Film Dispute at the Border 1939 - 1944: Case-study of Viipuri

Authors

• Noora Kallioniemi Turun yliopisto
• Aymeric Pantet

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37449/ennenjanyt.145577

Keywords:

New Cinema History, Film Dispute, Cinemas, New Military History, Continuation War

Abstract

The film culture of a small country is always in close interaction with the wider international context, and this is also true for Finland. During the Second World War, film production companies needed to maintain good relations with Nazi Germany, which was the largest producer of raw film. The laboratory, filming and projection equipment was also mainly German. By controlling a large part of European film imports and exports through the occupation, Germany effectively determined access to European cinema for these countries. In Finland, this quest for cultural hegemony was manifested in the so-called film dispute from 1942 onwards. Here we study, through film exhibition in Vyborg, whether the pro-German film industry succeeded in preventing the screening of American cinema in Finland. We will also examine whether the attempt to ban American films was reflected in the everyday lives of filmgoers in Viipuri and what role German films played in the programming. We analyse datasets collected from newspapers using the popstat method to link the data to the inner world of cinema. Our research draws on the theories of new cinema history and is anchored in the tradition of new military history, which focuses on war as a social and cultural process.