International Conference: Film Europe: European Cinema between Imagination and Reality in the Fascist Era (1933−1945)

International conference of the German Historical Institute in Rome, Filmuniversität Babelsberg, Uppsala Universitet, ZZF − Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam and KU Leuven

Film Europe: European Cinema between Imagination and Reality aims to establish an international and interdisciplinary research network to study the history of European cinema during the Fascist era, focusing specifically on the International Film Chamber (Internationale Filmkammer, IFK). The IFK was founded in 1935 as a consultative body for European film industriesseeking to forge a continental film bloc that could combat the dominance of the American market. In 1941, the IFK was relaunched under the control of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy as a tool of these regimes to gain cultural hegemony in Europe. While research on the history of the IFK exists, much work remains to be done to understand its role in the broader history of film cooperation in Europe and the very idea of a "European" cinema. Our transnational approach toward the IFK integrates research on many of Europe's national film industries. Because the IFK intervened in the production, distribution and exhibition of films, our efforts to understand its legacy are interdisciplinary in nature, combining Film Studies with theories and methods drawn from Media Studies, Cultural Sociology and Politics and Economics.

Monday, 14 October 2024

09.40 Lutz Klinkhammer
Welcome

09.45 Emily Dreyfus, Fabian Schmidt, Roel Vande Winkel
Opening Remarks

Keynote Address
10.00 Benjamin Martin
Revisiting the International Film Chamber:
Nazi-Fascist "Film Europe" in Global History

10.50 Coffee Break

Panel 1 - The IFK in Europe I
Chair: Maria Fritsche

11.15 

Roel Vande Winkel
Small European Nations & the IFK

Tereza Czesany Dvořáková
Czech Filmmaking & IFK

Lars-Martin Sørensen
Danish Film & IFK

Mélisande Leventopoulos, Nefeli Liontou
Nazi Film Policies in Partitioned Greece

13.15 Lunch Break

Afternoon programme only for participants

Tuesday, 15 October 2024

Panel 2 - The Politics of Import
Chair: Philipp Stiasny

9.00 

Karina Pryt
Nazi Film Policy towards Poland (1933−1939)

Mats Björkin
Swedish Film Industry and Germany (1933−1945)

Panel 3 - The IFK in Europe II
Chair: Maria Fritsche

10.00

Jacopo Wassermann
Portuguese Membership in the IFK

Daniel Rafaelic
IFK and Croatia − the '41 and '42 Meetings

Kimmo Laine
Finnish Film Dispute 1942–44, IFK,
and the Issue of Raw Film Stock

11.30 Coffee Break

Panel 4 - Censorship
Chair: Petra Terhoeven

11.45 

Emily Dreyfus, Hemma Marlene Prainsack, Fabian Schmidt
Censorship as Suppression and Incentive in Nazi-era
Cinema

Louie Dean Valencia
Fascist Imagination and Historical Realities in Franco's
Spain

Pavel Skopal
Regulated Quality, Export of Czech Films, 1942−1945

13.15 Lunch Break

Panel 5 - Film in Transit I
Chair: Philipp Stiasny

14.15

Noora Kallioniemi
German Film Exhibition in Finland During World War II

Morgan Lefeuvre
Venice Film Festival, Fascist Film Politics 1932−1942

16.30 Coffee Break

Open Roundtable
Emily Dreyfus, Roel Vande Winkel, Fabian Schmidt
Perspectives for Further International "Nazi Cinema in
Transit" Projects

19.00 Conference dinner only for participant

Wednesday, 16 October 2024

Panel 6 - Exporting Propaganda
Chair: Louis Fortemps

9.00 

Claus Tieber
In Tune with Fascism: Political Meanings of Music in
Austrian Cinema 1933−38

Massimo Locatelli
The International Film Chamber: The Italian Case

Panel 7 - Film in Transit II
Chair: Philipp Stiasny

10.00 

Kajsa Philippa Niehusen
Exhibiting Nazi Cinema in Turkey

David Morton
Hollywood Cinema in Interwar Europe

Natasha Drubek
Cinema & Holocaust in the
"Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia"

11.30 Coffee Break

Panel 8 - Closing Remarks (Round-table)

Benjamin Martin, Maria Fritsche,
Christoph Classen, Jutta Braun
Beyond the 1945 Watershed. Perspectives Then and Now