Réseaux et stratégies pour la diffusion du cinéma roumain en France de 1950 à 1954

Abstract

International audience ; Since communists came to power in Romania, cinema became an important propagandatool. The government invested largely, in addition to the production field, in the development ofdistribution and exploitation of movies. Whereas the rural area represented the major target, theforeign exportation was the last domain that concern the government. Nevertheless, in the bipolarcontext of cold war, the new Romanian cinema policy promoted by the communists created theconditions for a larger participation, through cinema, at the ideological fight between East and West.This article analyses the resources, the strategies, the networks and the policies ofRomanian political and cultural authorities to distribute, to promote and to make known theRomanian cinema in France at the beginning of the 50s. The main actors of this process are theRomanian legation in Paris and the local relay, the France-Roumanie Association, who showRomanian movies pictures and documentaries during the cultural events they organize. In spite ofthe weak logistical and technical support from Romania and the obstruction of French censorshiptowards the eastern bloc movies, the Romanian films benefit from the tribune that has beenoffered to them by the cultural French press, like "Les lettres fraçaises" and "L'écran français".Thus, the circulation of Romanian films takes place in the reduced place of communist circles,participating therefore to the cultural confrontation of the cold war.