Lucia Szemetova

Circulated widely and reused across political regimes, archival footage of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 is integral to Hungary’s cultural memory, referring to a transformative moment in its history. Yet despite its widespread use – from exhibitions, creative projects, documentary films, and online platforms – the complex archiving histories of this footage remain largely overlooked. This project aims to examine the remediation of the 1956 footage, which is tied up in the political changes of the past seventy years, lost, reclaimed, and often kept alive (and reshaped) through archiving as much as creative practice, each informing and sustaining the other. By examining the reworking of this significant historical moment on screen (creative remixing of archival footage across media) and off screen (practices of collection and curation), the project will highlight the interaction of cultural and political memory with history making while making a fundamental theoretical contribution to film and heritage studies.

 Website: https://llc.ed.ac.uk/film/staff