Seeing the Romanian Transition in Cinematic Space

Abstract

This article focuses on the space of the nation as presented in the films produced in Romania during the communist, transition to democracy, and democratic eras. The author’s analysis addresses cinematic space, the rules that exist within it, the authority of the space, as well as the specific ways in which certain identities are created and integrated in such cinematic spaces. The author traces the persistence of a number of spaces in films produced under different political regimes, transformations or substitutions of spaces, as well as the changes of rules and authorities. The article illustrates the way political, economic, and social changes are represented or imagined in the cinematic space. Special attention is directed to the relationship between the city and the countryside and to how this relationship has changed over time.