Restart Stowarzyszenia Miłośników Filmu Artystycznego
Restart of the Association of Enthusiasts of Artistic Film

Summary/Abstract: A review of Łukasz Biskupski’s book ‘Kinofilia zaangażowana. Stowarzyszenie Miłośników Filmu Artystycznego „Start” i upowszechnianie kultury filmowej w latach 30. XX w’. [‘Engaged Cinephilia. Association of Enthusiasts of Artistic Film “Start” and Dissemination of Film Culture in the 1930s’] (2017). The author successfully re-examined the knowledge about the pre-war association “Start” from the point of view of the new history of the film, that is as a result of archival investigation and critical analysis of previous findings. He convincingly justified the need to reinterpret the achievements of “Start” members from the perspective of a historian who does not belong to that generation. The author successfully avoided the nostalgia of the first historians of “Start” or the tone of coming to terms with the generation of communists. He placed their initiative in the context of the activity of the first generation of cinephiles in interwar Europe. In addition, he shifted the accent from their film activities to activities related to the animation of film culture, he reconstructed internal aesthetics and political disputes in the “Start”, revised the timeline and filmography of its members. He enriched his own text by a selection of press articles by “Start” members and illustrations until now, not widely available and not commented on by film historians.

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