Across the socialist world, joint cultural projects between Cold War allies were common. The aim of these projects was to facilitate cultural exchange and build comradely friendship, but, in reality, they never really went smoothly.

Despite all the rhetoric, which emphasized the similarity of cultural and ideological positions within the Soviet bloc, each nations’ actual approaches to particular issues varied from country to country.

Disagreements occurred even in cases when projects were devoted to seemingly neutral or non-controversial themes. A joint Yugoslavian-Soviet film about anti-fascist resistance, an East German performance of classical ballet in Moscow, or a Soviet version of