enthusiasts
amateur cinema in poland
Lots of Polish workers, having spent most of the day busting a gut in a factory somewhere, would seek some form of entertainment at one of the cinema clubs set up by the then Communist Party. And they soon became eager to see more than what the Party had to offer. So, a network of secret cinema clubs soon started to spring up, and, hardly surprisingly, some of those worker spectators soon crossed the threshold and became creators. They managed to get their hands on an odd film here and there and they started to organise their alternative cinema sessions. The Party had set up a wide network on cinemas and films to show off the achievements of communism, and these guys knew exactly how to make the most of any bits of unused film left over from official shoots, they successfully spirited away cameras that were lying about and in the small hours of the morning you’d find them developing film in small laboratories here and there. In this way dozens of amateur Polish filmmakers were able to film the world that the Party wouldn’t film from the 60s on.
These enthusiasts humbly and freely disposed with commercial cinema’s ruling on duration and format and started shooting and showing their films. Readings on love, work and desire were all filmed from many different points of view. With the disappearance of the communist system and the advent of neo-capitalism, this amateurism faded away. The enthusiasts’ amateur cinema became professional.
Although it seems to be a contradiction, the victory of “democracy” and market dictatorship in Poland, as in many places, actually causes a reduction in pluralism. Just as the thirst for freedom creates enthusiasm, achieving that liberty also dulls desires.
You can see, analyse and debate these films at Arteleku on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th of February on the Enthusiasm_archive_workshop
seminar.
Lots of Polish workers, having spent most of the day busting a gut in a factory somewhere, would seek some form of entertainment at one of the cinema clubs set up by the then Communist Party. And they soon became eager to see more than what the Party had to offer. So, a network of secret cinema clubs soon started to spring up, and, hardly surprisingly, some of those worker spectators soon crossed the threshold and became creators. They managed to get their hands on an odd film here and there and they started to organise their alternative cinema sessions. The Party had set up a wide network on cinemas and films to show off the achievements of communism, and these guys knew exactly how to make the most of any bits of unused film left over from official shoots, they successfully spirited away cameras that were lying about and in the small hours of the morning you’d find them developing film in small laboratories here and there. In this way dozens of amateur Polish filmmakers were able to film the world that the Party wouldn’t film from the 60s on.
These enthusiasts humbly and freely disposed with commercial cinema’s ruling on duration and format and started shooting and showing their films. Readings on love, work and desire were all filmed from many different points of view. With the disappearance of the communist system and the advent of neo-capitalism, this amateurism faded away. The enthusiasts’ amateur cinema became professional.
Although it seems to be a contradiction, the victory of “democracy” and market dictatorship in Poland, as in many places, actually causes a reduction in pluralism. Just as the thirst for freedom creates enthusiasm, achieving that liberty also dulls desires.
You can see, analyse and debate these films at Arteleku on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th of February on the Enthusiasm_archive_workshop
seminar.
