Is There a Balkan Cinema?

Lately one could notice an emerging interest in Balkan Cinema. As in cinema scope Tom McSorley recognizes a New wave from Slovenia and Ronald Bergan from Guardian Unlimited travelled to the Transylvania International Film Festival in Cluj/Romania »to discover the secret behind the great success of Romanian cinema in the last two years which began with the widely acclaimed The Death of Mr Lazarescu and finally, filmcritic and -theorist Andrew James Horton, Dan Georgakas and Angelike Contis did pic up the ongoing debate around the question if there is a Balkan Cinema. They have organized a Filmmakers' and Critics' Symposium and asked the same questions to several directors and ciritcs: »1) To what degree can we speak of Balkan cinema as well the cinemas of specific Balkan countries? (2) What is the single most important issue that makes the biggest professional difference in your life as a Balkan filmmaker? (3) What five Balkan films would you select for wide international distribution?« Read the answers on www.cineaste.com