Best of Slovak Film 1921 – 1991

Ako napovedá už názov, publikácia je venovaná filmovým dielam z obdobia rokov 1921 – 1991, teda dielam, ku ktorým Slovenský filmový ústav vykonáva práva výrobcu. Konkrétne ide o výber 35 celovečerných filmov, ktoré predstavujú to najlepšie, čo v našom audiovizuálnom prostredí doposiaľ vzniklo. Autorom textov k jednotlivým filmom, ako aj predslovu k publikácii je popredný britský filmový historik Peter Hames. Na jeho úvodnú textovú časť, potom nadväzujú profily 20 slovenských režisérov. Súčasťou celej publikácie je pestrý fotografický materiál.

As the title itself suggests, the volume introduces Slovak feature films made from 1921 until 1991 (since the Slovak Film Institute executes the rights of authors to audiovisual works produced by state organizations before 1991, this volume introduces Slovak films made by that year). A selection of thirty-five features, Best of Slovak Film presents the highlights of the Slovak audiovisual milieu.
Individual films are introduced by British film critic and historian Peter Hames. The volume also includes the biographies of twenty Slovak filmmakers and reviews published when the individual films had their premieres. The book is completed with rich photographic material.

“Carefully selected by Slovak film historians, this catalogue of The Best of Slovak Film, 1921-91 provides a representative introduction to a rich tradition that has achieved considerable breadth in its arguably short history. Contemporary criticism offers useful contextualisation and there are detailed and informative filmographies. Many titles will be familiar but many more await their discovery by international audiences.“ (Peter Hames)

Peter Hames is Visiting Professor of Film Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Creative Technology at Staffordshire University, United Kingdom and a programme advisor to the London Film Festival. He originally studied International Relations and took his PhD in Film Studies at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College, London. His books include The Czechoslovak New Wave (second edition, Wallflower Press, 2005, Czech translation, 2008, Polish translation, 2011) and Czech and Slovak Cinema: Theme and Tradition (Edinburgh University Press, 2010), and as editor, The Cinema of Central Europe (Wallflower Press, 2004) and The Cinema of Jan Švankmajer: Dark Alchemy (Wallflower Press, 2008). He contributed to Marketa Lazarová: Studie a dokumenty, edited by Petr Gajdošík (Casablanca Publishers, Prague, 2009) and recently co-edited Cinemas in Transition in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989 (with Catherine Portuges, Temple University Press, 2013). His articles have appeared in Sight and Sound, Vertigo, Studies in Eastern European Cinema, KinoKultura and Kinoeye. He was a cinema and film society programmer for many years and has served on juries at Karlovy Vary, Bratislava, Trenčianske Teplice, Plzeň, Sochi, and Ivanovo.