Kwartalnik Filmowy

2026-04-07

Table of contents in German.

The Filmable City in “Blinded by the Lights”: Urban Discourse in Jakub Żulczyk’s Novel and Krzysztof Skonieczny’s TV Series

Robert Birkholc — 2026-04-07

The focus of this article is the concept of filmability, examined through Jakub Żulczyk’s novel Blinded by the Lights (2021; Polish edition: 2014) and its 2018 adaptation directed by Krzysztof Skonieczny. The author focuses on the relationship between literary poetics and film poetics, while situating the formal analysis within a socio-cultural context. The study does not limit itself to characterising the relations between the novel and the TV series; rather, it takes the urban discourse as the point of reference for these relations. Conducting interdisciplinary research, the author draws on approaches such as Ewa Szczęsna’s comparative media studies and the narratology of Mieke Bal, who developed a method that integrates formal and cultural analyses. Studying Ślepnąc od świateł, the author demonstrates how the works of Żulczyk and Skonieczny convey – through their specific means of expression – a discourse on the contemporary city as a site of sensory overload, a space of illusion, and a locus of lost control.

“Décadrage” and the Cinema of Yoshishige Yoshida (1965-1973)

Kacper Słodki — 2026-04-07

The article examines the relationship between Pascal Bonitzer’s concept of décadrage and Yoshishige Yoshida’s films produced between 1965 and 1973. The author compares Bonitzer’s framework with that of autonegation, which is central to Yoshida’s film theory, emphasising their shared rejection of narrativisation, subversion of established filmmaking conventions, and disruption of viewing habits. He argues that the Japanese director does not impose on the audience a closed mode of viewing screen representations, but, by withdrawing from the work, affords the viewer interpretive freedom. Similarly, the concept of décadrage, a visual (and occasionally auditory) shift, entails cognitive indeterminacy, thereby leaving room for the viewer’s interpretation. The analysis of selected examples from Yoshida’s filmography demonstrates how classical methods of filmmaking, as well as the relationship between the filmmaker, his work, and the audience, are reconsidered in the director’s work.

The Desert Strikes Back: Sound Colonisation and Desert Agency in Óliver Laxe’s “Sirāt”

Ebrahim Barzegar — 2026-04-07

This article analyses Sirāt (2025), Óliver Laxe’s hybrid Sufi road film set in the Moroccan desert, through the lens of soundscape theory and sound ecology, as well as posthuman theoretical frameworks. Focusing on the film’s immersive sound design, it examines how amplified trance-rave music functions as a form of sonic inscription that attempts to appropriate and dominate desert space. Drawing on theories of sound ecology and more-than-human agency, the author highlights how Sirāt presents the desert as an active, responsive entity resisting sonic colonisation. Through the interaction between electronic music, religious and environmental sound, and silence the desert emerges as a palimpsestic soundscape shaped by competing forces. The article demonstrates how Sirāt frames sound as a key medium through which ecological conflict, postcolonial tension, and spiritual transformation are articulated, positioning the desert not as a passive backdrop but as a living, agentive presence.

Film and the Question of Representation: A Synthetic-Critical Approach

Ewa Fiuk — 2026-04-07

The category of representation is one of the most established in film studies. The author of the article, drawing on the reflections of Noël Carroll, Huw Price, William Ramsey, and others, takes a critical look at it and then, recognising that considerations on representation practised within art studies are insufficient, incorporates ideas from other fields into her own film studies research. She sees an alternative to the representationalist position in the concept of ‘representation as interpretation,’ which reveals the constructivist influences of Ernst von Glasersfeld and, to a much lesser extent, the meta-historical influences of Hayden White. On one hand, this interdisciplinary approach reflects the author’s position, which calls for film studies to focus more strongly on cognitive science and the philosophy of mind; on the other hand, it serves as a theoretical framework for further critical and analytical reflection on the problem of representation. Her text is not only an expression of her confrontation with established patterns of thinking in the humanities, but also a gesture of encouragement addressed to those who would like to face similar doubts in the future.

Post-Cinema and Feminism: Experiencing, Materiality, and Relocations

Małgorzata Radkiewicz — 2026-04-07

In the article the author explores post-cinema from a feminist perspective, emphasising materiality and relocation as key concepts for analysing contemporary audiovisual practices. Drawing on post-cinema theory and feminist approaches to embodiment, she argues that new film forms transform rather than reject cinematic traditions. A central case in these reflections is the work of Jennifer Reeves, whose use of 16 mm films, with recycled footage and organic interventions in the film material, highlights the interplay of materiality, haptics, and women’s experiences. Analyses of Kurdwin Ayub’s Sonne (2020) and Kate Beecroft’s East of Wall (2025) show how the introduction of a smartphone footage into the film may become an act of feminist autocreation. Referring to the reflections of Laura Mulvey and Martine Beugnet, as well as the theories of Francesco Casetti and Andrea Pinotti, the author argues that feminist post-cinematic practices integrate materiality, technological hybridity, and posthumanist perspectives on the relations between bodies, media, and environments.

“Ozu à la japonaise”: 20th-Century Interferences of Japanese Film Theory

Maciej Krauze — 2026-04-07

The aim of the article is to present Yasujirō Ozu’s oeuvre as a point of reference for the formation of Japanese film theory in the 20^th century. Based on postcolonial studies, the analysis explores the relations between Ozu’s movies and the theoretical discourse ( Japanese and Western). The author challenges orientalist approaches to Ozu’s cinema, dominant in Western scholarship, arguing that beyond being interpreted through various theoretical paradigms, his films also compel those paradigms to reconsider their own assumptions. According to the central thesis, Ozu’s cinema is not only an object of analysis but also a practice that exposes the limitations of theoretical approaches. The author discusses the most prominent texts on Ozu’s work in Japanese film theory (notably by Tadao Satō, Kijū Yoshida, Shiguéhiko Hasumi) and depicts its pivotal points and development. Ozu, as a filmmaker, emerges here as an epistemological figure: not the “most Japanese director,” but a medium through which the tensions between theory and its limits become apparent.

Two Sisters: The Elder New Film History and the Younger New Cinema History

Andrzej Dębski — 2026-04-07

The research trend known as New Film History emerged in the 1980s as a critical revision of traditional (“old”) Film History. More than twenty years later, the term New Cinema History appeared to designate research focused primarily on cinema-going practices, film exhibition and reception, as well as audience studies. Given the substantial temporal gap between these approaches and their partially divergent research interests, they should not be conflated or treated as synonymous, as is often the case in Polish critical discourse, where the terms “Nowa Historia Filmu” (the literal translation of New Film History) and “Nowa Historia Kina” (New Cinema History) are often used interchangeably. By critically discussing selected texts, the author seeks to identify the causes of this terminological confusion. The article also outlines the origins and distinctive characteristics of New Cinema History in relation to New Film History, tracing, among other aspects, the process through which this research trend, focused on the circulation and consumption of films, has developed its own identity.

2026-04-07

Table of contents in French.

Editorial

Karolina Kosińska — 2026-04-07

The editor-in-chief’s article introducing the problematics of the issue.

What Happened Between Prague and Warsaw

Mariusz Guzek — 2026-04-07

The article is a review of Ewa Ciszewska’s book Sojusznicy z rozsądku. Polska i Czechosłowacja w projekcie socjalistycznego internacjonalizmu filmowego w okresie 1945-1970 [Allies of Convenience: Poland and Czechoslovakia in the Project of Socialist Film Internationalism in the Period 1945-1970] (2025). The author uncovers little-known or previously overlooked chapters in the history of Polish-Czechoslovak film relations. She also changes the way we look at such essential components of Polish cinema as its co-production capacities, film diplomacy, and the presence of Polish filmmaking in European circuits. Drawing on rich source materials, she maps the conditions that enabled Polish cinema – through the lens created by its collaboration with Czechoslovaks at Barrandov – to transform its peripheral status into the position of a key player in continental film culture. In her monograph, Ciszewska creatively refers to many theoretical and methodological concepts, such as festival studies and research on production culture, but her priority is to explore archival sources (both film and non-film), thus implementing the postulates specific to New Film History.

A Cosmic History of the GDR

Piotr Sitarski — 2026-04-07

The article is a review of Maciej Peplinski’s book Niebyła utopia. Filmowa fantastyka naukowa w Niemieckiej Republice Demokratycznej [Nonexistent Utopia: Science Fiction Films in the German Democratic Republic] (2024). The author examines a small but noteworthy body of East German utopian films (five titles in total), situating them within the socio-political history of the GDR and the transformations of the country’s film industry. The study is methodologically grounded primarily in an analysis of production culture, drawing on archival sources related to film production, the films themselves, and – to a lesser extent – their reception. The argument developed in the book elucidates both the ideological and financial ambitions of the East German film industry and its structural shortcomings, which ultimately contributed to the failure of the utopian film formula. The author also highlights the international dimension of these utopian films: all five were co-productions and were conceived with the ambition – largely unrealised – of achieving success in foreign markets.