Muzyka bez granic? Działalność Henryka Warsa po wybuchu wojny

Author(s): Iwona Sowińska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 95/2016

A film music composer must be able to adapt to changing conditions and requirements. However, the variety of challenges faced in his long, transnational career by Henryk Wars was exceptional. Before the war Wars was one of the leading figures of Polish show business and a major film music composer. Following the outbreak of the war he composed music for two Soviet feature films, including the anti-Polish “Dream” by Mikhail Romm. Then together with the army of General Anders he travelled through the Middle East to Italy, where he worked on the patriotic “Great Road” (“La Grande Strada” by Michał Wyszyński). Finally he moved to the United States, where, after a number of years, he began to receive first serious commissions, and with time achieved a level of success as a film music composer for westerns, crime and family movies and TV series. Using the examples from the Soviet and American period of Wars’ work, the author considers how surrounding external context and factors of politics, ideology, genre formulas and dominating film practice influence the process of composing film music.

Żuławski w Grand Guignolu

Author(s): Grażyna Stachówna / Language(s): Polish Issue: 95/2016

According to the author Andrzej Żuławski is the only Polish director, who in his work is subject to farreaching influence of the French culture. He was born in 1940, and spent his childhood and early youth in France (his father, Mirosław, was a cultural counselor at the Polish Embassy /1945-1949/, then he worked in Paris, representing Poland in the UNESCO /1956-1965/). This is where Andrzej finished lycée and studies at the IDHEC (1958-1959) and studied philosophy at the Sorbonne (1959-1960). He immersed himself both consciously and unconsciously in French culture and mentality. We find a proof of it in the shocking (not only in the Polish perception) poetics of his films. Researchers searched for its roots in various sources of inspirations. According to the author one may also find them in Le Théâtre du Grand Guignol – a Parisian theatre with a specific style and repertoire that existed in the years 1897-1963 and had a great influence on the culture both popular and otherwise, in Britain and America, and on film horror in many countries. But – what is very interesting culturally – had no influence on Polish theatre or film. Stachówna tries to prove that Andrzej Żuławski’s film style can also be connected with the poetics of the shows at the Grand Guignol.

Uniwersum bez granic. Transnarodowe kino Waleriana Borowczyka

Author(s): Iwona Kolasińska-Pasterczyk / Language(s): Polish Issue: 95/2016

Walerian Borowczyk is portrayed by the author as the kind of artists who crosses borders in three dimensions: thematic (through eroticism associated with the transgression of various taboos), the model of national cinema (by giving up the local perspective in order to refer to the European cultural heritage) and timelessness (the universalisation of human sensuality, despite the stories being dressed in “historical costume”). These variants of crossing the limits are illustrated by Borowczyk feature films made in the period of 1968-1988 (that is from “Goto, Island of Love” to “Rituals of Love”). Films by Borowczyk (a Pole living in France in the years of 1959-2006) have to be qualified as European, meaning films that refer to the world of the Old Continent (and not directed towards the New Continent). Transnational specificity of this art has its source in a wider paradigm of European literary and visual art, from Ovid to Mandiargues, including artists combining erotic and religious discourses (e.g. de Sade, Bataille and representatives of the 20th century avant-garde), and stylistic references to the tradition of ”female nudes” in European painting, i.a. Moreau, Ingres, Courbert respectively. While the timeless, universal dimension of erotic tensions results from the trans-historical perspective adopted (from antiquity to World War I, and excluding post 1950 Europe).

Portret polsko-żydowskiej rodziny w amerykańskim wnętrzu. „Anya (In and Out of Focus)” Mariana Marzyńskiego

Author(s): Mikołaj Jazdon / Language(s): Polish Issue: 95/2016

Issues concerning national identity occupy an important place in the whole work of Marian Marzyński, a Polish documentary filmmaker of Jewish descent working in the United States for years. His autobiographical “Anya (In and Out of Focus)” (2004), consisting of videos documenting thirty years of the life of his daughter and the whole Marzyński family, describes a continuous process of “negotiating” the national identity by Polish immigrants during three decades of living in the USA. In his film Marzyński focuses on two persons – his daughter Anya and the director himself. For Anya Marzynski the question of her national identity stems from the fact of growing up in a country of immigrants. For Marian Marzyński the question of his personal identity is a more complex matter and stems from his personal experience inextricably linked to the dramatic events in the Polish history of the 20th century: the Holocaust, reconstruction of the country after World War II, anti-Jewish persecution in March 1968, Polish August ‘80, as well as life in exile in Denmark and the USA. The director of the film juxtaposes the two personal histories showing how complicated might be the answers to the questions: who are you? what is your nationality?

Dziki zachód, dziki wschód. Konwencje westernowe w „Prawie i pięści” Jerzego Hoffmana i Edwarda Skórzewskiego oraz „Wilczych echach” Aleksandra Ścibor-Rylskiego

Author(s): Łukasz Plesnar / Language(s): Polish Issue: 95/2016

Plesnar is trying to prove that Edward Skórzewski and Jerzy Hoffman in “The Law and the Fist” (1964) and Aleksander Ścibor-Rylski in “The Wolves’ Echoes” (1968) used in varying degrees genre conventions of the western. It is apparent in the construction of the main protagonists, standing with arms in hand, alone, fighting bandits acting in the guise of law. Also narrative structures and storyline patterns of both films remind us of the western, as well as their placement in time (“after the war”, in real westerns – it is usually the Civil War, here it is World War II) and space structures (the deserted town in The Law and the Fist remind us of western ghost towns, pastures of Bieszczady look like undulating hills of Wyoming or Dakota). Even the iconography is similar: arms (although Colts were replaced by Soviet TT pistols), horses, the carts of repatriates (settlers), and to some degree, costumes (Gustaw Holoubek as Andrzej Kenig from “The Law and the Fist” is styled on Shane, and Richard Pietruski as Wijas – on the gunslinger Jack Wilson from George Stevens’ “Shane” /1953/). Plesnar concludes that while in “The Wolves’ Echoes” the adaptation of the western convention is rather mechanical, in “The Law and The Fist” it is much more creative, modifying and enriching it with the “local colour”.

Ciemna strona Polski? „Neo-noir” i kino policyjne w twórczości Patryka Vegi

Author(s): Magdalena Kempna-Pieniążek / Language(s): Polish Issue: 95/2016

The transcultural aspect is an important feature of the new cinema noir (neo-noir). In contemporary pop culture neo-noir has become one of the dominant trends, easily adapting to the local conditions of national cinematography. The article is devoted to one of the Polish films that fall into this category. Films and TV series by Patryk Vega refer to neo-noir and the convention of American police films. Genologic considerations aside, the author looks at the nature of the connections between Polish neo-noir and American film. Is police film of the neo-noir variety merely an inspiration for Vega, or does it undergo reinterpretation and an attempt at adaptation of Hollywood conventions? Or perhaps we should look at the work of the director as a kind of imitation of fashionable aesthetics? The author tries to settle these doubts by analysing selected works by Vega, including those made for the cinema (“Pitbull”, “Special Forces”) and those made for television (among others: “Instinct”, “Dark Side of the City”).

Trudna sztuka koprodukcji. O pierwszym powojennym filmie polsko-czechosłowackim „Zadzwońcie do mojej żony” (1958) Jaroslava Macha

Author(s): Ewa Ciszewska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 95/2016

The author looks at the Polish-Czechoslovak co-production “What Will My Wife Say to This?” (“Co řekne žena”, dir. Jaroslav Mach, 1958) through the lens of production and culture. This article presents methodology that enables the study of co-production in the socialist countries. Further the author presents the main determinants of Polish-Czechoslovak cooperation in the years of 1948-1958. The analysis of the making of the film “What Will My Wife Say to This?”, the first post-war Czechoslovak-Polish co-production, shows the making of a film as a field of clashing of conflicting aspirations and interests.

Urok jawnogrzesznicy. „Maddalena” Jerzego Kawalerowicza

Author(s): Rafał Syska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 95/2016

The theme of the article is the analysis of production and artistic contexts of the film “Maddalena” (1971) by Jerzy Kawalerowicz. This film was made as a Yugoslav-Italian co-production, and though it did not find applause among the audience and the critics, it is an interesting, though little known, project by an outstanding Polish director. Today, the fame of this production is associated more with the composition of Ennio Morricone, who composed one of his better known works for the needs of this film. Syska refers in his article to the context of making of the film, work on the set, and the concept of co-production and the reception of the film.

Brytyjczycy o Polakach, czyli jak pisano o polskim kinie w brytyjskim piśmie „Sight & Sound” w latach 50. i 60.

Author(s): Karolina Kosińska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 95/2016

Polish cinema began to appear in the British film press (“Sight & Sound”) roughly from the mid-1950s. The first mentions of Polish films can be found earlier (for example “The Final Stage” by Wanda Jakubowska), but it is the “Canal” and “Ashes and Diamonds” by Andrzej Wajda that open up British critics to Polish cinematography. During the showing of documentary films at the Free Cinema, films from the “black series” are presented, and Lindsay Anderson directs comments towards the editorial team of the “Film”. In 1967 Anderson makes “The Singing Lesson” in Poland together with students from the Warsaw National Drama School. How did the Polish journalists (e.g. Bolesław Michałek) writing for the British press present Polish cinema? How did the British critics perceive this cinema and did they see us as allies in the ideological battle for film? What can a review of British film journals tell us about Polish cinema? The article attempts to answer these questions.

Recepcja polskich filmów w świetle teorii afektu. „Wałęsa. Człowiek z nadziei” Andrzeja Wajdy (2013) i „Róża” Wojciecha Smarzowskiego (2011)

Author(s): Janina Falkowska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 95/2016

The focus of the article is the reception of Polish films abroad, especially the ones with the historical component as its building part. While it seems obvious that the less you know about a particular country, the less you understand of the film and the message it communicates, there are some fascinating rules which govern the processes of understanding or lack of understanding that merit careful scrutiny. According to the affect theory, the reception of Polish films like “Rose”, “Walesa. Man of Hope”, “Ashes and Diamonds”, and other, depends not only on a cognitive processing of factual information conveyed by the film, but also on a complex negotiation of the spectator’s own meanings generated by the knowledge of facts and their interpretations as well as the facts pertinent to his/her own social and political background and education and emotional sensitivity. Falkowska uses British New Wave from 1960s as a starting point for the discussion of films with historical content and then concentrates on “Walesa. Man of Hope” (dir. Andrzej Wajda, 2013), “Ashes and Diamonds” (dir. Andrzej Wajda, 1957) and “Rose” (dir. Wojciech Smarzowski, 2011). The majority of her argument focuses on the interpretation of “Walesa. Man of Hope”, the film which has

„Ida” w Ameryce. Estetyka, tożsamość i artyzm w antyfilmie

Author(s): Sheila Skaff / Language(s): Polish Issue: 95/2016

In February 2015, Polish filmmaker Paweł Pawlikowski brilliantly accepted an Oscar in front of a boisterous Hollywood crowd and 36 million television viewers for a ruminative film about silence and contemplation – in his words, an anti-cinema film. His film, “Ida”, is an Ozuesque narrative, set in Poland in 1962 and filmed in seductive black and white, about an 18-year-old novitiate and her hardened aunt who set out to find the graves of their murdered Jewish family members. The evening was the culmination of nearly two years of film festivals and private screenings, reviews and interviews, translations and explanations for each of the filmmakers. It was also a time of public outcry, as “Ida”, the anti-cinema film, is also an anti-modernity film, which uses symbolism and aesthetic properties rarely seen in Western cinema to denote spiritual identities within debated historical contexts. In her article, the author compares the reception of “Ida” to that of several of the contemporary films that have been shown recently in New York City including “Walesa. Man of Hope”, “Aftermath”, “Warsaw 44”, “Warsaw Uprising” and one of the nominated documentaries, “Joanna”. Skaff sheds light on the reasons that this film was chosen above the others to receive the film world’s highest accolades and how a film that polarized viewers in its native country could draw unprecedented support among film-goers and cultural critics in the United States.

Międzynarodowa recepcja kina polskiego. Szkic

Author(s): Arkadiusz Lewicki / Language(s): Polish Issue: 95/2016

The text is an attempt to look at the Polish cinema from the perspective of its reception outside the borders of our country. Lewicki analyses the data contained in various sources, checks, what was the actual number of Polish films exported at different times, keeps track of which works have been exhibited in the largest number of countries, and how many viewers they attracted. The presentation and interpretation of data becomes the starting point for the author’s reflections on the functioning of the global circulation of films and the role played by the Polish cinematography.

Czy kino efektów specjalnych stworzyło Donalda Trumpa?

Author(s): Marcin Giżycki / Language(s): Polish Issue: 95/2016

Starting with the idea of the American film critic Owen Gleiberman, that SFX cinema created the culture of unreality, and that very culture produced Donald Trump, the author recalls a number of films that somehow foresaw the emergence of this businessman and showman on the political scene. These films are: “A Face in the Crowd” (dir. Elia Kazan, 1957), “The Best Man” (dir. Franklin J. Schaffner, 1964) and “Bob Roberts” (dir. Tim Robbins, 1992).

Aby widz poczuł „flow”, czyli o zagranicznych filmach na ekranach Warszawy

Author(s): Barbara Lena Gierszewska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 95/2016

The author reviews Wojciech Świdziński’s book „Co było grane? Film zagraniczny w Polsce w latach 1918-1929 na przykładzie Warszawy” [„What was On? Foreign Films on Polish Cinema Screens in the Years of 1918-1929 Using the Example of Warsaw”] (2015). Gierszewska presents in detail the content of the book, and relates Świdziński’s research results to the earlier work by Władysław Jewsiewicki, Władysław Banaszkiewicz, Witold Witczak and Edward Zajiček, noting that all of these authors argued that following regaining of independence Warsaw cinema screens were dominated by German films. The reviewer appreciates the immense work that Świdziński put into obtaining and analysing source data, however she also expertly points out where the author might be wrong, or where he might have omitted precious archive materials. Overall Gierszewska concludes that Świdziński’s work is worthy of recognition, especially in terms of his editing and research skills.

W postkolonialnej Europie

Author(s): Barbara Kita / Language(s): Polish Issue: 95/2016

A book review of Krzysztof Loska’s „Postkolonialna Europa. Etnoobrazy współczesnego kina” [„Postcolonial Europe. Ethnoimages of Contemporary Cinema”] (2016). The reviewer argues that the reflection on the situation of contemporary European cinema seen through the prism of post-colonialism, permits a fresh, yet critical, look at well-known films and also notice those that fall within the festival or niche national cinema margins. According to Kita the publication is a complex and comprehensive review of changes in themes present in films: stereotypes of image, race, gender, creation of new historical narratives, European heritage. Having discussed the construction of the book and critically reported on its main thesis, the reviewer notes that the work ends with a brief sketch on transcultural and hybrid music, which, in her opinion, weakens the conclusiveness of the whole book. Rather than offering a synthetic summary of a long and ordered history of the cinema, it offers a new theme, and a promise of its development.

Creația cinematografică a lui Emil Loteanu: opera deschisă

Author(s): Ana-Maria Plămădeală / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 2/2016

The article is subject to a mythical-archetypal and psychoanalytic observation of the major resonance alter ego in the hierarchy of the filmmaker’s values. The aesthetic and philosophical importance and relevance of nature symbolism is reinforced by the consonance of the Loteanian filmic act with both romantic credos and the patterns of Romanian spirituality. Demonstrating the fact that the master’s films speak through the mythical meanings of fauna (the Bird, the Horse, the Wolf ), as well as the semantics of storms and meteorological phenomena (the Fire, the Twilight, the Mountain Scenery, the Snowfalls, the Blizzards), we proceeded to the disclosure of particularly significant artistic features in the creation of Emil Loteanu, previously not elucidated. After appealing to the generous virtualities of the „psychology of depths”, the idea of germination of the filmmaker’s personal myths from the Nature space was furthered: the Myth of the Fire and the myth of reunited Carpathians.

Conceptul de film dedicat artelor din perspectiva teoriei și critice cinematografice

Author(s): Dumitru Olărescu / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 2/2016

Cinematography affirmed its status as an art of synthesis, in which an important component is attributed to fine arts. The assimilation process of various works of art by the cinematic language continues by perfecting the means of audio-visual expression, influencing, in its turn, and enriching with new artistic possibilities other kinds of art: theatre, choreography and, in particular, fine arts. The disputes about the film genetic correlations with the fine arts started along with the emergence of film and continued to shape the aesthetic premises of films dedicated to arts. These co-influences of arts constitute conclusive evidence of the interferences, assimilations, and finally, of the complexity of the contemporary artistic phenomenon occurring in the structures of the film about art. We will examine the views of notorious academics, film critics and filmmakers – Serghei Eisenștein, Andre Bazin, Jean Mitry, Henry Lemaitre, Carlo L. Ragghianti, Guido Aristarco, Paul Rotha, Umberto Eco, Luigi Chiarini, Zbignev Czeczot-Gawrak, Nina Behar, etc. – referring to the definition of the film about fine arts and some issues related to aesthetics and cinematic language peculiarities of this category of films.

Звуковая атмосфера в анимационных фильмах немого периода

Author(s): Natalia Kryvulea / Language(s): Russian Issue: 2/2016

The article is devoted to the sound transmission issues in animated films of the silent period. Technical, cinematic and visual methods of creating sound atmosphere have received attention. In the process of analyzing animated films of the silent period graphic techniques which were used by animators for the transmission of sound were identified and systematized. This research permits discussion about various forms of onomatopoeic vocabulary usage in movies and sound transmission principles through conventional signs. The origins of synchronism which dominated in animation’s first half of the twentieth century were identified. Also, the topic of audio-visual metaphors and sound gags created in animated films was addressed.

Impactul imaginilor vizuale asupra structurii teatrului modern

Author(s): Violeta Tipa / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 2/2016

With the development of digital technologies, the universe of theatrical performance knows a new wave of visual image invasion. Almost a century from the first attempts to introduce elements of cinematic language, theater people offer new opportunities for including movie images (video) in the performance structure, expanding the space and time of the dramatic actions. Being more sophisticated and used at maximum, they have generated some new forms of theater, such as media theater and visual theater. The trend toward the modernization of the performance, by imposing video sequences, often change the optics of the traditional performance. Theater performances of the theatres from Poland: Hamlet by Krzysztof Garbaczewski, the performances Hommage to Chagall and Metamorphosis by director Adolf Weltschek; the Romanian performances Everything is Well between Us by Radu Afrim, the show King Ubu by Slava Sambriş and the ones presented within BITEI 2016 are among the experiments in this context. Having a significant impact on the theatrical language, as well as on the structure of modern performance, the presence of the audio-visual causes a phenomenon worthy of research under various aspects.

Lumea fără retușuri la Festivalul internațional de film documentar "Cronograf", ediția 2016

Author(s): Ruxanda Curcă / Language(s): Romanian Issue: 2/2016