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welcome to women & film under communism


What should you expect?

This site provides an intro to the history of women in Polish documentary cinema. It presents some of the most prolific female filmmakers who, under Communism, managed to develop directing careers at the Documentary Film Studio in Warsaw...


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Are these feminist films?

Just have a quick browse. These documentaries often contain breath-taking, original records of life under Communism from the perspective of women who operated in a patriarchal environment—a social space where equality between men and women was rather a propagated political ideal than an everyday reality...


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Are these films worth your time?

At face value, many of these films look simply black and white. But behind their monochrome palette, you’ll quickly discern the different tones between the two opposites of the top red and the bottom grey to discover the history of ordinary people of all hues, some anonymous and some whose names have been recorded...


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What should you expect?

This site provides an intro to the history of women in Polish documentary cinema. It presents some of the most prolific female filmmakers who, under Communism, managed to develop directing careers at the Documentary Film Studio in Warsaw.

Here you’ll find their brief profiles, along with descriptions and unique photographs from a selection of their short films. Many other documentaries from the abundant body of their work still await discovery at the National Film Archive on Chełmska Street in Warsaw.

Further info on this site features a brief history of the Documentary Film Studio, accompanied by an overview of the country’s gender landscape between World War II and 1989 when the Communist regime collapsed.

Many of these films have almost been forgotten and you can’t access them outside of the archive collection. There are only two notable exceptions: one DVD with award-winning shorts by Krystyna Gryczełowska, Danuta Halladin and Irena Kamieńska, which still only shows a fraction of their individual outputs and another DVD with shorts made by Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz.

This is why critics and academics have rarely discussed at length any of the presented titles. A handful of them have made their way to the online viewing platform of the Polish National Audiovisual Institute Ninateka, but with no English subtitles. In fact, only a few of these documentaries have been made available with translation.

Are these feminist films?

Just have a quick browse. These documentaries often contain breath-taking, original records of life under Communism from the perspective of women who operated in a patriarchal environment—a social space where equality between men and women was rather a propagated political ideal than an everyday reality.

While these women documentarians portrayed various social groups throughout their careers, whenever they turned their cameras to the female, rather than articulating an overt commentary on women’s rights, they patiently observed fragments of her private life to illustrate ups and downs. Unsurprisingly, they paid more attention to the latter. Only a handful of these documentaries include a straightforward assessment of the patriarchal suppression of women.

In post-war Poland, mobilisation of women in the job market didn’t erase traditional gender divisions. Instead of enjoying their liberation, Polish women frequently assumed the double burden of managing their domestic duties and working outside home. The official discourse regularly wiped out clear lines of gender oppression, often rendering open articulation of female resistance invalid.

As several of these documentaries demonstrate, the socially and politically instigated gender expectations were subsequently internalised by the majority of women’s population. A population who tended to either subscribe to their imposed gender identity or simply complain about their situation without hints of open rebellion.

However, many of these films show that the female experience in Poland wasn’t always grim. Many women drew empowerment and pride from pursuing their traditional gender roles and working outside home. Quite a few also found ways to celebrate their femininity, for example through fashion or humour. Most importantly, some summoned up the energy to engage in creative film practice that articulated their individual visions or subjectivity. This is what this site celebrates.

Are these films worth your time?

At face value, many of these films look simply black and white. But behind their monochrome palette, you’ll quickly discern the different tones between the two opposites of the top red and the bottom grey to discover the history of ordinary people of all hues, some anonymous and some whose names have been recorded. These are chronicles of individual mindsets and various mechanisms of survival that otherwise would’ve disappeared.

Countering the stereotypical western tendency to imagine citizens of Communist countries as bleak and uniform in their suffering from the abuses of the regime, many of these titles convey a picture of the multi-layered society where individual biographies are immensely diverse.

The people in front of these cameras pursue their career paths, engage in certain leisure activities or develop private relationships according to personal preferences. In other words, as you’ll discover, these films reveal a space—neither strictly social nor mental—which allowed individuals to take charge of their biographies. It reconciled them to carry on with their lives, even when overcoming political and economic limitations appeared beyond the bounds of possibility.

Next to the myriads of different characters and their stories, these shorts also present a whole range of creative strategies of capturing reality on film: from staged documentaries to purely observational pieces, from compilations and poetic montages with stylised imagery to authoritative films with voice-over narrators.

What is presented here has often been determined by the availability of archive materials. That’s why photos from some films are missing–particularly from those made in the immediate post-war period. The focus on film representations of both the everyday life and the experiences of women under Communism has influenced the overall selection of names, titles and photos. As such, there is a possibility that some great Polish documentaries made by women aren’t included here.

Because this project is by no means finished, some pieces of information may still be incomplete and you’re welcome to fill in any gaps. Just get in touch.

This site is an invitation for you to look at the little-known part of film history. Perhaps you’ll feel satisfied after a quick scan, or you’ll set off into the unexplored territory of researching Eastern European film and the past of the region. Maybe you’ll even begin to investigate the history of female documentarians.

Either way, enjoy it!

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