Images. The International Journal of European Film, Performing Arts and Audiovisual Communication
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Deviating memories: Armando Lulaj’s seriously playful excursions into Albania’s history
Get PDFThis paper examines how certain contemporary audio-visual works from post-socialist countries in the Balkan region, employ archival footage from the communist period, to address and problematize the notion of remembering and suppressing national history through collective memory. I specifically focus on the work of the Albanian artist, Armando Lulaj and his videos Albanian Trilogy: A Series of Devious Stratagems (2011, 2012 and 2015) exhibited at the 56th Venice Biennale. By re-using images and narratives produced during Enver Hoxha’s regime, and still ingrained in Albanian visual memory, these films provide alternative readings of Albanian history from the Cold War to the present day. What is more, some of this archival material is made public for the first time, while the rest has been dormant and purposely forgotten in archival vaults. Lulaj’s playful excursions, create connections between a problematic and suppressed past and the difficult and selective present, by juxtaposing evocative and politically charged visual records and contemporary footage of artist’s commissioned performances
Semiotyka dziwactwa
Get PDFThe author assumes that the curiosity is a type of human expression. It can manifest in various languages and people’s behaviors, e.g.: verbal, mimic, gestural, costume and also by props, hairstyles, makeup etc. Regardless of differences between particular manifestations of the curiosity it is always semiotic. Freaks, eccentrics and weirdos disturb human community’s order and call into question established norms. They do that by their specific behaviors, appearances and individualism. They rectify, transform and change the social reality. The artistic curiosity not infrequently turn out to be the metaphor of an individual lifestyle (e.g. Witkacy, Dali). Freaks in the world of culture are not either savages or barbarians. They express themselves as well as they express their distance from the cultural system. In connection to this thesis, the author assumes that the curiosity is culture-producing.The author assumes that the curiosity is a type of human expression. It can manifest in various languages and people’s behaviors, e.g.: verbal, mimic, gestural, costume and also by props, hairstyles, makeup etc. Regardless of differences between particular manifestations of the curiosity it is always semiotic. Freaks, eccentrics and weirdos disturb human community’s order and call into question established norms. They do that by their specific behaviors, appearances and individualism. They rectify, transform and change the social reality. The artistic curiosity not infrequently turn out to be the metaphor of an individual lifestyle (e.g. Witkacy, Dali). Freaks in the world of culture are not either savages or barbarians. They express themselves as well as they express their distance from the cultural system. In connection to this thesis, the author assumes that the curiosity is culture-producing
“Her-story”: contemporary female film directors in post-Yugoslav cinema
Get PDFThe subject of this paper is a new generation of female directors in former Yugoslav (Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina) cinematography. It considers the stylistic, narrative and representational strategies in the films Clip (Klip, 2012) by Maja Miloš, Sonja and the Bull (Sonja i bik, 2012) by Vlatka Vorkapić, Our Everyday Life (Naša svakodnevna priča, 2015) by Ines Tanović, Zagreb Cappuccino (2014) by Vanja Sviličić, Trampoline (Trampolin, 2016) by Zrinka Katarina Matijević, You Carry Me (Ti mene nosiš, 2015) by Ivona Juka, and Quit Staring at My Plate (Ne gledaj mi u pijat, 2016) by Hana Jušić. The movies are related through conceptual, thematic and/or stylistic features. They examine the position of female protagonists in a patriarchal society and their daily experiences, wherein they dissect gender, economic and social problems that exist in countries in the territory of former Yugoslavia
Nagość jako strategia promocyjna kina polskiego lat 80.
Get PDFThe article examines how nudity was used as a promotional strategy in the Polish cinema in the 1980s. In contrast to earlier decades, the Polish movie industry delivered dozens of films that contained female nudity and erotic scenes. Some actresses like Maria Probosz, became automatically associated with such movies. Paradoxically, the Polish cinema of the 1980s was only slightly concerned with the discourse of eroticism. As Maria Kornatowska writes,The shortage of erotic sensibility was compensated by ‘bald nakedness.’’ The reasons for the increased presence of nudity on movie screens stemmed from the transformation of social lifestyle and audiences’ demand, the search for easy profit and the need to de-politicize society. Of significant importance were the influences of the growing video market and western cinema. Projections of nudity were meant to divert attention from the bleak reality of Poland enmeshed in crisis provide a sense of belonging to the Western world, and give mostly male viewers visual pleasure. It was also a marketing technique luring viewers to cinemas by bombarding them with daring posters and stills reproduced in the press and in front of movie theaters. My article will discuss and explain the ways of presenting female nudity in terms of these economic and political tasks.The article examines how nudity was used as a promotional strategy in the Polish cinema in the 1980s. In contrast to earlier decades, the Polish movie industry delivered dozens of films that contained female nudity and erotic scenes. Some actresses like Maria Probosz, became automatically associated with such movies. Paradoxically, the Polish cinema of the 1980s was only slightly concerned with the discourse of eroticism. As Maria Kornatowska writes,The shortage of erotic sensibility was compensated by ‘bald nakedness.’’ The reasons for the increased presence of nudity on movie screens stemmed from the transformation of social lifestyle and audiences’ demand, the search for easy profit and the need to de-politicize society. Of significant importance were the influences of the growing video market and western cinema. Projections of nudity were meant to divert attention from the bleak reality of Poland enmeshed in crisis provide a sense of belonging to the Western world, and give mostly male viewers visual pleasure. It was also a marketing technique luring viewers to cinemas by bombarding them with daring posters and stills reproduced in the press and in front of movie theaters. My article will discuss and explain the ways of presenting female nudity in terms of these economic and political tasks
Time networks: history and synchronicity in contemporary Croatian cinema
Get PDFThe paper demonstrates the prominence of network narratives (films with several autonomous storylines, globally popular since the mid-1990s) in post-Yugoslav, particularly Croatian, cinema, with examples such as Metastases (2009), The Reaper (2014), You Carry Me (2015), The Constitution (2016), The Trampoline (2017), etc. Unlike network narratives elsewhere, these films often thematize history, with parallel stories typically set during World War II and the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s. This has been said to suggest as a circular, synchronic vision of history, a “transhistorical dance macabre” as a leitmotif of Balkan cinema. The films Witnesses (2003) and The High Sun (2015), together with a group of multi-narrative plays, i.e. The Last Link (1994), 3 Winters (2014) and Men of Wax (2016), are analysed as vehicles of counter-memory to such self-Balkanizing representations
Co to jest dokument i czy pytanie to ma jakiekolwiek znaczenie? (Na marginesie Pięciu nieczystych zagrań Larsa von Triera i Jørgena Letha)
No full textThe article is an attempt to interpret The Five Obstructions, a film by Lars von Trier and Jørgen Leth that is a documentary record of a real meeting between the two directors, and of the project they undertook. According to plans, Leth was supposed to make five new versions of his film The Perfect Human from 1967. The result of Trier and Leth’s cooperation represents a hybrid of genres, difficult to classify by means of standard categories. Most of all, however, the film is self-referential, and therefore, the article discusses different aspects of documentary work in general, including the originality of a work of art, the issue of difference and repetition, the situation of the creator, and the concept and status of a work of art. Ultimately, the interpreted film provides a potential starting point for formulating a thesis on the documentary as a set of artistic conventions and rules for creatively engaging art and reality.The article is an attempt to interpret The Five Obstructions, a film by Lars von Trier and Jørgen Leth that is a documentary record of a real meeting between the two directors, and of the project they undertook. According to plans, Leth was supposed to make five new versions of his film The Perfect Human from 1967. The result of Trier and Leth’s cooperation represents a hybrid of genres, difficult to classify by means of standard categories. Most of all, however, the film is self-referential, and therefore, the article discusses different aspects of documentary work in general, including the originality of a work of art, the issue of difference and repetition, the situation of the creator, and the concept and status of a work of art. Ultimately, the interpreted film provides a potential starting point for formulating a thesis on the documentary as a set of artistic conventions and rules for creatively engaging art and reality.
That Dragon, Cancer – dokument osobisty w formie gry komputerowej
No full textThe article focuses on the That Dragon, Cancer, a computer game created by Amy and Ryan Green, which is about their son Joel’s disease and subsequent death. It analyses the means used to tell the story and deliver the emotions of the game’s authors: documentary elements and means of expression exclusive to the game medium (conscious use of failure, a form based on vignette games). It addresses the contexts of personal documentaries, their self-therapeutic aspect, and the phenomenon of “not-games” and “personal games”.The article focuses on the That Dragon, Cancer, a computer game created by Amy and Ryan Green, which is about their son Joel’s disease and subsequent death. It analyses the means used to tell the story and deliver the emotions of the game’s authors: documentary elements and means of expression exclusive to the game medium (conscious use of failure, a form based on vignette games). It addresses the contexts of personal documentaries, their self-therapeutic aspect, and the phenomenon of “not-games” and “personal games”
Między realnością a wirtualnością. Wykorzystanie fotogrametrii w grze wideo Zaginięcie Ethana Cartera
No full textToday we are seeing significant technological progress in the context of imitating reality. One technology which emulates our reality in comprehensive way is photogrammetry. The aim of the article is to illustrate the using of photogrammetry in the context of video games. The main part of the text is an analysis of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (The Astronauts, 2015). The authors of this video game decided to apply photogrammetry in order to display vast spaces in which an avatar is moving. I indicate that such an implementation not only creates a reliable illusion of reality, but also crucially affects video games’ poetics and narration.Today we are seeing significant technological progress in the context of imitating reality. One technology which emulates our reality in comprehensive way is photogrammetry. The aim of the article is to illustrate the using of photogrammetry in the context of video games. The main part of the text is an analysis of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (The Astronauts, 2015). The authors of this video game decided to apply photogrammetry in order to display vast spaces in which an avatar is moving. I indicate that such an implementation not only creates a reliable illusion of reality, but also crucially affects video games’ poetics and narration
Wojenne losy Heleny Grossówny
No full textHelena Grossówna, one of the most popular prewar Polish actresses, at the peak of her popularity got confronted with wartime. Like most people of art after 1st September 1939 she abandoned hitherto lifestyle and participated in the defense of Warsaw as a nurse and cook but did not become a regular soldier at that time. Together with other professional jobless actors she rendered services as a waitress in a café U Filmowców and occasionally performed on a stage. However, in the third year of war she joined the structures of Polish Underground State and fought in the Warsaw Uprising in Battalion Sokół. Consequently Grossówna got sent to POW camp Gross-Lübars and the latter in Oberlangen. After the camp was released in 1945, she came back to the country to struggle with the reality of Poland ruled by the Communist Party.Helena Grossówna, one of the most popular prewar Polish actresses, at the peak of her popularity got confronted with wartime. Like most people of art after 1st September 1939 she abandoned hitherto lifestyle and participated in the defense of Warsaw as a nurse and cook but did not become a regular soldier at that time. Together with other professional jobless actors she rendered services as a waitress in a café U Filmowców and occasionally performed on a stage. However, in the third year of war she joined the structures of Polish Underground State and fought in the Warsaw Uprising in Battalion Sokół. Consequently Grossówna got sent to POW camp Gross-Lübars and the latter in Oberlangen. After the camp was released in 1945, she came back to the country to struggle with the reality of Poland ruled by the Communist Party