Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema
by Marek Haltof
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Book Presentation:
In 1902, scientist and inventor Kazimierz Prószyński made the first Polish narrative film, The Return of a Merry Fellow. Since then, the Polish film industry has produced a diverse body of work, ranging from patriotic melodramas and epic adaptations of the national literary canon to Yiddish cinema and films portraying the corrupt side of communism. Poland has produced several internationally known films, including Andrzej Wajda’s war trilogy, A Generation (1955), Kanal (1957), and Ashes and Diamonds (1958); Roman Polański’s Knife in the Water (1962); and Andrzej Munk’s The Passenger (1963). Often performing specific political and cultural duties for their nation, Polish filmmakers were well aware of their role as educators, entertainers, social activists, and political leaders.
This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema fills the gap in film scholarship, presenting an extensive factual survey of Polish film. Through a chronology; an introductory essay; appendixes, a bibliography; and over 300 cross-referenced dictionary entries on films, directors, actors, producers, and film institutions, a balanced picture of the richness of Polish cinema is presented. Readers with professional interest in cinema will welcome this new work, which will enhance senior undergraduate or postgraduate courses in film studies.
About the Author:
Marek Haltof is professor at Northern Michigan University in Marquette. He has published several books, among them Polish Cinema: A History (2019), Screening Auschwitz (2018), Polish Film and the Holocaust: Politics and Memory (2012), The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieślowski: Variations on Destiny and Chance (2004), and Polish National Cinema (2002).
Press Reviews:
[Marek Haltof's] path-breaking monographs, such as Polish Film and the Holocaust: Politics and Memory (New York: Berghahn Books, 2012) and Screening Auschwitz: Wanda Jakubowska's "The Last Stage" and the Politics of Commemoration (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2018), are remarkable feats of scholarship. Supported by prodigious archival research, they offer new directions to scholarly work on Polish cinema and, more broadly, create new conceptual landscapes in Polish studies... With the publication of Historical Dictionary of Polish Cinema, Haltof continues to challenge a hierarchical view of the constitution of knowledge... [L]ucid and accessible compendium offers great riches to English-speaking readers interested in Polish culture and deserves a large and appreciative audience of film buffs. THE POLISH REVIEW
See the publisher website: Rowman & Littlefield
> From the same author:
Screening Auschwitz (2018)
Wanda Jakubowska's The Last Stage and the Politics of Commemoration
by Marek Haltof
Subject: One Film > The Last Stage
The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski (2004)
Variations on Destiny and Chance
by Marek Haltof
Subject: Director > Krzysztof Kieslowski
> On a related topic:
Hope Is of a Different Color (2022)
From the Global South to the Lodz Film School
Dir. Magda Lipska and Monika Talarczyk
Poland Daily (2022)
Economy, Work, Consumption and Social Class in Polish Cinema
The Struggle for Form (2014)
Perspectives on Polish Avant-Garde Film, 1916–1989
Dir. Kamila Kuc and Michael O'Pray
Masculinities in Polish, Czech and Slovak Cinema (2010)
Black Peters and Men of Marble