Further From Poland, Closer To…?: (Polish) History as a Work-In-Progress

Natasza Korczarowska

kwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
University of Lodz (Poland)

Abstract

The subject of the article is the film by Jill Godmilow Far From Poland analyzed in the context of the hybrid “essay film” form. Godmilow’s film has been used here as a case study for the reflection on the function of found footage method and its relation to the historical discourse. Michael Zryd, in his inspirational article Found Footage Film as Discursive Metahistory, writes: The found footage artist critically investigates the history behind the image, discursively embedded within its history of production, circulation, and consumption. Godmilow’s essay can serve as a paradigmatic example of Zryd’s thesis. Although Far From Poland appeals to concrete “historical facts”, it is not a commentary on Solidarity movement in the early 1980s, but a subjective notebook and a self-portrait of the film-maker.


Keywords:

Jill Godmilow, film essay, Solidarity Movement, found footage

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Published
2018-12-31

Cited by

Korczarowska, N. (2018) “Further From Poland, Closer To…?: (Polish) History as a Work-In-Progress”, Kwartalnik Filmowy, (104), pp. 123–133. doi: 10.36744/kf.1863.

Authors

Natasza Korczarowska 
kwartalnik.filmowy@ispan.pl
University of Lodz Poland

Dr hab. prof. nadzw.w Zakładzie Historii i Teorii Filmu Instytutu Kultury Współczesnej Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego. Specjalizuje się w historii filmu polskiego i problematyce historiofotii. Opublikowała książki: Ojczyzny prywatne. Mitologia przestrzeni prywatności w filmach Tadeusza Konwickiego, Jana Jakuba Kolskiego i Andrzeja Kondratiuka (2007) oraz Inne spojrzenie – poświęconą wyobrażeniom historii w polskim filmie fabularnym po 1965 r. Od 2008 r. współpracuje w Polskim Instytutem Sztuki Filmowej oraz Filmoteką Narodową przy projekcie Akademia Polskiego Filmu. Od 2010 r. pełni funkcję opiekuna naukowego APF w Łodzi. 



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