The course covers Polish cinema from WWII to the present, tracing the development of film styles and genres in the context of the historical, political, and cultural features of Polish society. The first wave of State Film School graduates (including Wajda, Munk, and Polanski) garnered international recognition by using realist norms in combination with intricate symbolism and absurdist allegory to critique the loss of civic values under Communism, thus utilizing the visual potentials of film language to circumvent the limitations imposed by “Socialist Realism” and State censorship. In the 1970s and 1980s, a second generation of film auteurs (including Zanussi, Holland, and Kieslowski) emerged and continued to break new ground stylistically, challenging Polish society in their “cinema of moral concern.” In the post-Communist period, Hollywood models (in particular the gangster film as a metaphor for capitalist norms) and international co-production have played significant roles. After 2000, Polish filmmakers have focused their attention on social and economic issues, gender, and questions of nationalism and ethnicity. We will analyze 14 films and discuss the accompanying reading.

Class Format:

In person.