My proposed research is an exploration into the idea of beauty in avant-garde cinema during the era of Eastern European history known as “the Stagnation” period, from 1964 to the end of the Soviet Union. The project aims to cover a film corpus ranging from Sergei Paradjanov’s first films up until Soviet Parallel Cinema in the late 80s. It will analyze the discourses on beauty which appear in late experimental cinema of the Eastern bloc, and its criticism from the 1960s throughout the Cold War.

Social media have increasingly become primary sources for news consumption, particularly among younger adults (18-35). At the same time, journalists try, often in vain, to attract people to their websites or apps for the full range of news coverage. Besides, news organizations have become gatekeepers of their websites, sometimes prioritizing social media logic over the traditional journalistic rationale. One can assume that news on social media at large might not be an accurate reflection of the scope and depth of general news reporting. This may be even more true for highly personalized social media feeds, in which news has become a by-product.