This is the first comprehensive English-language account of the Polish avant-garde film, from its beginnings in the early decades of the last century to the collapse of communism in 1989. Taking a broad understanding of avant-garde film, this collection includes writings on the pioneering work of the internationally-acclaimed Franciszka and Stefan Themerson; the Polish Futurists' (Jalu Kurek, Anatol Stern) engagement with film; the Thaw and animation (Jan Lenica and Walerian Borowczyk, Andrzej Pawlowski, Zbigniew Rybczynski); documentary (Natalia Brzozowska, Kazimierz Karabasz, Wojciech Wiszniewski), Polish émigré filmmakers (Roman Polanski, Jerzy Skolimowski, Andrzej Zulawski) as well as essays and documentation on the highly influential Film Form Workshop (Józef Robakowski, Ryszard Wasko, Wojciech Bruszewski). Including a mix of historical writings from early film magazines with commissioned essays, this book constitutes an important source on the rich, complex and diverse history of the Polish film avant-garde, which is presented from the perspective of both British (A. L. Rees, Jonathan Owen, Michael O'Pray) and Polish (Marcin Gizycki, Ryszard Kluszczynski, Kamila Kuc) authorities on the subject. This book is thus an indispensable introduction to the theories and practices of critically important avant-garde artists and filmmakers.
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Notes on Contributors
- Introduction
- 1. The Themersons and the Polish Avant-Garde: Warsaw–Paris–London, by A. L. Rees
- 2. ‘The Inexpressible Unearthly Beauty of the Cinematograph’: The Impact of Polish Futurism on the First Polish Avant-Garde Films, by Kamila Kuc
- Excerpts from the ‘Archives’ of the Polish Avant-Garde
- 3. The Search for a ‘More Spacious Form’: Experimental Trends in Polish Documentary (1945–1989), by Mikołaj Jazdon
- 4. Avant-Garde and the Thaw: Experimentation in Polish Cinema of the 1950s and 1960s , by Marcin Giżycki
- 5. Avant-Garde Exploits: The Cultural Highs and Lows of Polish Émigré Cinema, by Jonathan L. Owen
- 6. The Mechanical Imagination—Creativity of Machines: Film Form Workshop 1970–1977 , by Ryszard Kluszczyński
- 7. The 1980s: From Specificity to the New Tradition—Avant-Garde Film and Video Art in Poland, by Ryszard Kluszczyński
- Film Form Workshop Statements
- 8. A Rebellion à la Polonaise, by Mateusz Werner
- Bibliography
- Filmography
- Index of Names
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