About the film
EAST BLOCK ROCK
1×90min.
Proposal: HD feature documentary film
One line description
East Block Rock is the story of one of the most important revolutions in modern human history, inspired (and scored) by rock’s rallying cry for freedom.
Two line description
East Block Rock traces the fall of Communism and the rock music that inspired, influenced and drove a revolution. It is the story of how music changed the world.
Scope of the project
East Block Rock tells the story of the underground revolution scored by rock’s rallying cry for freedom, from the 1950’s until the fall of the Berlin Wall, and ultimately, of the Soviet Union in the early 1990’s. It is the history of a revolution, inspired by art, told by its participants: the fans, the musicians, politicians, historians, and former Communist authority figures. Beginning with the Prague Spring of 1968, the film combines archival footage, including propaganda films and newsreels of civil unrest, with the rock performances that underscored the political struggles and authoritarian crackdowns across the former Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Romania, the former Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland, culminating in the underground punk shows in East Germany and, ultimately, to the triumphant 1990 Pink Floyd performance of “The Wall’ in a unified Berlin.
Rock ‘n’ roll in the west and in the eastern bloc share strange parallels. While the protectors of youth and morality in the West denounced rock ‘n’ roll as a tool of the devil and the root of godless communism, the very same driving beats and rebellious rhythms caused communist ideologues even greater discomfort, identifying rock as the very vehicle of individualism that would destroy the collective experiment.
Author and historian Timothy Ryback explains, “In a very real sense, the triumph of rock-and-roll in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union has been the realization of a democratic process. Three generations of Soviet-bloc youths have compelled governments to accept this outgrowth of Western capitalism. In the course of thirty years, rock bands have stormed every bastion of official resistance and forced party and government to accept rock-and-roll music as part of life in the Marxist-Leninist state.” Indeed, every crackdown was followed by a new wave of black market activity and another attempt by the authorities to find a new “middle ground.” The very persistence of rock ‘n roll constantly forced Communist authorities to give ground and allow certain forms of rock to be openly played and recorded.
East Block Rock reveals how the musical forces of the “decadent” West proved to be too strong for the forces of the Soviet bloc and how black markets in musical instruments, tape recordings of Western and domestic rock bands, and “secret” rock concerts were irrepressible. This film shows how rock ‘n’ roll – its spirit, its beat, and its message – became a major force in impelling the collapse of Communism.
Project Treatment
East Block Rock begins with an overview of the history of Rock ‘N’ Roll in the west and in the Eastern Bloc. Ever since the first sounds of Chuck Berry’s guitar and Elvis Presley’s voice came across the American airwaves, Rock’n’Roll has been perceived as a threat to the establishment. This resulted in numerous attempts at censorship which, in turn, only fueled rock’s popularity. Nowhere has its anti-authority streak resonated louder than in the Eastern European countries, caught behind the Iron Curtain. Under Communist control, one could get arrested for simply owning a rock album, and the authorities waged a tireless campaign against rock music and rock culture:
-In 1961, an East German government newspaper declares it can demonstrate that Chubby Checker’s “Twist” was “being used as an instrument of the Imperialists in West Germany in order to prepare young people for war.”
-A 1962 Soviet paper in Lithuania warns that “these ‘pearls’ of Western culture are part of an Imperialist state policy corrupting the masses, promoting low animal instincts, dulling the mind.”
- “The Lipsi,” a State-approved dance is created by the East German government that “assures continuous body contact, but gives the dancer a sensation reminiscent of the jitterbug” to counter the effects of dancing to rock music.
As the film bridges into the emergence of Beatlemania, it documents the development of rock across the countries of the Eastern Bloc
In 1968 Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring, people like Allen Ginsberg listened to and read poetry in the basement concert sites of Prague while people danced to the beat of Rock ‘N’ Roll. Hippies congregated in Prague while psychedelic bands like the Primitives appeared playing covers of rock hits. The communist authorities responded by cracking down on performances and concerts. But Rock ‘N’ Roll was already doing its job: the State’s persistence in focusing its energies on rock music led to a breakdown in the legitimacy of the Czech government and the coming to power of reformist Alexander Dubcek. While Bob Dylan was carving “This machine kills Fascists” into his guitar in the West, in the East Rock ‘N’ Roll was taking the first steps towards toppling the communist regime.
Dubcek’s reforms tried to “put a human face on communism.” In the Soviet dominated Warsaw Pact this was seen as a threat to the socialist order. There could be only one reaction from that paranoid frame of mind: the Czechoslovakian reform movement must be destroyed. Soviet tanks rolled into Czechoslovakia, and the Prague Spring was crushed.
But, as East Block Rock documents, the resistance never really ended. Bands like Czech rockers The Plastic People of the Universe defied the communist authorities and provided an outlet for dissent. This became an integral part of the Charter 77 movement from which future Prime Minister Vàclav Havel would emerge.
East Bloc Rock then travels to Bulgaria and Romania, where western tourists brought the music of the west with them on their vacations to the Black Sea. Rock quickly caught on and spread. In these two countries, the music was allowed to flourish, particularly during the reign of the controversial Bulgarian Minister of Culture, Lyudmila Zhivkova, who’s tireless promotion of freedom of expression for Bulgaria’s artists and musicians may have directly caused her untimely death in 1981.
By 1982, Leonid Brezhnev was dead and hardline Stalinists were trying to reassert their control in the Soviet Union and throughout Eastern Europe. The reaction of the youth in these countries was both violent and destructive as reflected by the emergence of punk music. Punk – even more than rock — caused further problems for communist authorities as punk rockers battled both with each other as well as the police.
The Gorbachev era brought a relaxation of governmental controls, but as East Block Rock shows, the forces released by this spirit of rebellion and reform proved to be too much for the communist system to endure. The film travels on to East Germany, where the East German Communist Party continued to try and control rock music, but rockers like Nina Hagan broke with the party by defecting to the west where she raged: Ich bin nicht deine fickmachine! (I’m not your fuck machine).
The emergence of punk rock continued to fuel the fire in East Germany as groups like Zebra and Pankow expressed the dark feelings and hopelessness of the youth. Pankow screamed: “The air is poisoned, the water is polluted, the land sucked dry. Everything is shit.” The rock world was mobilizing and performers such as David Bowie played concerts on the West side of the Berlin Wall to crowds on the East who could hear, but could not see. Riots broke out constantly while the communist authorities insisted nothing was happening. But something very profound was happening indeed. With rock music as an outlet, people were finding the courage to collectively destroy a system that was disintegrating from within. By 1989 the Berlin Wall would be a memory, and the first domino of the Eastern Bloc would fall. A revolution was taking place, and rock music was its soundtrack.
East Block Rock is the story of one of the most important revolutions in human history and the music that inspired, influenced and drove it. The film culminates in a moving musical climax with video footage of Pink Floyd’s concert in Berlin of The Wall, to celebrate the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the end of communist rule.
East Block Rock is a proposed co-production between Chicago-based BulletProof Film, several East-European television stations, director Ilko Davidov, and is co-produced by award-winning filmmakers Denis Mueller, Chris Swider, Carmine Cervi and Teddy Grouya, along with other European producers and broadcasters.
* Click here to download Proposal for a feature documentary film “East Block Rock” here in PDF (5,9 MB).
* Download East Block Poster in PDF-format here
