Could it happen there? Ingmar Bergman, postwar Czechoslovakia, and delayed distribution

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article analyses the distribution and reception of Ingmar Bergman’s films using the example of Czechoslovakia, within the Soviet sphere of influence, during the twenty-five years following World War II. First, it aims to examine the forms of distribution of Bergman’s films in Czechoslovakia. The article then shifts to the critical as well as cultural-political reception of two particular films: High Tension (1950) and The Silence (1963). Bergman had an ambivalent reputation in socialist Czechoslovakia, and this article seeks to examine the specific nature of this local discourse. Bergman’s cinema entered Czechoslovakia slowly. Screenings of his films were regularly delayed, emerging, when they did, both long after the Swedish premieres and those of other foreign states. This established a tendency I call “delayed distribution”. This practice, comprising different variations, reflected a complex cultural-political context and negotiations encompassing strict distribution approval processes, contractual obligations, and one-time festival screenings. The interplay of these aspects lead to a level of unpredictability and, at times, surprising distribution solutions.