During the communist era (approximately 1948–89) Eastern European films were made in a context far removed from Hollywood. Instead of the capitalist market determining which films were produced and distributed, each country's nationalized film studio was directly subsidized and controlled by its government, whose main priority was the political message of each film. Despite strict government control, Eastern Europe of the communist era created many important contributions to world cinema.

Poland and Czechoslovakia were significant innovators in science fiction. The works of authors such as Stanislaw Lem (1921–2006) and Josef Nesvadba (1926–2005) were frequently translated and anthologized. These writers have significant followings abroad even today. Their stories and novels also served as the basis for many of these countries’ science fiction films. While Eastern European film has recently attracted more scholarly attention, to date relatively little has been written about the place of science fiction in this region's cinema. One significant theme in East European science fiction films is apocalypse.

James Deutsch demonstrates that western apocalyptic films of the late 1990s are ‘a man's world’ where women are ‘inactive’ and ‘useless’ (2000, 39–40). His argument holds true for the majority of earlier western apocalyptic films too, such as The Omega Man (1971) and Soylent Green (1973); for example, in the latter women serve as ‘furniture’ supplied with apartments. In contrast to such works stands the genre of feminist science fiction, the apocalyptic settings of which, according to Robin Roberts, frequently contain ‘a warning’ about wars that will result from the abuse of science and technology in male-dominated societies (1993, 108). Roberts thus sees exposing the faults of patriarchy as one of the important themes of feminist apocalyptic science fiction.

Communist-era Eastern Europe produced three films centered on apocalyptic themes that go against the trend Deutsch describes and more closely echo Roberts's findings. Konec srpna v Hotelu Ozon (The End of August at the Hotel Ozone, dir. Jan Schmidt, 1966), Sedmikrasky (Daisies, dir. Vera Chytilová, 1966), and Seksmisja (Sexmission, dir. Juliusz Machulski, 1984) are set in apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic worlds dominated by women where traditional notions of gender have been destroyed. The films explore the repercussions of this complete overturning of society and subsequent gender destruction, and ask who bears responsibility for it.