Gene Deitch and Warsaw pact invasion to Czechoslovakia in 1968 : International coproduction in animation on the background of the political crisis
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2024 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | When animation filmmaker Gene Deitch came to Czechoslovakia in the late 1950s, he immediately became one of the most important figures in local cartoon production. Thanks to him, Czechoslovak animation was allowed to participate in many international commissions and provided with much sought-after foreign currency and the opportunity to purchase technical equipment from abroad. However, Deitch's American citizenship weakened his position in the system, and he was constantly under surveillance of the secret police. Given this, it is not surprising that his subsequent fate in Czechoslovak cinema was affected by the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops in August 1968. This paper will examine how historical events affected Deitch's position, looking at existing awareness of specific films he made through archival documents and the files of the regime's secret police. It will then relate Deitch's example to the more general context of co-productions between Czechoslovakia and producers from capitalist countries. The paper will be structured chronologically, from the 1960s, when Gene Deitch was shooting for the producer Timothy L. Snyder, through the turning point in the political situation in 1968, to the subsequent continuation of his career in the nationalised film industry through his collaboration with Weston Woods and Morton Schindel. Through the specific case of Gene Deitch, it will be possible to trace the peculiarities of co-productions between state-socialist cinema and the countries of the capitalist camp, the changing dynamics of the relationships between the various actors, and the advantages and disadvantages that came from their collaboration. |
| Related projects: |