On Thursday March 15th, the winner and honorable mentions of the 2018 SCMS Central/East/South European Media Essay Award were announced. The $500 award goes to an exemplary essay published in the field of Central/East/South European Cinema and Media Studies during the 2017 calendar year.
We had 19 submissions this year, which shows the robustness of scholarship in our field.
The Awards Committee consisted of: Ana Grgic, Larson Powell, Natascha Drubek, Lars Kristensen, and Evan Torner.
WINNER
“Soviet Estonian animated science fiction: Avo Paistik’s mischievous universes.”
Eva Näripea (Film Archives of the National Archives of Estonia, Tallinn, Estonia)
This theoretically ambitious essay focuses on the paradoxes of “developed socialism” through the example of the technophobic animated sci-fi works by Avo Paistik. Näripea demonstrates how to integrate film history, ideology, and genre studies with precision and intellectual heft.
Full citation: Eva Näripea (2017) “Soviet Estonian animated science fiction: Avo
Paistik’s mischievous universes.” Studies in Eastern European Cinema 8:2, 160-173.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
“Remembering Socialist Entertainment: Romanian Television, Gestures and Intimacy.”
Alice Bardan (University of Southern California)
An admirable overview of Romanian television with respect to post-1989 nostalgia and the afterlife of communist broadcast culture.
Published in: The European Journal of Cultural Studies. January 20, 2017. 1-18.
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“Youth, Nomadism, and Claustrophobia in the Argentinian and Romanian New Waves: Stuff and Dough and Pizza, Beer, and Cigarettes”
Raluca Iacob (Astra Film Festival)
An innovative comparative analysis that seeks a broader generational dialogue regarding contemporary global cinema.
Published in: New Romanian Cinema 41.2. October 2017. http://dx.doi.org/10.3998/fc.13761232.0041.207
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“War rape in the face of heroic narrative. The case of Polish cinema”
Magdalena Podsiadło-Kwiecień (Jagiellonian University)
Published in: TransMissions: The Journal of Film and Media Studies 2.1. 2017. 132-149.
A clear and moving description of the relationship between sexual violence, oral history, trauma, and the possibilities of cinema narrative.
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Please join us in congratulating the authors of these articles, and consider submitting your work next year.
We will be holding elections for the new SIG co-chairs for SCMS 2019-2021 in June. Stay tuned for the announcement.
Best wishes,
-Evan Torner and Ana Grgic
Co-Chairs, SCMS Central/East/South European Cinemas Special Interest Group
The Guy in the Black Hat 
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