Archival interventions : remixing Hungarian film across political regimes

Abstract

This thesis examines the circulation of archival footage across political regimes in Hungary. It explores the footage’s intricate archiving histories and creative reuse, which are fundamentally interconnected. It focuses on Hungarian archival remix film from the 1960s until the present day, moving across three different political contexts: socialism, post-socialism, and since 2010, under the Orbán government. The thesis intervenes in analysing this creative filmmaking practice in Hungary by looking at archival remix on two levels. It investigates remix film as a political and aesthetic practice, with a particular emphasis on its function in the preservation and circulation of archival footage. These films go beyond reworking past histories on the screen, they are part of larger projects that call attention to institutional remix, whether it is hiding, destroying, or reworking footage. In this regard, the remix film offers sites of alternative preservation and national historiography. This thesis thus maps a theoretical and practice-based view of Hungary’s past and memory by investigating the interaction of archives (footage and institutions) with the remix film. By examining the reworking of significant historical moments in Hungary both on-screen (creative remixing of archival footage) and off-screen (practices of collection and curation) it highlights the interaction of cultural and political memory and history making.