The Extreme Cinema of Eastern Europe

Investigates how contemporary national trends within Eastern Europe correspond to the global stream of transgressive filmmaking How do Eastern European extreme films deal with violence on an audio-visual, narrative and thematic level? To what extent are shock-tactics deployed differently between world cinema and the post-socialist block? What local variations and specialisms do we find within the region? What do the injured and/or pornographic bodies and sexual abuse represent in the contemporary cinema art and exploitation cinema of Eastern Europe? The Extreme Cinema of Eastern Europe examines extreme, transgressive cinema which developed following a post-2000 wave in filmmaking that aestheticised violence on audio-visual, narrative and thematic levels. Batori investigates the ways in which contemporary national trends from within Eastern Europe correspond to the global stream of transgressive filmmaking and shock aesthetics that have become the dominant markers of world cinema. Do these art productions intend to reveal and criticise aggressions in domestic landscapes or are they part of a contemporary global visual discourse? With a specific focus on gender, this book highlights both nation-specific features of these films and their relationship to global extreme art films.