This course introduces and explores three separate movements in Polish post-World War II cinema – the “Polish School” of 1955–1965, the “Cinema of Moral Concern” of 1976–1981, and the “New Naïveté,” of 1999–2009. Each of these currents adopted a loosely conceived, historically specific aesthetic and ideological platform, which they sought to put into practice artistically in order to exert a therapeutic and a didactic influence on the culture and society of their time. The “Polish School,” which was characterized by a blend of Italian neorealist and Polish Romantic or absurdist/existentialist styles, sought to represent and work through the national trauma of World War II in a context in which political censorship prevented the direct address of such issues. It includes the early work of world-renowned director Andrzej Wajda, as well as works by prominent filmmakers such as Andrzej Munk, Jerzy Kawalerowicz, and Wojciech Has. The “Cinema of Moral Concern,” which drew on and combined the techniques of West European “cinemas of truth” with those of the New Hollywood, was in the forefront of the cultural ferment of the late 70s, which was devoted to the establishment of an underground civil society outside the institutions of the communist state and led up to the founding of the trade union Solidarity. It includes early work by internationally recognized filmmakers Krzysztof Kieślowski, Krzysztof Zanussi, and Agnieszka Holland. The “New Naïveté” drew on a broad variety of Hollywood and international styles, seeking to transform the legacy of Solidarity’s anti-communist “revolution of the spirit” into contemporary forms of cultural capital in order to lay the foundations for “capitalism with a human face.” Among filmmakers active in this movement are Krzysztof Krauze, Robert Gliński, and Piotr Trzaskalski. Screening approximately one film a week, we will view at least five works from each movement, examining and discussing their individual formal and aesthetic principles and ideological investments, their relation to their respective movement as a whole, and their impact on the culture of their day.
- Subject
- POLI GU
- Credits (min)
- 3
- Credits (max)
- 3
- Credit unit
- points
- Type
- course
- Edition
- 2026-2027
- Catalog
- 2026-2027 Bulletin
- Source
- bulletin.columbia.edu