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The Struggle for Form
Perspectives on Polish Avant-Garde Film, 1916–1989
Edited by Kamila Kuc and Michael O'Pray
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Book Presentation:
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.
About the authors:
Kamila Kuc teaches film at the universities of Kingston and Brighton, UK. She is co-editor Laura Mulvey: Do Utraty Wzroku (ha!Art, 2010). Michael O'Pray is retired Professor of Film in the School of Art, Architecture and Theory, University of East London. He has published widely on avant-garde film and animation.
Press Reviews:
Highly recommended. CHOICE
The variety of voices contained within this slim volume celebrates the different kinds of discourse generated by and about avant-garde filmmakers. The result is a collection as formally experimental as many of the films in question—one that makes for exuberant reading. Slavic and East European Journal
See the publisher website: Wallflower Press
> From the same authors:
Boro, L'Île d'Amour (2020)
The Films of Walerian Borowczyk
Dir. Kamila Kuc, Kuba Mikurda and Michał Oleszczyk
Subject: Director > Walerian Borowczyk
Visions of Avant-Garde Film (2016)
Polish Cinematic Experiments from Expressionism to Constructivism
by Kamila Kuc
Subject: Genre > Experimental
> On a related topic:
Hope Is of a Different Color (2022)
From the Global South to the Lodz Film School
Dir. Magda Lipska and Monika Talarczyk
Poland Daily (2022)
Economy, Work, Consumption and Social Class in Polish Cinema
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