It is likely that the greatest sources of commonalities in comparing contemporaneous films across cultures are:

1) The common use of the technology that is available at that time.

2) Unchanging elements of human nature (e.g., the desire to be in close relationships, the desire to appear competent, etc.)

It's true the use of technology as a commonality, and human nature is universal. But I think that, over all the Nations, there is something more than human nature. Ethan Edward and Antoine Doinel are two characters set apart form the rest of the society. A conservative society like the 50s decade. I recommend watching both films because there is something that could help us to understand that global society. Finally, thank you for answer.

Thank you for the article, Mr. Pal. I'll read it.

Kurosawa's Rashomon, Yojimbo, and Seven Samurai had tremendous influence on Western directors/writers. The French Nouvelle Vague of course had a significant influence on Filmmakers around the world, as well as the Italians' NeoRealism. I can't go into hundreds of films connected in this cross-fertilization, but there are a few points that cut across many countries in these instances: innovative film techniques--hand held cameras by Truffaut and Godard, jump cuts, stationary camera for long periods, music as a contrast to the scene, no sound track except natural sounds coming from the scenes, natural lighting, auteur filmmaking on low budgets instead of the studio system, etc.  The other shared or picked-up element was the kind of storytelling, moving to a new realism and also more freedom (Fellini).  Development in cinema has also been influenced and shared relative to social developments, and through various memes (for example, in the 2000s films started showing vomiting scenes and soon everybody was showing vomiting scenes in movies around the world. There is also the money-making copy-cat aspect of influences: Americans often remake successful foreign films, changing things to fit American audiences (La Cage aux Folles, Three Men and a Baby, The Woman with the Dragon Tattoo, The Magnificent Seven, etc.). And artists everywhere are always aware of and experimenting with cutting-edge technology, and their results find their way into movies around the world.  There is a lot more to talk about here, but that's a starter.

Thank you for your answer, mr. Childress. It's important to get in deep to understand the conexion between these innovations, its link with the political and social state of a country and the common points between all nations. Beggining with our national cinemas of a concrete period is a good point to start.

A personal example: in the sixties my colleagues and I did political and social films, at the same time that in France, Germany and perhps UK, they tried to use similar points of view.

Thank you for your answer, Mr. Handler.

Yes; that because every epoch is characterised by a cultural paradigm (globally).

Within it localisms find their place.

Thank you for your answer, Mrs. Vasilescu.

You are welcome.

Of course there are. However, it depends on what exactly you want to research. Let me give an example from my own experience of teaching at university level. I use fiction movies to teach a course on European Political Cultures. It focuses on European politics in the 20th century and it deals with shared understandings of politics in Europe, West, East and united Europe. When talking of images of the other, the Spanish movie ”Welcome Mr. Marshal”, the French movie ”Nothing to declare” or the German movie ”One day in Europe” deal wonderfully with stereotypes, identity issues, problematic perceptions of otherness. This is just one example of many, not to speak of common points of East-Central European cinema in dealing with communist legacies.

From my teaching experience I have gathered the same.

Thank you for your answer, mr. Petrescu.

Actually, I wanted to add something on the fundamental issues that literature and theater have addressed over centuries and were ultimately translated into cinematic narratives. The famous movie ”Rashomon” by Kurosawa gave birth to the so-called ”Rashomon effect” of contradictory truths, that is, plausible versions of a controversial and bloody event that can perfectly coexist. One of the best Romanian movies of the post-communist new wave is exactly about this. The movie ”Was it, or not”, 2006 (released internationally as 12.08 East of Bucharest) is about the Rashonom effect applied to the 1989 bloody regime change in Romania, and the question, of course, is whether it was a true revolution or not.

Interesting. Thank you for your recommendation.