Chapter 16: European Renaissance: East
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. After World War II, the countries of Eastern Europe
a. almost all started national film schools.
b. all had strong national film industries.
c. gained independence for the first time in decades.
d. nationalized their film industries.
e. Both a and d are true.
f. All of the above are true.
2. After World War II, the Eastern Europe cinema
a. avoided any political content in their films.
b. were forced to adopt “Socialist realism” as their official film style.
c. operated within a free market system.
d. had to start from scratch because there had been no significant film industries before the war.
e. Both a and b are true.
f. None of the above are true.
3. The first films made in Poland after World War II
a. were light-hearted comedies designed to appeal to people who had been through a terrible period of
struggle.
b. were allegories about Poland maintaining its independence from the Soviet Union.
c. were about the horrors the country had endured under Nazi domination.
d. signaled a rapid growth in production that resulted in more films being made in Poland during this
period than ever before.
e. were nonexistent since no feature films were made in Poland until the early 1950s.
f. None of the above are true.
4. After 1954 the Polish film industry was organized
a. into mutually competitive, creatively autonomous production units.
b. around a single authoritarian structure that controlled all decisions regarding cinema.
c. into individual production companies that had to seek their own financing.
d. as a largely capitalist enterprise in a Communist country.
e. both c and d
f. none of the above
5. Among the first significant filmmakers to emerge from the film school was
a. Roman Polanski. d. Krzysztof Zanussi.
b. Jerzy Kawalerowicz. e. all of the above
c. Aleksander Ford. f. none of the above
6. The Polish director who made the first Eastern European films to be widely distributed in the West
was
a. Andrzej Munk. d. Jerzy Skolimowski.
b. Roman Polanski. e. Jan Lenica.
c. Andrzej Wajda. f. none of the above
7. Andrzej Wajda’s “War Trilogy”
a. includes Man of Iron and Man of Marble.
b. reveals an underlying optimism that would help make Wajda’s films successful for decades.
c. concludes with Ashes and Diamonds.
d. was never completed due to the director’s early death in a car accident.
e. Both a and d are true.
f. All of the above are true.
8. The Andrzej Wajda film about making a film that memorializes the great Polish actor Zbigniew
Cybulski is
a. Ashes and Diamonds. d. Everything for Sale.
b. Man of Marble. e. A Generation.
c. Danton. f. none of the above
9. Andrzej Wajda’s films
a. were narratively challenging but technically and aesthetically conventional.
b. spanned a range of genres including comedy, thriller, and musical.
c. avoided political themes.
d. were made for a production entity of which he himself was the head.
e. all of the above
f. none of the above
10. The end of the Polish School was the result of
a. the domestic box-office failure of the films they produced.
b. the retirement of Andrzej Wajda who was the only important filmmaker of the movement.
c. the emigration to the West of all its major filmmakers who sought higher pay and greater creative
freedom.
d. the transition from nationalized to private industry that encouraged the production of entertainment
films.
e. the government attacking filmmakers for presenting a negative view of Polish life.
f. none of the above
11. The most prominent member of the “Second Generation” of Polish filmmakers was
a. Andrzej Wajda. d. Jerzy Toeplitz.
b. Roman Polanski. e. both b and c
c. Jerzy Skolimowski. f. none of the above
12. Roman Polanski
a. makes films that reveal a thematic obsession with cruelty and violence.
b. made no feature films in Poland before The Pianist in 2002.
c. made only one film in the United States, Chinatown, before fleeing the country.
d. has never returned to the horror genre of his early period.
e. both a and d
f. all of the above
13. Jerzy Skolimowski
a. has remained in Poland throughout his career.
b. collaborated with both Wajda and Polanski before even finishing film school.
c. was relatively unknown in Poland when he found success in the West.
d. has always avoided social and political criticism in his films.
e. all of the above
f. none of the above
14. The most important figure to emerge from the Third Polish Cinema is
a. Roman Polanski. d. Krzysztof Kieslowski.
b. Krzysztof Zanussi. e. Jerzy Toeplitz.
c. Andrzej Wajda. f. none of the above
15. Walerian Borowczyk was
a. the long-time head of the Polish film school.
b. the most important figure to emerge from the Third Polish Cinema.
c. the great Polish surrealist animator.
d. the director of several pro-Solidarity documentaries.
e. the greatest Polish director of the 1940s.
f. none of the above
16. The Polish Cinema during the politically tumultuous 1970s
a. avoided any mention of political topics concentrating instead on entertainment films.
b. was the most strictly controlled branch of the Polish media.
c. made some controversial films, but they were never popular with Polish audiences.
d. was less strictly regulated than radio and television and films could be released that could not be
mentioned in the media.
e. both a and b
f. none of the above
17. Which of the following was NOT a policy of the Polish government after December 1981?
a. All the movie theaters in Poland were closed.
b. The industry began making World War II epics and historical films.
c. The film festival was suppressed.
d. Andzrej Wajda was fired.
e. Many of the films made during the late 1970s were banned.
f. All of the above were Polish government policies.
18. The Eastern European country that produced the “cinema of moral anxiety” was
a. Romania. d. Yugoslavia.
b. Hungary. e. Poland.
c. Czechoslovakia. f. none of the above
19. After restoration of Polish freedom in 1989
a. the Polish film industry never bounced back from the repression of the 1980s.
b. annual production rose dramatically.
c. the film units became independent production companies who owned their own films and
controlled distribution.
d. the industry resumed producing the types of films it had been making in the 1970s.
e. the economic crisis that threatened the film industry came to an abrupt end.
f. none of the above
20. Prior to World War II, Czechoslovakia’s film industry
a. was nonexistent.
b. had the most sophisticated production facilities in Europe.
c. did not produce commercial feature films but only documentaries and shorts.
d. was far behind the development of the other European industries.
e. both c and d
f. none of the above
21. All of the following were policies of the Czechoslovakian government toward film after World War II
EXCEPT
a. starting a state film school.
b. starting a studio for the production of puppet and animated films.
c. privatization of feature film production.
d. starting a separate Slovak production system.
e. Neither c nor d were Czech government policies.
f. All of the above were Czech government policies.
22. The Czech cinema of the 1950s
a. rejected the Socialist realism of the other Eastern European countries.
b. produced no films of lasting historical significance.
c. was only known internationally for their production of political documentaries.
d. was formally separated from the Slovak cinema, which had its own studios.
e. was the most interesting and dynamic in Eastern Europe.
f. none of the above
23. The primary formal innovator of the Czech New Wave who was influenced by French and American
cinéma vérité to produce films like A Bag of Fleas and Ceiling was
a. Ján Kadár. d. Menzel.
b. Elmar Klos. e. Chytilová.
c. Milos Forman. f. none of the above
24. Chytilová’s Daisies
a. is a documentary about flowers.
b. is a film in the cinéma vérité style about farmers in rural Czechoslovakia.
c. was celebrated by the Czech government upon its release as being the vanguard of the Czech New
Wave.
d. was a popular but not critical success abroad though it was never shown in Czechoslovakia.
e. both b and d
f. none of the above
25. The “Czech film miracle”
a. commenced with the films of Chytilová and Jaromil .
b. produced films that were enormously popular domestically but had little international influence.
c. occurred immediately after World War II.
d. involved only those directors who graduated from the Czech film school.
e. was more a marketing tool used by Czech distributors than a real cinematic phenomenon.
f. none of the above
26. Adrift
a. is the greatest film produced by the collaboration between Chytilová and .
b. takes place, except for the beginning and end, entirely in the mind of the main character.
c. is a Canadian production shot in Prague by a Czech director.
d. is a structurally simple, narratively taut story about a Czech shop assistant who tries to protect the
Jewish owner of the store during the Nazi occupation.
e. both a and b
f. none of the above
27. The first important director to graduate from the Czech film school and who helped break down the
conventions of Socialist realism in films such as All My Countrymen was
a. Milos Forman. d. Jan .
b. Menzel. e. Chytilová.
c. . f. none of the above
28. The early films of Milos Forman, such as The Loves of a Blonde,
a. generally avoided political or social commentary.
b. revealed the great command of studio production technique that would distinguish his later films,
such as Amadeus.
c. were darkly comic satires about the bureaucratic incompetence and ideological rigidity of the
Czech government.
d. were based on tightly structured scripts with intricate dialogue and unexpected plot twists.
e. both a and d
f. none of the above
29. The Milos Forman satire of the Socialist realist melodramas of the 1950s, the release of which was
temporarily blocked by the Czech president himself, is
a. Loves of a Blonde. d. The Firemen’s Ball.
b. Closely Watched Trains. e. Taking Off.
c. Black Peter. f. none of the above
30. Menzel
a. won an Academy Award with his first feature film Closely Watched Trains.
b. worked in a style completely different from that of Milos Forman.
c. makes films of great political commitment but which are devoid of humor.
d. only made films from original scripts he either wrote himself or cowrote with Forman.
e. both a and d
f. none of the above
31. The Czech filmmaker who is referred to as “the conscience of the New Wave” for his uncompromising
dramas such as Everyday Courage is
a. Milos Forman. d. .
b. Menzel. e. Ivan Passer.
c. Jan . f. none of the above
32. The films of Jan can best be described as
a. experimental in form and controversial in political content.
b. serious dramas shot in a straightforward style with an emphasis on dramatic performance.
c. comic satire containing very little political commentary.
d. influenced by the same cinéma vérité style that was embraced by so many filmmakers of the
Czech New Wave.
e. lyrically romantic stories of the recent Czechoslovakian past.
f. none of the above
33. After the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, all of the following occurred EXCEPT
a. the directors of the Barrandov and Koliba studios were fired.
b. the five autonomous production units were dissolved.
c. every major filmmaker working in the country was blacklisted, and a new group of directors was
brought in.
d. four important films from the Czech New Wave were “banned forever.”
e. the director of the state distribution organization was imprisoned for anti-Socialist activities.
f. All the above occurred after the invasion.
34. After the Velvet Revolution in November of 1989, the Czechoslovakian film industry
a. continued to suppress the films that had been banned in the previous two decades.
b. continued to operate under the same centralized control, only now with an emphasis on profit.
c. suffered a decline in both film production and attendance as American imports began to dominate
the nation’s screens.
d. produced more feature films than it did during the Communist era.
e. operated completely without state production funding.
f. all of the above
35. The Czech film industry
a. continues to operate in conjunction with the Slovak industry though the countries are separate.
b. no longer produces films that enjoy international success.
c. produces fewer than five feature films a year.
d. relies on state-supported national television in order to be profitable.
e. is now not as large as the Slovak film industry.
f. none of the above
36. Prior to World War II, Hungary
a. had virtually no film industry.
b. had a distinguished tradition of film theory and criticism.
c. produced entertainment films but no films of artistic merit.
d. saw all its most important directors depart for Hollywood.
e. had a generally popular cinema, but famous authors and actors from the stage would never work in
film.
f. none of the above
37. Before World War II, the Hungarian cinema
a. produced several important directors virtually all of whom emigrated to America.
b. never developed the assembly line-style studio production popular in the United States.
c. was entirely state financed and government controlled.
d. never made the conversion to sound that occurred in America and Western Europe.
e. Both a and d are true.
f. All of the above are true.
38. The Hungarian cinema of the 1950s
a. introduced a generation of filmmakers who continued to be active for decades.
b. was crushed by political events before it could really develop.
c. enjoyed a two-year period of productivity and prosperity.
d. was never notable for its formal innovations or visual style.
e. Both a and d are true.
f. All of the above are true.
39. The first filmmaker to emerge from the Hungarian New Wave was
a. Miklós Jancsó. d. András Kovács.
b. István Szabó. e. Mihály Kertész.
c. István Gaál. f. none of the above
40. Stylistically, Miklós Jancsó’s The Round–Up can be described as
a. inspired by cinéma vérité in its use of hand-held camera and natural lighting.
b. highly choreographed long takes that emphasize the composition of groups of actors.
c. a surrealistic blending of multiple exposures and camera tricks.
d. Hollywood-influenced melodramas with overt political themes.
e. comic political satire photographed in a straightforward style.
f. none of the above
41. In Jancsó’s Red Psalm
a. he abandons the long-take aesthetic moving toward a more conventional montage.
b. he abandons political commentary, instead making a film celebrating Hungarian culture.
c. he has the camera moving endlessly for the entire eighty minutes of the film.
d. he uses a more conventional narrative structure that won him popular support but, for the first
time, lost him critical acclaim.
e. both a and b
f. none of the above
42. The films of Miklós Jancsó
a. are remarkably different from one another.
b. are noted for their masterful use of editing.
c. are noted for their tight narrative construction and dramatic performances.
d. are known for their symbolic and poetic images and structures.
e. both a and b
f. none of the above
43. The early films of István Szabó reveal the influence of
a. Italian neorealism. d. German Expressionism.
b. French poetic realism. e. the French New Wave.
c. Socialist realism. f. none of the above
44. István Szabó
a. improvises dialogue and works from a loose scenario.
b. has always employed a very straightforward approach to editing that maintains strict chronology
of events.
c. has never received critical recognition outside of his native Hungary.
d. makes his films quickly, often taking only a few weeks for preproduction.
e. Both a and d are true.
f. None of the above are true.
45. The films of Márta Mészáros
a. include Red Psalm, The Round-Up, and The Red and the White.
b. are characterized by a highly stylized long-take aesthetic and almost no editing.
c. feature a documentary-like flatness of presentation and a consistent focus on the issues of women
and children.
d. deal almost exclusively with the period of the Nazi occupation and its effect on Hungarian society.
e. both c and d
f. none of the above
46. The Hungarian director known for his films that deal with phenomenon of industrial alienation and
share much with the British New Cinema is
a. Péter Bacsó. d. István Gaál.
b. Sándor Sára. e. Ferenc Kósa.
c. Pál Gábor. f. none of the above
47. Ferenc Kósa’s Ten Thousand Suns
a. was the first film of the Hungarian New Wave.
b. was delayed in its release for political reasons.
c. was the first Hungarian film to win an Academy Award.
d. is a relatively simple narrative covering just a few days in the life of an ordinary worker.
e. is the only film the director ever made.
f. none of the above
48. Which of the following directors is most deeply influenced by Jancsó as a result of working as his
assistant for several years?
a. Pál Sándor d. István Szabó
b. János Rósza e. Zsolt Kézdi-Kovács
c. Ferenc Kósa f. none of the above
49. The filmregény genre pioneered by István Dárday in his film Holiday in Britain mixes
a. comedy with melodrama.
b. political commentary with music.
c. the horror film with the political propaganda film.
d. documentary with fiction.
e. the abstraction of Jancsó with a popular comic story.
f. none of the above
50. Which of the following is NOT an example of the filmregény genre?
a. The Point of Departure.
b. The Documentator.
c. Film Novel—Three Sisters.
d. Holiday in Britain.
e. Angi Vera.
f. All of the above are examples of filmregény.
51. The Hungarian cinema
a. experienced an unprecedented growth in production in the early 1990s.
b. was never divided up into the semiautonomous production units that characterized the Polish
cinema.
c. is the only one in Eastern Europe to have consistently maintained an international standing since
its beginnings.
d. was always more repressive of filmmakers’ freedom of expression than other Warsaw Pact
countries.
e. has never developed a sophisticated film culture, unlike in many other Eastern European countries.
f. none of the above
52. After 1990, the Hungarian cinema
a. dissolved the former state studio, Mafilm.
b. completely stopped government investment in film production.
c. ground to a complete halt for several years until privatized production could begin.
d. opened distribution to U.S. productions.
e. moved from being art-film oriented to a total focus on entertainment.
f. none of the above
53. The contemporary Hungarian cinema
a. operates completely outside government control and influence.
b. is domestically popular but has no directors working within it that enjoy significant international
recognition.
c. ironically enjoys less creative freedom than it did under Communism.
d. only produces about five films a year.
e. is dying because there is no longer a serious emphasis on film culture in Hungarian education.
f. none of the above
54. The Hungarian director who began working in the social realist mode before moving into visually
stylized abstraction culminating in the seven-hour Satan’s Tango is
a. Pál Gábor. d. Miklós Janscó.
b. Béla Tarr. e. Ferenc Kósa.
c. István Szabó. f. none of the above
55. Prior to World War II, the Yugoslavian film industry
a. had a rich tradition of film scholarship and criticism.
b. produced the most distinguished films in Eastern Europe.
c. was extremely well known for producing documentaries.
d. produced an average of five feature films a year, almost all comedies and melodramas.
e. was nonexistent.
f. none of the above
56. Which of the following was NOT a result of Tito’s policies concerning the Yugoslavian cinema?
a. the construction of a modern studio complex
b. the founding of the state film schools
c. an increase in state funding of feature films
d. the publication of a scholarly journal of film theory and criticism
e. the strict imposition of Soviet-style Socialist realism
f. all of the above
57. The Yugoslav cinema of the early 1950s
a. was entirely centered in Serbia.
b. produced films at a slow but regular rate but made no narrative feature films.
c. was virtually nonexistent.
d. produced over five hundred compilation films, documentary shorts, and newsreels.
e. both a and d
f. none of the above
58. The “Basic Law on the Management of State Economic Enterprises and Higher Economic
Associations by the Work Collectives”
a. introduced the concept of a strictly state-controlled, public ownership of the film industry.
b. allowed individual production groups to raise their own funds through distribution contracts and
coproductions.
c. created the Committee for Cinematography, which oversaw all aspects of Yugoslavian film
production.
d. imposed a ticket tax on theater admissions to help fund the Yugoslavian cinema.
e. caused the collapse of the Yugoslavian cinema.
f. none of the above
59. The Zagreb Studio focused on
a. documentary.
b. experimental short films.
c. animation.
d. big budget entertainment films that would compete with Hollywood.
e. Communist propaganda.
f. none of the above
60. The Yugoslav novi film
a. emerged in the years immediately after World War II.
b. sought to free the cinema from ideological dogma.
c. insisted on a straightforward, realistic presentation of the cinematic narrative.
d. was interested in exploring the problems of Yugoslavia’s history.
e. was politically conservative and won the support of the Yugoslav government.
f. none of the above
61. The most important director to emerge from the Belgrade novi film group, whose films equated sexual
repression with political repression was
a. Aleksander Petrovíc. d. Vatroslav Mimica.
b. Lordan . e. Slobodan .
c. Makavejev. f. none of the above
62. The Yugoslav “black film” was
a. a Yugoslav mystery genre based on American film noir.
b. an underground film movement in Yugoslavia directly critical of government policies.
c. a dark satirical comedy style that became popular in Yugoslavia in the 1960s.
d. the government’s new term for the novi film when it fell from favor.
e. a Yugoslav genre that emerged after World War II dealing with the disastrous effects of the war.
f. none of the above
63. The Prague Group
a. was Yugoslav filmmakers who all had studied at FAMU.
b. was known for producing absurdist social satires.
c. avoided the volatile political content that characterized the novi film.
d. made films that were popular with domestic audiences and foreign critics.
e. all of the above
f. none of the above
64. The FAMU-trained Bosnian director, whose tragicomic films such as Do You Remember Dolly Bell?
and When Father Was Away on Business made him the star of the Yugoslav cinema in the 1980s and
90s, is
a. Aleksander . d. Emir Kusturica.
b. Makavejev. e. .
c. Lordan . f. none of the above
65. The only one of the novi film directors NOT to return to work in the Yugoslavian film industry after
the crackdown of the 1970s ended was
a. Makavejev.
b. Vatroslav Mimica.
c. Aleksander .
d. Krsto .
e. .
f. All of the above returned to work in the Yugoslavian industry.
66. The Yugoslavian film industry differed from those of the other Eastern European countries in that
a. it was organized into several semiautonomous production units.
b. it generated the majority of its production funding from the domestic box office.
c. filmmakers who were critical successes but whose films were not popular with audiences were
guaranteed production financing.
d. it was completely centralized under a single production authority.
e. both a and c
f. none of the above
67. In the late 1990s after the Yugoslav cinema divided up into the Serbian, Bosnian, and Croatian
industries
a. they all became extremely productive, cumulatively far outproducing the Yugoslav industry of the
1970s and 1980s.
b. production in all regions slowed to a small handful of films.
c. the Bosnian industry emerged very strong while the other two were weaker.
d. the Serbian industry has flourished while the Croatian industry has disappeared completely.
e. the dark humor that characterized Yugoslav cinema disappeared from the films of Serbia, Bosnia,
and Croatia.
f. none of the above
68. Bulgarian cinema before 1950
a. was nonexistent.
b. was limited to documentaries and educational films.
c. had produced fifty-five films in thirty-five years.
d. was already nationalized.
e. both b and d
f. none of the above
69. Rangel Vulchanov’s On a Small Island
a. was the first Bulgarian feature film.
b. was the first film made after the nationalization of the Bulgarian film industry.
c. was the film that established the Bulgarian national genre of the black comedy.
d. was considered a major turning point in the Bulgarian industry based on its stylized narrative.
e. was the first Bulgarian film to enjoy widespread popularity in the West.
f. none of the above
70. The cultural thaw that inspired the explosions of film culture in other Eastern European countries
a. never occurred in Bulgaria, which maintained an authoritarian control over cinema.
b. was not needed in Bulgaria, which always gave its filmmakers unlimited political freedom.
c. happened first in Bulgaria, so that by the late 1950s it had developed a vibrant film culture.
d. had little effect on the content of the Bulgarian cinema.
e. happened later in Bulgaria, which did not have its “new wave” until the late 1960s.
f. none of the above
71. In the early 1970s the Bulgarian cinema
a. was first organized into independent production units.
b. first established a national film school.
c. was making about fifteen feature films per year.
d. benefited from the policies of new leadership of the Bulgarian State Cinematography Corporation.
e. produced a new generation of significant filmmakers.
f. all of the above
72. Bulgarian cinema in the 1970s
a. achieved international prominence with many films winning festival awards.
b. was repressed by the government, ending the production boom that occurred in the 1960s.
c. became increasingly commercial, avoiding stories about serious social problems.
d. avoided historical films, focusing almost exclusively on contemporary subjects.
e. both c and d
f. none of the above
73. In the early 1980s, the Bulgarian government commissioned four epic spectacles to be produced to
a. commemorate Bulgaria’s achieving freedom from the Soviet Union.
b. celebrate Bulgaria’s thirteen-hundredth anniversary as a country.
c. capitalize on the international acclaim Bulgarian cinema had earned in the 1970s.
d. be the first films of the nationalized Bulgarian industry.
e. demonstrate the benefits of Communism to the Bulgarian people.
f. none of the above
74. All of the following were superspectacles commissioned by the Bulgarian government in the early
1980s EXCEPT
a. Constatine the Philosopher.
b. Khan Asparuh.
c. Sun and Shadow.
d. Boris the First.
e. Master of Boiana.
f. All of the above were government-sponsored superspectacles.
75. The Bulgarian cinema after 1990
a. produced about twenty-five feature films and twenty-five television films a year.
b. had one of the most sophisticated film laboratories in Europe.
c. expanded dramatically as it responded to market forces.
d. collapsed.
e. turned increasingly away from international coproductions.
f. none of the above
76. The Romanian haiduk film is comparable in terms of plot and technique to the American
a. musical. d. horror film.
b. slapstick comedy. e. western.
c. melodrama. f. none of the above
77. Romanian director Mircea Daneliuc
a. is the most prominent filmmaker to emerge from “the Class of the 1970s.”
b. responded to Romanian dictator attacks on the culture industries by making films
that dealt with taboo subjects.
c. is narratively experimental mixing elements of cinema vert with flashbacks, flash forwards, and
multiple points of view.
d. made films that consistently were domestic box-office successes and critically lauded abroad.
e. none of the above
f. all of the above
78. Romanian cinema in the 1980s
a. was organized according to the Polish production unit model.
b. produced less than five feature films per year.
c. lacked any form of self-financing, relying entirely on government subsidy.
d. regularly captured less than 10 percent of its domestic box office with the largest proportion going
to Soviet and American films.
e. collapsed completely.
f. none of the above
79. The documentary film University Square
a. was produced by himself to help prop up his crumbling regime.
b. was the first Romanian film produced entirely with private financing.
c. proved that the government had orchestrated attacks on protesters who demanded a free Romania.
d. was never shown in theaters but circulated widely through unofficial channels.
e. saw its director jailed and barred from the Romanian film industry.
f. none of the above
80. Eastern Europe became a fertile site for the production of world-class cinema because
a. its economic system fostered an intense competition among producers for box-office returns.
b. its artistic traditions were conducive to the abstract yet structural nature of the cinema.
c. it was the most successful attempt to mimic Hollywood production style ever seen.
d. their political oppression found a means of expression in cinema.
e. only b and d
f. all of the above