November 4-7, 2009

"With Immediate Effect" —
The Events of 1989 Revisited

A public roundtable followed by a series of films reflecting on the twentieth anniversary of the transitions in Central and Eastern Europe that marked the end of the Cold War and altered the balance of power in the world.

November 4 • 6:00 PM

Opening Roundtable with the Consuls General of Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary and Poland

International House, Assembly Hall
1414 East 59th Street, Chicago, IL 60637

A discussion concerning the historic events of two decades ago in Central and Eastern Europe, and the paths taken since then - through personal reflections and recollections of how the process developed, the spirit of the movements, the leaders, the political atmosphere, and the ways in which the transition has resonated through the past twenty years. With Hon. Onno Hückmann of Germany, Hon. Zygmunt Matynia of Poland, Hon. Istvan Mezei of Hungary, Hon. Marek Skolil of the Czech Republic, and Hon. Robert Zischg of Austria.

November 5-7

Transitions: 1989 in Film

Many movies have been produced about the Cold War era and the post-Soviet world, yet the transitional moment between these two periods remains largely unaddressed on film. CIS presents a selection of the best movies that reflect on the upheavals of 1989.

NOVEMBER 5 • 7:00 PM International House, Coulter Lounge

Rabbit à la Berlin
Bartek Konopka & Piotr Rosolowski, 2009, 52 mins
For 28 years the Berlin Wall "death zone" was a haven for wild rabbits—full of grass, no predators, guards keeping humans out. They were trapped, but happy. One day the walls around them fell, and the rabbits had to abandon their enclave. They moved to West Berlin, formed a few smaller colonies, and as revealed in this tongue-in-cheek "nature film", are still learning how to live in the free world.

NOVEMBER 6 • 7:00 PM International House, Coulter Lounge

After the Velvet Revolution
Tom Weidlinger, 1993, 58 mins
This documentary features interviews with seven Czechoslovak ctizens in 1990 and 1991, and again a year or two later to see how they fared after the end of Communism. The film effectively uses the individual stories to give some background on 1968, the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia, and the economic consequences of the transition. Because the film was made so soon after the transition, it emphasizes uncertainty. A sense of bewilderment or even betrayal is conveyed by the fact that most of the individuals in the film experienced the idealism and hope of the Velvet Revolution only to find the gritty reality of transition more difficult than they had expected. As Vaclav Havel put it in one of the many pieces of historic footage included in the film, people felt "ambushed by freedom."

NOVEMBER 7 • 4:30 PM Doc Films, Max Palevsky Cinema, Ida Noyes Hall

12:08 East of Bucharest
Corneliu Porumboiu, 2006, 89 mins
It's December 22nd. 16 years have passed since the Romanian Revolution. In this absurdist comedy (set by director Corneliu Porumoiu in his own provincial hometown of Vaslui), an old retiree is getting ready to spend another Christmas by himself, while a nearby history teacher struggles with debts. The owner of the local TV station decides to put them both on the air and finally address the question: "Was there a revolution in our town or not?"

At the beginning of “The 18th Brumaire of Louis Napoleon,” Karl Marx famously observes that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, then as farce. He forgot to add that the commemoration of history can raise farce to a whole new level of absurdity. [...] So what were the people of Vaslui doing? Were they, like their fellow citizens in Bucharest and Timisoara, heroic agents of change, pouring onto the streets in defiance of a dictator? Or were they passively swept up in historical events, like crumbs pushed along by a ragged broom? [...] History is made — or at least endured — by the humble and the foolish as well as the brave.

— A.O. Scott, New York Times, 6/6/2007