“I’m Here Because I Didn’t Want to Be There”: Miloš Forman’s and Ivan Passer’s Reflections on Being in Exile in the US

Authors

  • Tiziana D’Amico Università Ca' Foscari

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13136/2281-4582/2021.i17.989

Keywords:

exile, Hollywood, Czech New Wave, Miloš Forman, Ivan Passer

Abstract

The essay examines the lives of two Czech film directors, Miloš Forman and Ivan Passer, in order to investigate the roles of exile and emigration in shaping their self-representation as cinematic authors and their filmic production. To this end, this article analyzes the experience of the two filmmakers in the U.S. through the various forms of their testimonies—biographies, autobiographies, interviews—eventually engaging in a concise comparison of their oeuvre. The sources analyzed hint at a personal and professional self-representation in terms of ‘émigrés.’

Author Biography

  • Tiziana D’Amico, Università Ca' Foscari

    RtD tipo A

    Dipartimento di Studi Linguistici e Culturali Comparati, 

References

Ackerman, Alan. “At Home in Exile: Finding America in Casablanca and Camino Real.” Performance, Exile and ‘America.’ Edited by Silvija Jestrovic and Yana Meerzon. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. 158-176.

Aprile, Sylvie and Delphine Diaz. “L’Europe et ses réfugiés politiques au XIX e siècle.” La Vie des idées 15 March 2016. https://laviedesidees.fr/L-Europe-et-ses-refugies-politiques-au-XIXe-siecle.html/. All websites last visited on 18/04/2021.

Bergan, Ronald. “Still Free: An Interview with Ivan Passer.” Film Comment 13 July 2016. https://www.filmcomment.com/blog/still-free-interview-ivan-passer/.

Bláhová, Jindřiška. “České hubičky na vývoz: distribuce a recepce Ostře sledovaných vlaků v západní Evropě a v USA.” Ostře sledované vlaky. Edited by Lukáš Skupa. Praha: NFA, 2014. 64-90.

Buckley, Tom. “The Forman Formula.” The New York Times 1 March 1981: 28. https://www.nytimes.com/1981/03/01/magazine/the-forman-formula.html.

Camurri, Renato. “The Exile Experience Reconsidered: A Comparative Perspective in European Cultural Migration during the Interwar Period.” Transatlantica 1 (2014). https://doi.org/10.4000/transatlantica.6920.

Canby, Vincent. “The Screen: ‘Taking Off.’” The New York Times 29 March 1971. https://www.nytimes.com/1971/03/29/archives/the-screen-taking-offmilos-forman-directs-a-charming-farce.html.

Chytilová, Věra. Chytilova vs Forman – Consciousness of Continuity. 1981.

Cook, David. A History of Narrative Film. 3rd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2016.

Csölleová, Eva, and Vítek Formánek. “Ivan Passer: In 60’s we supported each other, Success of one Paved the Way for Others.” United Film. http://www.unitedfilm.cz/unitedvision/index.php/en/articles/item/509-ivan-passer-in-60-s-we-supported-each-other-success-of-one-paved-the-way-for-others.

Czaplińska, Joanna. Přidaná hodnota exilu. Uvahy o české exilové literatuře po roce 1968. České Budějovice: Academia, 2014.

DeMott, Benjamin. “Ha! Ha! Dad’s nude, Mom’s drunk.” The New York Times 16 May 1971: 11. https://www.nytimes.com/1971/05/16/archives/ha-ha-dads-nude-moms-drunk.html.

Elsaesser, Thomas. “Ethnicity, Authenticity, and Exile: A Counterfeit Trade? German Filmmakers in Hollywood.” Home, Exile, Homeland: Film, Media, and the Politics of Place. Edited by Hamid Naficy. New York: Routledge, 1999. 97-124.

Falk, Barbara J. The Dilemmas of Dissidence in East-Central Europe. Budapest: CEU press, 2003.

Fear, Jeffrey and Paul Lerner. “Behind the Screens: Immigrants, Émigrés and Exiles in Mid Twentieth-Century Los Angeles.” Jewish Culture and History 17 (2016): 1-21.

Forman, Miloš and Jan Novak. Turnaround: A Memoir. New York: Villard Books, 1994.

Foundas, Scott. “Miloš Forman Dialogue with Scott Foundas.” Walker Art Center, 2008.

https://walkerart.org/magazine/milos-forman-2008/.

Gemünden, Gerd. A Foreign Affair: Billy Wilder’s American Films. New York: Berghahn Books, 2008.

Greenspun, Roger. “Born to Win: Czech Film on Addict Shown in Festival.” The New York Times 11 October 1971: 50. https://www.nytimes.com/1971/10/11/archives/born-to-winczech-film-on-addict-shown-in-festival.html.

Jameson, Richard T. “Passer in America, Part I.” Film Comment 17.4 (1981): 20.

Kletter, David and Zvi Ben-Dor. “The Limits of Exile: An Introduction.” Journal of the Interdisciplinary Crossroads 3.1 (2006): 1-9.

Král, Petr. “Uno sguardo sulla «jeune vague» del cinema ceco.” Nová vlna Cinema cecoslovacco degli anni ’60. Edited by Roberto Turigliatto. Torino: Lindau, 1994. 43-50.

Košuličová, Ivana. “Everything You Always Wanted to Know about My Heart… An interview with Film Director Jan Němec.” Central European Review 3.17 (14 May 2001). https://www.pecina.cz/files/www.ce-review.org/01/17/interview17_kosulicova.html/.

Hames, Peter. The Czechoslovak New Wave. London: Wallflower Press, 2005.

Leydon, Joe. “Ivan Passer and Jeffrey Alan Fiskin interviewed by Leydon, Joe.” Film Comment 17.4 (1981): 21-23.

Liehm, Antonin. Closely Watched Films: The Czechoslovak Experience. New York: IASP, 1974.

---. Il cinema nell’Europa dell’est 1960-1977. Venezia: Marsilio, 1977.

---. “Il miracolo del cinema cecoslovacco.” Cinema 60.5 (1964): 3-8.

---. Miloš Forman Stories. New York: IASP, 1975.

Milton, David Scott. “Born to win.” Ivan Passer. Filmový vypravěč rozmanitostí aneb od Intimního osvětlení k Nomádovi, Voráč Jiří. Brno: Host, 2008.

Morrison, James. Passport to Hollywood. Hollywood Films, Europeans Directors. New York: State University of New York, 1998.

Naficy, Hamid. Home, Exile, Homeland: Film, Media, and the Politics of Place. New York: Routledge, 1999.

Passer, Ivan. “Ivan Passer.” Les Cinémas du Grütli (21 April 2015). https://youtu.be/hfXsfQAtf6k.

---. “Lark on the String: The Films of Jiri Menzel | Q&A with Ivan Passer.” UCLAFilm (14 September 2018). https://youtu.be/6v4oCLQwEYI.

Père, Oliver. “ Conversation avec Ivan Passer.” (7 April 2012). https://www.arte.tv/sites/olivierpere/2012/04/07/conversation-avec-ivan-passer/.

Phillips, Gene D. Exiles in Hollywood: Major European Film Directors in America. Bethlehem: Lehigh University Press, 1999.

Polt, Harriet. “Interview: Miloš Forman.” Film Comment 3 (Fall 1970). https://www.filmcomment.com/article/milos-forman-interview/.

Přádná, Stanislava. Miloš Forman. Filmař mezi dvěma kontinenty. Brno: Host, 2009.

Přibáň, Michal. České krajanské a exilové noviny a časopisy po roce 1945. Olomouc: Centrum pro Ceskoslovenská exilová studia, 1995.

Sláma, Bohdan. Povolání režisér Rozhovor Bohdana Slámy s Milošem Formanem. Praha: Prostor, 2013.

Špirit, Michael. “Stankovič o Formanovi.” Bubínek Revolveru 23 February 2012. http://www.bubinekrevolveru.cz/stankovic-o-formanovi/.

Tabori, Paul. The Anatomy of Exile. A Semantic and Historical Study. London: Harrap, 1972.

Vecchi, Roberto. Miloš Forman. Milano: Il Castoro, 1981.

---, edited by. Jan Němec. Torino: Lindau, 2004.

Voráč, Jiří. Český film v exilu. Kapitoly z dějin po roce 1968. Brno: Host, 2004.

---. Čeští a slovenští filmoví režiséři v exilu. Olomouc: Univerzita Palackého, 1993.

---. Ivan Passer. Filmový vypravěč rozmanitostí aneb od Intimního osvětlení k Nomádovi. Brno: Host, 2008.

Wallace, David. Exiles in Hollywood. Brisbane City: Limelight Publishing, 2006.

Downloads

Published

2021-06-18

Issue

Section

Articles: Special Section