Dwa filmowe epizody z życia Allana Charlesa Elgarta
Two Cinematic Episodes from the Life of Allan Charles Elgart

Summary/Abstract: The article, based on archival sources, is devoted to Allan Elgart, an American who in the mid-1960s decided to study film directing in the country from behind the Iron Curtain. First, in 1964, as part of a Fulbright Foundation scholarship program, he came to Poland intending to study at the State Film School in Łódź. However, he could not undertake studies due to his lack of knowledge of the Polish language and bureaucratic obstacles. At the same time – being a suspect of passing information on to American intelligence – he was surrounded by a security service network, which resulted in his leaving Poland after less than a year of stay. Paradoxically, he completed his film studies in 1965–1969, in another country of “people’s democracy” – at the FAMU in Czechoslovakia, where he encountered liberal political changes, a different organisational culture and a different attitude to “foreign exchange students”. At that time, he made three interesting student films, in which you can look for reminiscences of the then Czechoslovak new wave, including an emancipatory film about young homosexuals and their life problems: My time is your time is our time – there is no time.

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