Theory and Methods

Frame

The hypothesis of the project is that the role of religion in society can be assessed through film and specifically through the analysis of film language. This project seeks to investigate and identify the nuanced transitions spanning from the absence of religion, through critiques of religion and the utilization of religious imagery for social commentary, to the influence of religion on film language over the time period from 1945 to 1989.
 
While frame is the basic unit of film language that limits and determines ‘what we see’, it is also the means by which artists compose cinematic space to convey both historical and ontological. Frame is the central method of film analysis by which we assess the on-screen and off-screen and their nuanced negotiation in cinematic space. In assessing both historical and ideological content in film this Project assesses not only symbols and metaphors but also the ways in which something is (re)presented. Religion, as a focus of this study, plays the significant role in shaping the cinematic space, history, cultural landscape, subversion, criticism or conveying the spiritual. The Project approaches religion in an open way – it allows films to speak for themselves: sometimes religion is absent from films while faith as a concept is placed outside of the realm of traditional religion(s), at other times it is depicted in more ‘unorthodox way’ as the means of criticism or subversion, while in other cases it will be explored through film language derived from traditional artistic-cultural landscape and/or will represent filmmaker’s own spiritual journey. While religion in film reveals the social, cultural and political aspects of society and its religious communities, it also signifies the ways in which the concepts of faith are perceived, within or outside of the traditional definitions.

In summary, this project yields original research on Yugoslav cinema from 1945 to 1989, with the first focused study on the depictions of religion in Yugoslav film, providing the first systematic study on the relationship between religion and film in the cinema of Socialist Yugoslavia 1945-1989; it centralises frame as a crucial method for studying film language; it revitalizes the work of seminal film theorists such Slavko Vorkapich and Vlada Petric to critically re-evaluate their theory in the study of film language and cinematic space. CINEYU will create a database in which it will catalogue the films, providing extracts and analysis, which will be useful for scholars and industry alike. The project will provide the novel understandings on religion and the cinematographic heritage of the region, in particular by looking at the innovative ways the former is depicted in the latter. The project offers a pioneering approach to exploring the relationship between religion and society through the medium of cinema, enhancing the historical inquiry into the role of religion in the Balkan Peninsula. CINEYU has the final benefit of serving as a model for future investigations on the subject across different countries in Eastern Europe.