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Klara Emilia

Sharing some of my favourite Central & Eastern European and Central Asian cultural recommendations

11 posts / 5 following / 21 followers

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X-Ray Audio: a short documentary

I will always be impressed by the adaptability of humans. During the 1950s in the Soviet Union, listening to music from the West, especially from the US, was prohibited. A group of people therefore started to illegally creates copies of records on X-Rays and then sold on the black market. This is how Jazz, Disco, and Rock 'n Roll found their way to music enthusiasts. Watch this mini-documentary for more info.

June 18
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Klara Emilia
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Quote

I will always be impressed by the adaptability of humans. During the 1950s in the Soviet Union, listening to music from the West, especially from the US, was prohibited.

A group of people therefore started to illegally creates copies of records on X-Rays and then sold on the black market. This is how Jazz, Disco, and Rock 'n Roll found their way to music enthusiasts.

Watch this mini-documentary for more info.

From Mexico with love: The Soviet Union embraces YESENIA

This podcast tells us the story of how the Mexican melodrama "Yesenia" became the biggest box office hit in Soviet history. In the 1970s, the film flopped in Mexico but became a huge hit in the Soviet Union, touching millions of Soviet people and especially women who recognised themselves and their emotional struggles in that film. Many people tend to think of the Soviet Union as a place completely shut of from the rest of the world. However, this was not the case. Indian and Latin American cinema were very popular and became central for the Soviet cinema landscape. The weird backstory of how Yesenia became so important is greatly researched in this mubi podcast, which is generally is one of my favourite podcasts produced.

June 17
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Klara Emilia
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Until June 4th: Saodat Ismailova | Eye Filmmuseum

It's the last few days to go visit this marvelous exhibition at Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam that is there until June 4th. The visual artist Saodat Ismailova takes us with her to her native Uzbekistan and explores questions of traditions, myths, dreams, and collective memory in Central Asia. One aspect that Ismailova explored and that I found especially fascinating was the question of language and accessibility. The Uzbek language changed alphabets throughout its modern history. It was written in an Arabic script up until the late 1920s, when it was changed to a Latin script. In the 1940s the Cyrillic script became the official one as part of a language reform in the Soviet Union. Today, Uzbek is mostly written in the Latin script again. However, the switch from Cyrillic to Latin is not yet fully finalised, as Uzbekistan announced that the country aims for a full transition to the Latin-based alphabet in 2023. According to Ismailova, these alphabet changes made it very difficult to access sources from previous generations and to create a written cultural canon. This made myths, tales and traditions that are past on orally from generation to generation such a central aspect for Uzbeks.

June 2
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Klara Emilia
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Ágota Kristóf's Notebook trilogy

This trilogy is not comparable to anything I have read before. These post-modern novels tell the story of the identical twins Lucas and Claus who are sent to the countryside during the war and suddenly have to adapt to a completely new life. To maintain one part of their previous identity from their city life, they challenge themselves to write in their Notebook the truth and nothing but the truth. The story resembles a fairy tale, with central the central topics of identity, brotherly bond, and human cruelty. This trilogy plays a psychological game with the reader because until the very end - and even now I am still confused - we do not know what the actual truth is. To this enigmatic story adds the very brutal, provocative and direct writing of Kristóf, who fled Hungary during the Revolution in 1956 and settled down in Switzerland, where she made French her new writing language. I couldn't just write about the first book of the triology, because as soon as you start reading one, you can't stop and will be done with the third book faster than you expected.

June 10
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Klara Emilia
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The Balcony Movie (2021) by Paweł Łoziński

This documentary is set up in a way that chances are very high that it goes wrong. It only could go wrong, but somehow it didn’t. Paweł Łoziński is sitting on his balcony in Warsaw and films the street and the passerby. And somehow, he managed to create one of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen. It is everything I wanted to see, without knowing it until I finally saw it. This documentary is like a window into the depths of humankind, a glimpse into the interior world of all of us. At the same time, it is also a great visualisation of Polish society. It was funny and sad, and even thinking about this film now gives me goosebumps.This film is subtle, delicate, and simply beautiful. Thank you for letting me enter the worlds and minds of the people around you. I still think about many of them today.

May 31
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Klara Emilia
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The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

This novel finds the perfect balance between romance, philosophy and the harsh reality of politics in Czechoslovakia under communism, without ever losing the curiosity of the reader. The title should be read as a trailer for this beautifully poetic writing. The book tells the story of two women and two men during the Prague Spring in 1968, whilst making out of it a timeless piece of literature. If you haven't read anything by Kundera yet, then this is the perfect book to start your adventure.

June 2
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SHOETOPIA by Stories from the Eastern West

The real-life brave new world existed and I just learned about it now. Tomáš Baťa was Czech Republic's Henry Ford, who believed in a utopia that is unimaginable today. He was the founder of the shoe company Bat'a and made out of it a utopist company, city and lifestyle for all its workers. It became a quite authoritarian company, with many rules and regulations and somehow nothing truly went wrong. Just listen to this episode and hear for yourselves! I still remember the moment I got my first pair of Bat'a shoes. My shoes were completely broken down and my parents decided that it's time for me to get proper shoes. Bat'a shoes. I must have been around 8 years old and it was a big day for me. I got a pair of white leather loafers and was officially a grown-up from that day onwards. Bat'a therefore always had a special place in my heart and finally I learned this amazing background story to the brand that was always more than just a brand to me.

June 3
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და ჩვენ ვიცეკვეთ And then we danced (2019) by Levan Akin

Merab's lifelong dream has been to become one of the dancer of the Georgian National Ensemble. This dreams seems to become less and less reachable when Irakli joins his dance company and becomes Merab's biggest competitor. An unexpected short-lived affair arises amongst those two competitors, which clashes with the conservative values that they are supposed to be representing as dancers of the Ensemble. This makes Merab question his dreams and drives him to want to break free. This film is a perfect visualisation of the generational and tradition clash that is very widespread in Georgian society. You learn so much about this amazing country, its history, and traditions, whilst being told in such a beautiful way and full of lust for life.

June 6
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Klara Emilia
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Soviet Bus Stops by Christopher Herwig

This is the perfect book for architecture lovers and especially those who are into brutalism. The photographer Christopher Herwig travels through former Soviet Republics and unvails the fascinating diversity of bus stops across more than 50,000 kilometers. This book is "uncovering the stories of the designers who built fascinating architectural marvels during the Soviet regime, Soviet Bus Stops is an ode to the power of individual creativity that would not be suppressed."

June 1
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Klara Emilia
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Remembering Yugoslavia - the podcast about a place that no longer exists

Remembering Yugoslavia is the perfect podcast for your interrail through the Balkans. Every episode takes you on an adventure. It is learning in a fun way. Peter Korchnak's (the host) passion is contagious, and one only wants to know more about this mysterious country with all its layers and hidden histories. Korchnak explores the memory of Yugoslavia, with all its facetted. Be it politics, history, society, yugonostalgia, (diaspora) identity, rock music, food, minorities, film - there is something for everyone.

May 31
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Klara Emilia
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