Peter Hames is Honorary Research Associate in Film and Media Studies at Staffordshire University. His books include The Czechoslovak New Wave (second edition, 2005) and, as editor, The Cinema of Central Europe (2004), The Cinema of Jan Švankmajer: Dark Alchemy (second edition, 2008), and Cinemas in Transition (with Catherine Portuges, forthcoming). He has contributed to a wide range of publications, including Sight and Sound, Index on Censorship, Canadian Slavonic Papers, and KinoKultura.

A fascinating history of Czechoslovak cinema reveals Czech and Slovak film themes and a discussion of various traditions but it also offers, surprisingly, history seen through the prism of cinema... Innovative and fresh.

• 1. Introduction; 2. The Comic Tradition; 3. Czech Lyricism; 4. The Avant Garde; 5. Surrealism; 6. Animation; 7. Representations of the Holocaust; 8. Realism and the New Wave; 9. Politics and Film; 10. Traditions of the Absurd; 11. Is There a Slovak Style?.

Peter Hames is Honorary Research Associate in Film and Media Studies at Staffordshire University. His books include The Czechoslovak New Wave (second edition, 2005) and, as editor, The Cinema of Central Europe (2004), The Cinema of Jan Švankmajer: Dark Alchemy (second edition, 2008), and Cinemas in Transition (with Catherine Portuges, forthcoming). He has contributed to a wide range of publications, including Sight and Sound, Index on Censorship, Canadian Slavonic Papers, and KinoKultura.

A fascinating history of Czechoslovak cinema reveals Czech and Slovak film themes and a discussion of various traditions but it also offers, surprisingly, history seen through the prism of cinema... Innovative and fresh.

• 1. Introduction; 2. The Comic Tradition; 3. Czech Lyricism; 4. The Avant Garde; 5. Surrealism; 6. Animation; 7. Representations of the Holocaust; 8. Realism and the New Wave; 9. Politics and Film; 10. Traditions of the Absurd; 11. Is There a Slovak Style?.

Peter Hames is Honorary Research Associate in Film and Media Studies at Staffordshire University. His books include The Czechoslovak New Wave (second edition, 2005) and, as editor, The Cinema of Central Europe (2004), The Cinema of Jan Švankmajer: Dark Alchemy (second edition, 2008), and Cinemas in Transition (with Catherine Portuges, forthcoming). He has contributed to a wide range of publications, including Sight and Sound, Index on Censorship, Canadian Slavonic Papers, and KinoKultura.

A fascinating history of Czechoslovak cinema reveals Czech and Slovak film themes and a discussion of various traditions but it also offers, surprisingly, history seen through the prism of cinema... Innovative and fresh.

• 1. Introduction; 2. The Comic Tradition; 3. Czech Lyricism; 4. The Avant Garde; 5. Surrealism; 6. Animation; 7. Representations of the Holocaust; 8. Realism and the New Wave; 9. Politics and Film; 10. Traditions of the Absurd; 11. Is There a Slovak Style?.