Images. The International Journal of European Film, Performing Arts and Audiovisual Communication
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Alternative distribution and its role in the promotion of films produced by the Irzykowski Film Studio between 1981–1984
Get PDFThe Irzykowski Film Studio was founded in 1981 as an institution that allowed young filmmakers to start their careers directly after graduating from the Film School. The studio could produce medium-length and short feature films and documentaries as well as animation. Nevertheless, all these types of films, according to the statute confirmed by the minister, were not to be officially cinema distributed, since they were supposed to be treated as a film exercise, a kind of practice run. Finally, it turned out that the Irzykowski Film Studio productions were regarded as fully fledged films that could compete with films produced by Film Units (i.e., the professional organizational entities of the Polish film production system at the time) or short film studios. What is not without significance, most films (not to say: all) were politically controversial. Therefore, the leaders of the Studio decided to show films to the audience, but they could not do it officially by applying for referral to cinema distribution. In connection with this, they were shown at small film festivals, inner (unofficial) screenings, and illegally distributed on VHS tapes. By extension, the range of distribution was narrow, but, curiously enough, the films were attracting a lot of interest from film critics, audiences and... state authorities. The aim of this paper is to analyze the alternative distribution process that occurred at the Irzykowski Film Studio. What films were shown at festivals, at internal screenings, and which were illegally copied onto VHS tapes? Had all the films shown been censored? How did state censorship react to test screenings with the audience? How did the critics and audience perceive these films? Did the presence of films at festivals influence their cinema distribution? And finally: how did the promotion and festival distribution of these films affect the perception of the Irzykowski Film Studio among the state authorities?The Irzykowski Film Studio was founded in 1981 as an institution that allowed young filmmakers to start their careers directly after graduating from the Film School. The studio could produce medium-length and short feature films and documentaries as well as animation. Nevertheless, all these types of films, according to the statute confirmed by the minister, were not to be officially cinema distributed, since they were supposed to be treated as a film exercise, a kind of practice run. Finally, it turned out that the Irzykowski Film Studio productions were regarded as fully fledged films that could compete with films produced by Film Units (i.e., the professional organizational entities of the Polish film production system at the time) or short film studios. What is not without significance, most films (not to say: all) were politically controversial. Therefore, the leaders of the Studio decided to show films to the audience, but they could not do it officially by applying for referral to cinema distribution. In connection with this, they were shown at small film festivals, inner (unofficial) screenings, and illegally distributed on VHS tapes. By extension, the range of distribution was narrow, but, curiously enough, the films were attracting a lot of interest from film critics, audiences and... state authorities. The aim of this paper is to analyze the alternative distribution process that occurred at the Irzykowski Film Studio. What films were shown at festivals, at internal screenings, and which were illegally copied onto VHS tapes? Had all the films shown been censored? How did state censorship react to test screenings with the audience? How did the critics and audience perceive these films? Did the presence of films at festivals influence their cinema distribution? And finally: how did the promotion and festival distribution of these films affect the perception of the Irzykowski Film Studio among the state authorities
Multiplexes in India: Building Castles in a Low-income Market of Uneven Geographies
Get PDFThe Indian film industry produces the highest number of movies in the world, in various languages, and casts a large shadow of influence on the socio-cultural landscape of the country. However, in terms of box-office value as a share of the total entertainment pie in India, films are a minor segment in a market with vast potential. The pandemic of 2020 drastically changed the fragile dynamics of the already-struggling film distribution and screening sector. Over the years, the Indian film business has staked its future on a business model forged around the “Mall-Multiplex” complex in a country that is mostly low-income or bottom of the pyramid (BoP). This exploratory article, with the help of existing data on theatre screen seats and high-potential population geographies, endeavours to understand India’s existing film entertainment business and sets out to spot the opportunities available for the low-priced film business as a value proposition
Pierwszy raz w ciemnym kinie – filmowe reminiscencje w twórczości Krystyny Kofty
No full textThe article is an attempt to interpret the cinema experience from the perspective of contemporary theories of somatic reception. Attention is drawn to the formal aspect of two examples of cinema experiences by a contemporary Polish writer (Krystyna Kofta). An important element of her work is sharing impressions, especially in relation to the description of everyday life. The analysis includes the comparison of two cinema episodes – a girl fascinated by the first encounter with this medium and an adult woman terrifed by the claustrophobic atmosphere of the cinema
„Comics making as a form of prayer?”. Komiksowa materialność na przykładzie komiksu Deserto / Nuvem Francisco Sousy Lobo
Get PDFFrancisco Sousa Lobo (Portugal) touches on religious themes in many of his comics. In real life, he has been both for and against Catholics, and now he prefers to watch the world from above, sitting on a high comic book wall. In the split-book Deserto/Nuvem, which I propose to analyse in this article, he decides to create a reportage about the Catholic Carthusian order from Évora: in Deserto he presents a record of a week spent among monks, and Nuvem consists of 20 letters written to a monk. I would like to look at these comics in response to the question with which Pedro Moura concluded the Deserto/Nuvem review – “Comic-making as a form of prayer?” and through the concepts of the materiality of the comic book (Aaron Kashtan Between Pen and Pixel. Comics, Materiality, and the Book of the Future) and the performativity of the act of experiencing the comic book (Ian Hague Comics and the Senses: A Multisensory Approach to Comics and Graphic Novels).Francisco Sousa Lobo (Portugal) touches on religious themes in many of his comics. In real life, he has been both for and against Catholics, and now he prefers to watch the world from above, sitting on a high comic book wall. In the split-book Deserto/Nuvem, which I propose to analyse in this article, he decides to create a reportage about the Catholic Carthusian order from Évora: in Deserto he presents a record of a week spent among monks, and Nuvem consists of 20 letters written to a monk. I would like to look at these comics in response to the question with which Pedro Moura concluded the Deserto/Nuvem review – “Comic-making as a form of prayer?” and through the concepts of the materiality of the comic book (Aaron Kashtan Between Pen and Pixel. Comics, Materiality, and the Book of the Future) and the performativity of the act of experiencing the comic book (Ian Hague Comics and the Senses: A Multisensory Approach to Comics and Graphic Novels)
Elementy japońskich wierzeń i obrzędów w mandze Mieruko-chan. Dziewczyna, która widzi więcej Tomoki Izumiego
Get PDFThe aim of the article is to reflect on religious themes in contemporary Japanese comics. The manga Mieruko-chan by Tomoki Izumi is analyzed. The themes include the Japanese tradition of horror, derived from folk beliefs, as well as Shintō and Buddhist rituals. The author draws attention to religion as an important element of creating cultural reality and its function that makes it more attractive.The aim of the article is to reflect on religious themes in contemporary Japanese comics. The manga Mieruko-chan by Tomoki Izumi is analyzed. The themes include the Japanese tradition of horror, derived from folk beliefs, as well as Shintō and Buddhist rituals. The author draws attention to religion as an important element of creating cultural reality and its function that makes it more attractive
El Lissitzky’s Red Wedge as the Hebrew letter Yud
Get PDFThe analysis undertaken in this paper sets out with El Lissitzky’s 1919 revolutionary poster entitled Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge. This artwork, composed of simple geometric figures, in which an acute-angled red triangle splits the form of a white circle, was used by Soviet propaganda to affirm the so-called ‘October events’. However, a thorough analysis of the poster, i.e. its sources, inspirations, borrowings and contexts, supports the hypothesis that the principal motif (the wedge) also constitutes a graphic equivalent of a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the letter yud, represented as a small comma or, significantly, an acute-angled triangle. Such a premise yields further consequences with regard to meanings, encompassing aspects related to the Jewish iconic tradition that involve mysticism, magic, and the kabbalah.The analysis undertaken in this paper sets out with El Lissitzky’s 1919 revolutionary poster entitled Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge. This artwork, composed of simple geometric figures, in which an acute-angled red triangle splits the form of a white circle, was used by Soviet propaganda to affirm the so-called ‘October events’. However, a thorough analysis of the poster, i.e. its sources, inspirations, borrowings and contexts, supports the hypothesis that the principal motif (the wedge) also constitutes a graphic equivalent of a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, the letter yud, represented as a small comma or, significantly, an acute-angled triangle. Such a premise yields further consequences with regard to meanings, encompassing aspects related to the Jewish iconic tradition that involve mysticism, magic, and the kabbalah
Filmmaking as Cultural Aggression
Get PDFThe article discusses cinematic depopulation, the strategy of appropriation of the colonized by the colonizer widely used in the Soviet and post-Soviet cinema made in Ukraine and Russia and, until now, never analyzed in academic literature. The cinematic depopulation is a mode of filmic representation whereby a given ethnoscape (Ukraine) is cleansed of its national community (Ukrainians) and instead is populated by the colonizer (Russians) as if it were an integral part of his historical territory. As a form of cultural imperialism, this strategy has, until quite recently, been widely used in both Soviet and post-Soviet Russian and Ukrainian filmmaking to promote the idea of Ukraine conceivable outside of and without the Ukrainian language, culture, and other attributes of Ukrainian identity.The article discusses cinematic depopulation, the strategy of appropriation of the colonized by the colonizer widely used in the Soviet and post-Soviet cinema made in Ukraine and Russia and, until now, never analyzed in academic literature. The cinematic depopulation is a mode of filmic representation whereby a given ethnoscape (Ukraine) is cleansed of its national community (Ukrainians) and instead is populated by the colonizer (Russians) as if it were an integral part of his historical territory. As a form of cultural imperialism, this strategy has, until quite recently, been widely used in both Soviet and post-Soviet Russian and Ukrainian filmmaking to promote the idea of Ukraine conceivable outside of and without the Ukrainian language, culture, and other attributes of Ukrainian identity
Ear to the ground. Searching for ourselves in each other
Get PDFAn acclaimed Polish cinematographer and documentary film director describes his meeting with Sergey Paradjanov in the 1970s in Kiev. Stok found himself there in connection with the shooting of Piotr Studziński’s documentary film about one of Ukraine’s mathematicians. Despite the difficulties created by the Soviet totalitarian state to isolate Paradjanov, Stok managed to reach the director and also to watch his documentary film about the frescoes in Kiev at a special secret club screening. In his essay – a memoir – the author describes the differences between life in the Soviet Union and in more liberal Communist-ruled Poland. He characterizes Paradjanov’s artistic profile and his fate in the Soviet Union.An acclaimed Polish cinematographer and documentary film director describes his meeting with Sergey Paradjanov in the 1970s in Kiev. Stok found himself there in connection with the shooting of Piotr Studziński’s documentary film about one of Ukraine’s mathematicians. Despite the difficulties created by the Soviet totalitarian state to isolate Paradjanov, Stok managed to reach the director and also to watch his documentary film about the frescoes in Kiev at a special secret club screening. In his essay – a memoir – the author describes the differences between life in the Soviet Union and in more liberal Communist-ruled Poland. He characterizes Paradjanov’s artistic profile and his fate in the Soviet Union
Obrazy stalinizmu w twardym jądrze i na peryferiach. Kłopoty ze Sceną Faktu TVP (2006–2010)
Get PDFThe text refers to the part of the performances of TVP’s Fact Stage (2006–2010), devoted to the Stalinist period, as well as to its journalistic and scholarly reception. In no small part, it is a polemic with the position and reasoning expressed in Mariusz Mazur’s article TV Theater: Fact Stage – a specific vision of history. On such historical politics polemically. The author points to the need to interpret the phenomenon of Fact Stage as it really was, to understand its genesis, social conditions and cultural context. However, he rejects the method of contrasting the works in question with the abstract and normative postulates formulated by Mazur. Finally, the article points to the religious (morality play and passion play) sources of the conception of Fact Stage performances.The text refers to the part of the performances of TVP’s Fact Stage (2006–2010), devoted to the Stalinist period, as well as to its journalistic and scholarly reception. In no small part, it is a polemic with the position and reasoning expressed in Mariusz Mazur’s article TV Theater: Fact Stage – a specific vision of history. On such historical politics polemically. The author points to the need to interpret the phenomenon of Fact Stage as it really was, to understand its genesis, social conditions and cultural context. However, he rejects the method of contrasting the works in question with the abstract and normative postulates formulated by Mazur. Finally, the article points to the religious (morality play and passion play) sources of the conception of Fact Stage performances
Komiks jako profanowanie mitu
Get PDFTraditionally, literary works are considered to be displaced myths. Comic book researchers would like to treat the objects of their analysis in the same way. Comics, however, are counted as mass culture, and are therefore treated differently. A work of art can open a human being to the transcendent. On the other hand, a comic imposes a kind of distance on the reader and is rather a story about how someone experiences the sacred, a voice in the discussion about the nature of religious experiences. Comics’ specificity, on the other hand, is conducive to creating stories which are mocking and critical of other types of messages. This does not mean, however, that there are no comic artists who try to offer the reader the possibility of contact with the transcendent.Traditionally, literary works are considered to be displaced myths. Comic book researchers would like to treat the objects of their analysis in the same way. Comics, however, are counted as mass culture, and are therefore treated differently. A work of art can open a human being to the transcendent. On the other hand, a comic imposes a kind of distance on the reader and is rather a story about how someone experiences the sacred, a voice in the discussion about the nature of religious experiences. Comics’ specificity, on the other hand, is conducive to creating stories which are mocking and critical of other types of messages. This does not mean, however, that there are no comic artists who try to offer the reader the possibility of contact with the transcendent