regional productions, analyzing global, regional, and local production cultures. Key concepts include post-socialism, post-colonialism, platform imperialism, and liminal whiteness. By completing the course, students will gain insights into television's impact on cultural politics and economic dynamics in Eastern Europe, comprehend streaming platform operations, and apply cultural studies and media theory to analyze visual narratives.
Course period
21 July- 03 August
Credits
Our course recommends 5 ECTS points, which may be accepted for credit transfer by the participants' home universities. Those who wish to obtain these credits should inquire about the possible transfer at their home institution prior to their enrollment. The International Strategy Office will send a transcript to those who have fulfilled all the necessary course requirements and request one.
Application deadline
30 May 2025 (max. 15- 20 participants)
Course fee
590 EUR; includes: tuition fee, course materials, meals (coffee break and lunch), local transport, opening ceremony and the cost of the leisure time programs, excursions
Course requirements
At least level B2 (CEFR) English proficiency
Application
Application form: https://www.elte.hu/en/content/.f.677
Meet the lecturers
Veronika Hermann is Assistant Professor in the Department of Media and Communication at Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, where she obtained her PhD in Literary and Cultural Studies in 2015. Her research interest covers Cold War popular culture, contemporary and 20th-century Eastern European popular culture, and relations of socialism, nationalism, whiteness, and post-colonialism. She has publications and she lectures in Hungarian and English. Her first book Identity Politics in Literature was published in 2020. In 2024 she was a Visegrad Scholarship Fellow at Central European University - Open Society Archives with an ongoing research project called Nationalism Revisited.
Sylwia Szostak is a lecturer, film journalist, television critic and a researcher of film culture. She has practical experience of having worked as a publicist for one of Poland’s commercial broadcasters – TVN – now part of Warner Bros. Discovery Poland., where she was responsible for promotional activities of Polish domestic series. She completed her PhD at the University of Nottingham and is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism and Communication at the SWPS University in Warsaw. Her work has been published in The European Journal of Cultural Studies, The Journal of Popular Television, and Critical Studies in Television. She is the co-editor of a themed issue of European Journal of Cultural Studies devoted to Global Media Industries in Central and Eastern Europe. Sylwia's academic research focuses on the changes occurring in Polish television and film production resulting from the expansion of global streaming services, particularly as related to production culture, creativity, workflows, and regulation. She has written extensively about the Polish creative industry, both in Polish and English. Her writing portfolio of film journalism includes critical columns, reviews and interviews with Polish producers, scriptwriters, and directors. Overall, her work bridges the gap between the industry and academia and supports film education. She is a member of the European Film Academy and a member of Society of Cinema and Media Studies.
Course Syllabus
22 July Sylwia Szostak
- 9.00- 10.30 - Market Overview of Eastern European Screen Industries
- 11.00-12.30 - Funding Audiovisual Production in the Region
- 13.30- 15.00 - Regional Media Policy, Residuals and European Cultural Heritage
24 July Sylwia Szostak
- 9.00- 10.30 - Generic Diversity in the Streaming Era
- 11.00-12.30 - Content, Politics and Ideology
- 13.30- 15.00 - Streaming, Illiberalism and Popular Content
25 July Sylwia Szostak
- 9.00- 10.30 - New Film Professions
- 11.00-12.30 - Post Production Sector in Eastern Europe
- 13.30- 15.00 - Practitioners' Perspective, Internal Struggles and What Lies Ahead
29 July Veronika Hermann
- 9.00- 10.30 What is Eastern Europe in popular culture?
- 11.00-12.30 Screen histories: Eastern Europe 1.
- 13.30- 15.00 Screen histories: Eastern Europe 2.
31 July Veronika Hermann
- 9.00- 10.30 TV Socialism: television genres
- 11.00-12.30 TV Socialism: transnationalism
- 13.30- 15.00 TV Socialism: socialist nostalgia
1 August Veronika Hermann
- 9.00- 10.30 Post-socialism and post-colonialism in Eastern European screens
- 11.00-12.30 White, but not quite: liminal whiteness in Eastern European screens
- 13.30- 15.00 Beasts from the East: representations of Eastern Europe on global screens