The book (Un)forgotten documentalists, edited by Katarzyna Mąka-Malatyńska and Jolanta Lemann-Zajiček (2020) is a significant achievement in research on Polish documentary film. The review of the collective work, consisting of ten texts preceded by an introduction, becomes the starting point for discussions with selected authors and reflection on the problem of the absence of significant documentary filmmakers in the history of the film. Entire currents are also forgotten, such as a film about art, represented by four out of nine documentary filmmakers discussed in the book. The meanders of life and creativity can be instructive for contemporary documentary filmmakers.
Pacho, the Brigand of Hybe (dir. Martin Ťapák, 1975) was announced in the press as the first truly Slovak comedy. In fact, it is a parody of the theme of brigands. Brigands’s topic was present in the Slovak cinema from its origins. From the first story Jánošík (1921) to the superproduction under the same title made by Paľo Bielik (1962–1963), the problem has always expressed the idea of freedom of the ever subdued, tormented Slovak people. Pacho, as a parody refers not only – or not so much – to the legend of brigands, as to the superproduction directed by Bielik, the giant of Slovak film history.
PL
Pacho, the Brigand of Hybe (dir. Martin Ťapák, 1975) was announced in the press as the first truly Slovak comedy. In fact, it is a parody of the theme of brigands. Brigands’s topic was present in the Slovak cinema from its origins. From the first story Jánošík (1921) to the superproduction under the same title made by Paľo Bielik (1962–1963), the problem has always expressed the idea of freedom of the ever subdued, tormented Slovak people. Pacho, as a parody refers not only – or not so much – to the legend of brigands, as to the superproduction directed by Bielik, the giant of Slovak film history.
“Films from East” signalling the political breakdown in the middle of the 1980s (the Gorbachev era) were welcom ed in the offi cial circulation system. Th e fi lms were screened not only in festival cinemas, but on TV as well, and were discussed in newspapers and magazines. Soviet fi lms were especially important because they were able to carry new information about the changes taking place in Eastern Europe. If independent ideas appeared in a Polish fi lm, it could be banned from screening, as censorship was sensitive to works “threatening socialism” and “disturbing the alliance”. Th e only country in our part of Europe which did not need to be afraid of “disturbing the alliance” was the Soviet Union. We can distinguish three groups of such documentaries: analyses of social life (for example: Is It Easy to be Young? by Yuris Podnieks, Borderline by Tatiana Skabard), fi lms about contemporary threats, provoked by the Chernobyl disaster (An Unpublished Album by Victor Kripchenko and Volodymyr Taranchenko, Chernobyl the Chronicle of Diffi cult Weeks by Volodymyr Shevchenko) and documentaries “squaring accounts” with history, fi lling in so-called “blank spots” (Termination of an Agreement by Murat Mamedov, Solovki Power by Marina Goldovskaya).
Polish topics occupy an important place in the work of the Finnish filmmaker Jarmo Jääskeläinen. Since the 70s he made his films outside censorship, and his penetrating gaze on the Polish reality allowed glimpse its dimensions closely invisible or ignored. While maintaining fidelity to the facts, he talks about the most important problems, stages the phenomena of contemporary Polish history, society, culture.
PL
Jarmo Jääskeläinen – „immigrant with Polish soul” Polish topics occupy an important place in the work of the Finnish filmmaker Jarmo Jääskeläinen. Since the 70s he made his films outside censorship, and his penetrating gaze on the Polish reality allowed glimpse its dimensions closely invisible or ignored. While maintaining fidelity to the facts, he talks about the most important problems, stages the phenomena of contemporary Polish history, society, culture.
Films of Polish Film School, the most significant formation in post-war history of Polish cinema, appeared in Czechoslovakia with several years of delay. Power feared that their message will be dangerous for spectators. Meanwhile – for viewers, they remain unknown or difficult to understand and only a few critics and film historians could read them in accordance with the intentions of the directors Andrzej Munk and Andrzej Wajda, being the main representatives of the stream.
PL
How in Czechoslovakia films by Munk and Wajda were conceived – or films in the context of tangled history Films of Polish Film School, the most signifi cant formation in post-war history of Polish cinema, appeared in Czechoslovakia with several years of delay. Power feared that their message will be dangerous for spectators. Meanwhile – for viewers they remain unknown or diffi cult to understand and only a few critics and fi lm historians could read them in accordance with the intentions of the directors Andrzej Munk and Andrzej Wajda, being the main representatives of the stream.
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