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The so-called Centenary of Bulgarian Film has been in fact marking the 100th anniversary since the premiere of the earliest Bulgarian feature film, Bulgaran Is Gallant, the production of which is still veiled in mystery. No less mysterious is the story of the movie, following its premiere in January 1915. There are a few versions, ‘taking it away’ from Bulgaria; there are ‘professions’ of its copy (probably a single one) being lost for good, but also hopes that it has been after all kept elsewhere... Whether reasonably or not, the story of Bulgaran Is Gallant was associated in the 1920’s with the personality of Stefan Denchev, a Bulgarian actor, journalist, publisher of film magazines in Bulgaria and an adventurer, who tried his luck abroad, reaching as far as Hollywood, where he is said to have made a successful career by dint of this very movie he has snatched, Bulgaran Is Gallant! The myths and legends surrounding the personality of Stefan Denchev have proved to be quite different from the reality. Differentiation between the former and the latter, using the information offered by specialised movie journals of the age is essential to this publication.
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This paper explores the first attempts of Bulgarian directors to create art-films, made in the end of the 1950’s in a very complicated political context. The key titles in the process are „The Live Is Going Slowly By...“ (1957) and „On a Small Island“ (1958), crafted by their directors Binka Zhelyazkova and Rangel Vulchanov in neorealist style. After a historical review of the establishment of socialist realism as the official artistic style in Bulgarian cinema in the 1940’s, the study focuses on the moderation of political pressure in 1956, which gave Bulgarian directors the illusion of artistic freedom. In this context Binka Zhelyazkova and Rangel Vulchanov, exploiting the neorealist style, put with their works the beginning of the non-conformist films in Bulgaria. Their artistic attempts provoked a massive confrontation with the communist censorship, which resulted in suspension of the films from domestic display, from international distribution and from festival competitions. However, in our time “The Live Is Going Slowly By...“ (1957) and „On a Small Island“ (1958) are considered milestones in the development of Bulgarian feature cinema, and, at the same time, the Bulgarian (albeit very modest) contribution to the entire neorealist artistic tradition.
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The article explores the phenomenon of “nonlinear narrative” in Bulgarian feature films and its historical development from the 1960s to the present day. It is based on the critical analysis of the movies “Detour” (1967), Directors: Grisha Ostrovski and Todor Stoyanov; “The White room” (1968), Director: Metodi Andonov and “The Sinking of Sozopol” (2014) directed by Kostadin Bonev. The study makes a historical comparison between the nonlinear movies created before 1989, when Bulgarian films were entirely state-funded and those made after the collapse of the socialist regime, which are subsidized by the National Film Center and by independent producers. The aim of this review is to give a new meaning to the aesthetic heritage of socialist realism in the nonlinear movies in Bulgarian cinema as compared with the intellectual quests of contemporary art-film. The article explores the development of the plot, the intertwining of the storylines and the specific ways of screen narrative of the above mentioned directors.
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The article renders systematic the feature shorts of the period 1948– 1991. Feature short is an operational term for a film the running time of which is less than one hour and on a rare occasion, for a film built on certain dramaturgic and aesthetic principles. Several models are being considered concerning the structure and the thematic orientation of the works. The most spread type is a feature film of several short stories, filmed by the same director, but with storylines in their own right, united by a common creative manner and more often than not using a dramatic glue to hold the narrative thread together (e.g. The Penleve Case and Men on a Business Trip). Often it is the genre that binds them together: in Bulgarian practice, this model is most popular with comedies and children’s flickers (Porcupines Are Born without Bristles and Children Play Out-of-Doors ). Yet another model is a combination of short films by different directors, united by the same idea or subject. This is again made predominantly in genre films, for instance in the comedies Marital Jokes and Divorces, Divorces.... Aesthetically, more interesting are those experiments where individual stories are not bound together at a purely thematic level, but rather at a deeper one: Armando. The White Horse, A Moment of Freedom (The Old Man and I Want to Live), At Dawn, and especially Colourful World. Still, a risk of an unbalanced proportion between the short films in terms of their artistic qualities is possible here. The last model is that of one-piece shorts. Some of these have never been offered for screening in whatever combinations and have remained almost unknown. These works offer the greatest variety of sub-genres: poems, satires, experiments, impressions, etc.: Vaskata, The Dash, Looking for a Remembrance, Jesse James vs. Lokum Shekerov, A Shooting Day and Where We Have Met?. In the 1980s, filmmakers viewed shorts more pragmatically as a chance to make their debut or make it into TV. Thus new directors with new films appeared on the stage: A Woman for Monasi, Unnecessary Entr’acte and Night Rate.
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The introductory subchapter deals with the unequal status of the Czech language in the Austrian state and in the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy, as well as with its identityconstituting (symbolic, integrative) importance. The unsuccessful fight for making the Czech language equal with the dominant (in fact state) language – i.e. German – had been strongly politicised since the 1870s. The German language thus became a symbol and means of the forcible preservation of German privileges in the Austrian Monarchy. The dominance of the German language was perceived most sensitively by active minority officials in borderlands where the Germans were a majority. The only party fighting against time nationalisation of the monarchy was the Social Democratic Party, which strove for the victory of the socialistic ideology, after which the language issue would be, according to naïve party propaganda, automatically and fairly resolved. However, the Czech society entered the first Czechoslovak Republic not only with these reminiscences but also with the experience of World War I, during which the Czech language diminished in importance even more. The second subchapter analyses the official Czech thinking after a so-called coup. The Czechs considered the new state to be their creation and the continuation of the medieval state. Despite certain negative stereotypes of the indigenous Germans, they were guaranteed all civil rights by the Czech political representation. The third subchapter concerns two points of view of the Language Act as a part of a constitutional law (29 February 1920), which established the Czech and Slovak languages as the official state languages of the republic. The subchapter brings evidence of the period reminiscences of “the suppression” of the Czech language in the Hapsburg state on the one hand, and on the other hand, it emphasises the importance given to the terms ‘official’ and ‘state’. Both terms were finally used in the constitutional law. The fourth subchapter is dedicated to the Czech assessment of the new constitution, which was perceived as a great work of the young democracy and as the basis of the Czech state independence, a proof of the “de-Austriasation” of the Czech lands. The fifth subchapter points out how the new constitution was abused for a political fight in which all large political parties, except for the Social Democratic Party (in the spirit of its tradition), got involved. While the sixth subchapter deals with the negative attitude of Czech-German policy to the Language Act regarded as a betrayal of democratic principles, as a means of oppression of non-Czech nationalities in the republic, and as an act of their forcible “Czechisation”, the seventh subchapter analyses extreme Czech conceptions. It was Czech minority workers in the borderlands who kept recalling the unfair language practices by the Austrian state, the undignified status of the Czech language at the beginning of the Czech national movement, and the role of the Czechs as alleged founders of the new republic, as well as the lasting aggressive relationship of the Germans in the borderlands to the Czech language. Positive Czech (minority) opinions emphasised the tradition of bilingualism and the opportunity the Czech-German minority speaking Czech had to get to know the Czech culture and society better. The final subchapter then documents the discrepancy between the Czech-German policy of refusing the Czech language and the Czech-German practice of reasonable acceptance of learning Czech as an economic and social must. The Language Act undoubtedly stirred public opinions – from the Czech majority view it became a product of liberal Czechoslovak democracy, while from the German view it was an act endangering the German consciousness of Bohemian Germans in the Czechoslovak Republic.
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This paper briefly analyses two multi-lateral instruments of the European protection of language rights, particularly with regard to the right to topographical indications of municipalities, their parts, streets and other public places in the language of a national minority. The paper examines the European Charter of Regional and Minority Languages, as well as the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in connection with the situation in the Czech Republic.
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The topic of this paper is the domestic regulation of the right of members of national minorities to use their minority languages in contact with authorities, before courts as well as to multilingual designations which are contained in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, in the act on rights of members of national minorities, and partially also in many other regulations. This paper aims to provide an overview of said regulation, to point to some of its flaws, and to outline possible solutions.
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Linguistic rights represent a key element of the minority rights protection system in Slovakia. Both the use of minority languages in relation to state authorities and in displaying the topographical indications are allowed. The rights are nevertheless subject to several limitations which in fact make them inaccessible for a considerable part of the Slovak minority population. Some of the limitations seem reasonable. Other, however, shall be considered neither necessary, nor just, intensifying inequality among the Slovak citizens according to the language group they belong to.
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The study concerns itself with the status of minority languages in the Federal Republic of Germany with the focus on the right to topographical indications and the use of language in the public sphere, i.e. the contact of a citizen with courts, public authorities and bodies of local governments. The study works on the obligations undertaken by the Federal Republic of Germany in the European Council on the basis of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the Charter of Minority Languages at the end of the 1990s. Considering the theoretical basis of German law, both instruments have the character of federal laws; however, the implementation of particular obligations is vested in individual states. The study deals with the status of the Danish, Frisian, Romany and Sorbian languages, i.e. languages of so-called traditional minorities. A brief introduction to individual minorities and their languages is followed by a summary of their regulation at the constitutional and under-constitutional level, namely the regulation of Danish minority and the Danish language in Schleswig-Holstein, of the Frisians and the Northern and Sater Frisian language in Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony, and of Lusatian Sorbs and Lower and Upper Sorbian in Brandenburg and Saxony. When asserting their rights to the communication with public authorities and bodies of local governments in their minority language and to topographical indications, the minorities are confronted with the ignorance of the regulation of said rights or with the inadequate language training of officers. Also, the particular regulation of rights at the level of individual states might lead to a different standard of protection even within the framework of one and the same language. The situation is different in the case of Roma and Sinti and of the Romany language as, unlike the aforementioned minorities, they are scattered throughout a larger number of constituent states; the Romany language is not codified in the Federal Republic of Germany; the main emphases are put rather on rights connected with education and the social sphere, as well as on the prohibition of discrimination in general. The main benefit of said conventions is, apart from increasing the standard of legal protection of the above stated minorities, the reinforcement of their status with respect to public authorities and bodies of selfgovernments, as well as the opening of a public debate on the issue of rights of minorities in general.
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In this article the linguistic rights of persons belonging to national minorities are presented as a key component of South Tyrol´s territorial autonomy. The current regulation of the use of minority languages before local courts and administrative authorities is based on the specific historical and cultural context. The case of language rights in South Tyrol shows that the implementation of those rights in practice depends on a number of the implementing measures.
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This article deals with the use of minority languages in the Czech Republic as documented by the Council for the national minorities, an advisory body of the Czech Government. Two types of documents are used in this article – reports on implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, and annual reports on the state of national minorities in the Czech Republic prepared for the Government by the Council. The article draws on these documents to provide an overview of situations where national minorities use their respective languages in the official communication with local authorities.
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The article deals with the status of the Welsh language as a minority language in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The emphases are put on the status of Welsh as one of the official languages in Wales and on reflections thereof in the primary and secondary legislation of the National Assembly for Wales. The article further aims to briefly describe legal institutions, and the legal status thereof, which serve to reinforce and further develop the language. What might serve as an example is the independent status of the Welsh Language Commissioner and its activity. Last but not least, the article analyses the issue of the equality of topographical indications in both official languages in the territory of Wales, as well as the use of the Welsh language in education.
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The case of South Tyrol shows that the problem of topographic signs represents more than just a marginal issue of minority protection. In the context of specific historical and political circumstances, the use of place names in the minority language has to be seen as an important symbol. Who “owns” the territory, also has the power to name it. From a historical perspective, South Tyrol serves as an example for the brutal suppression of a national minority. On the other hand, South Tyrol is today presented as a successful model of autonomy for the benefit of all ethnic groups. Bilingual topographic signs in German and Italian (and partly also in Ladin) languages are one of the most visible symbols of this autonomy.
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The article deals with the negative impact that a criterion of the existence of the mother country of a minority might have on the protection of national minorities. It works on the approach by the Council of Europe, particularly of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities, to the conception of a national minority and its members. Under this approach, the criterion of the existence of a mother country as a definitional feature of a national minority is deemed as a so-called suspicious criterion, in the consequence of which an undesirable distinction between individual minorities is made. This approach is based on the key principles of the Council of Europe in the field of the protection of national minorities which are the principles of universality, flexibility and equality. The article also deals with other so-called suspicious criteria when defining national minorities based on stances of the Advisory Committee adopted while monitoring the implementation of the Framework Convention in individual states.
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Political and economic support for Ukraine and its citizens from the European Union and especially from the Czech Republic and a number of its non-governmental organisations is a precondition of a good neighbour policy, solidarity and European concepts of peace and stability on the European continent. Support for Ukrainian citizens is also using those citizens of Ukraine who have their ethnic roots in the Czech Republic and who have lived mainly in western Ukraine, e.g. in Melitopol, Zaporozie, Lvov or Uzhgorod. According to estimates of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, there are nearly 6,000 Czech nationals currently living in Ukraine, who associate in a number of expatriate associations. These associations are covered by the Czech National Council of Ukraine (ČNRU). Czech associations and business corporations make efforts to co-operate not only with expatriate associations, but also with other parts of Ukrainian public life in order to optimise the support of its stabilisation, including through grants from the EU funds to Ukraine. The Czech Republic also supports Ukrainian citizens through scholarships to students and through organising stays for Ukrainian children with compatriot backgrounds. Some universities, such as the Faculty of Law in Olomouc, have provided scholarships to several Ukrainian students.
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The paper considers the legality of armed interventions to protect compatriots under current international law. The first chapter shows that such interventions come about from time to time, or that countries at least threaten to undertake them (e.g. Turkish intervention in Cyprus in 1974, intervention by the Russian Federation in Georgia in 2008, intervention by the Russian Federation in Ukraine in 2014, etc.). The second chapter documents that interventions to protect compatriots cannot be subsumed under the right to self-defence; nor do they constitute as autonomous exception to the prohibition on the use of force and threat of force enshrined in the UN Charter. Interventions might only be lawful if the kin-state has been given authorisation by the UN Security Council. However, this has never happened in practice; interventions to protect compatriots are thus legally problematic.
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The paper compares the attitude of the state to migration in 1918–1938 with two periods after World War II: in the period between 1948 and 1989, and after 1990, as well as with the specific development in Slovakia. Each period is characterised by a different central topic: while the inter-war period is dominated by the topic of emigration, it is the topic of exile between 1948 and 1989, and the topic of the forming of the modern Czech diaspora after 1990. Individual parts of this diaspora are not only considerably scattered worldwide, but they have also undergone different historical evolution. The text summarises the attempts to change the attitudes of the state to Czechs living abroad after 1990, and it comes to the conclusion that a different attitude in Slovakia in the monitored period follows from the elaborated legal regulation. Slovaks living abroad are taken into account by the Slovak Constitution as well as by a special act on Slovaks living abroad; also, there is a special authority and other institutions of the Slovak legislation and execution.
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The Ab Auro Prologue of Pelbartus of Themeswar’s Theological Encyclopedia. Pelbartus of Themeswar is a 15th century observant Franciscan best known for his collections of model sermons. This article, however, treats one of the two prologues which accompany his work of systematic theology, the Aureum sacrae theologiae rosarium. The Ab auro prologue, which is discussed in detail in the present study, introduces the reader to the main intent of the work. It has a rich metaphoric style and is tacitly inspired by the “Primum principium” of William of Vaurouillon’s commentary on the Sentences of Peter Lombard.
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The Constitution of Time in Husserl. One of Husserl’s fundamental idea is that time is not an object and is not given to knowledge as a simple object. Being involved in the constitution of the flow of consciousness, time cannot be analysed like other objects of knowledge. Consciousness itself is structured in a temporal way. In the absolute flow of consciousness, this temporality has a synthetic unity with the rest of the intentional features of consciousness. It represents for Husserl a passive synthesis that characterizes the intentional life of the transcendental subjectivity. This specific form of temporality that characterizes the transcendental life of the subject has a constitutive dimension that we will discuss.
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