Revisiting the Interwar Period. Imitation, Synchronism and the Archive in the Films of Radu Jude

Abstract

The theory of synchronism was one of the most influential ideas in the Romanian interwar period. Eugen Lovinescu championed the powers of imitation as a means of development for Romanian culture and society. At the same time, it was a case of illegitimate filiation that led to the uncritical importation of several types of ideas from Western European culture. By analysing Radu Jude’s found footage montage films, I argue that not all versions of imitation are in fact as positive as Lovinescu considered and speak about a newer concept of genealogy, one that relies on archives and that constructs a new regime of knowledge in the case of the representation of recent history.