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My own private Yugoslavia: František Čap and the socialist celluloid closet

ABSTRACT Just as the queering of the western cinemas helped us to discern the complexities lurking under the ‘hetero vs. homo’ dichotomy in the western socio-political milieux, similar enquiry into the Eastern European cinemas during socialism can help us to more fully explore the history of the ‘socialist closet’ in different Eastern European countries and societies. Problematizing the chronic non-existence of representations of queers in Eastern European cinemas during socialism, this article tackles the issue in the context of Yugoslav cinema. Enquiry into the relation between Yugoslav cinema and queer sexuality so far has been mainly conducted as an exercise in homo-spotting: the authors would more or less catalogue gay and lesbian characters sporadically appearing on-screen. Important and necessary as it is, this approach should be supplanted by the analyses that go beyond the pinning down of overt homosexual identities, and explore their very stability. Arguing for employment and testing of queer theory with regard to the history of Yugoslav cinema, this article looks at Vrata ostaju otvorena/The Doors Remain Open, a 1959 film by Czech émigré director František Čap, and treats it as a showcase of the ‘socialist celluloid closet’ that encompasses several strategies of both displaying queer desire, and avoiding the standard happy ending based on the formation of heterosexual couple.