Film and socialist ideology - experience of Montenegro

The paper examines the relationship between the socialist government and cinema in the first decade after World War II. The relationship between the communist government and cinema is explained on the basis of archive material, film criticism, literature and film reviews. The focus is on the new role of cinema in the socialist community. Instead of art and leisure, film becomes the instrument of ideological work. The Communist Party in Montenegro expects the film industry to support the creation of the new ideological paradigm, to become the instrument of the so-called "educational work with the masses" The paper examines two periods of the Montenegrin cinema. The first period runs up until 1949, with predominantly Soviet films, and the second one begins in 1949 with the so-called "westernization of taste in film" and a strong impact of the Hollywood production, but also the birth of the Montenegrin film. The author explains ideological positions and expectations of the political elites of the Communist Party in relation to film industry in Montenegro based on the cinema programme, content, motifs, and topics of the national film production.