They say it's good to lie in good company, but even though talking to Joanna Birek is always pleasure, I couldn't help but criticize Bong's 'Mickey17' - contemporary humanities' superficial digest and an exceptionally shallow political parody. Östlund in space, basically.
Another meeting in Lektura Kina series took place. My guest was Barbara Giza, editor of the publication 'Wisła Film Convention 1949'. A lively discussion on the doctrine of socialist realism in Polish cinema was accompanied by the screening of 'Młodość Chopina' (1952, A. Ford).
As you can see in the photo, it is impossible to talk about Belpaese and avoid making a characteristic gesture. Earlier this month, together with Istituto Italiano Cultura di Varsavia, we opened a review of commedia all'italiana with a screening of Fellini's 'I vitelloni'.
...doc which critically looks at the surrealist’s stay in NY in 1965; and “The Complaint of Death,” a poem by Federico Garcia Lorca, which to an extent reflects Dupieux’s poetics of constantly waking from sleep—the following phrase is repeated in it:
“And suddenly
the lamp and my bed—on the ground.”
We closed the Quentin Dupieux retrospective with a premiere screening of “Daaaaaalí”. We discussed with the audience its fractal structure, intertextual references, humor, and the megalomania of the author of “The Persistence of Memory”. Watching the film again, it reminded me of Jane Arden’s...
In 'Duas vezes João Liberada', screened at the Berlinale, Tomás Paula Marques took up the subject of reproducing inequality through cinematic appropriation of queer historical figures. It's meta, it's funny, and there are ghosts. Read more: pelnasala.pl/duas-vezes-j...
Ivan Salatić's sophomore feature on Petrović-Njegoš, a Montenegrin poet and prince-bishop, is set in motion by elliptical notes of a faithful squire whose ease with the pen is matched only by his amorous bravado – both are similarly negligible. My review:
pelnasala.pl/wondrous-is-...
During IFFR, the world of tourism was "shaken" by the news that Louvre had introduced additional fees for viewing Mona Lisa. The hysteria surrounding Gioconda also fuels the plot of "An Errand", Dominic Bekaert's oneiric neo-noir Filipino debut. My review: pelnasala.pl/an-errand/
What if we squeezed the characters from Shakespeare's dramas into a Pirandello-esque scenario of searching for their author, and set it in the beautiful Azores? This was the challenge taken up by Lois Patiño and Matías Piñeiro in 'Ariel'. My review from IFFR: pelnasala.pl/ariel/
If the protagonist of 'I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians' had decided to make a documentary, it'd probably have been similar to Bezinović's thought-provoking and extremely funny reconstruction of D'Annunzio's reign in Rijeka. My review of IFFR winner:
pelnasala.pl/fiume-o-morte/
I took the photo in the EC1 Łódź complex, a former power plant, where the Planetarium, the Science and Technology Centre and the National Centre for Film Culture, where I work, are located next to each other. A very third-culture place.
I wrote a piece about Snow's third culture in the context of themes and aesthetics of contemporary cinema. I combined academic jargon and Kluszczynski's typology with references to cult memes to present works by Devos, Wittmann, Paravel & Castaing-Taylor and Deborah Stratman.
As usual, we have finished another season of Projekt: Klasyka with an episode dedicated to the best shorts from 1994, 1984, etc. I have taken the opportunity to write a short text about 'Lothringen!' directed by Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet.
pelnasala.pl/bonus-krotko...
Damn, what a collaboration - my two favorite podcasters talking about Inland Empire (shot partially in my hometown of Łódź).
German Film Week is underway at National Centre for Film Culture. Yesterday we watched Matthias Glasner's 'Sterben'. Olga Wesołowska, my academic colleague, gave a lecture and after the screening we had a lively discussion with the audience. It reminded me of Rilke's 'Solitude'.
Sewing pattern for part of a shirt. It is clearly made from a dark brown manuscript page with small lettering written in two columns.
This is a sewing pattern. It is also a page from a late 14th century manuscript that is one of two primary sources for an important Icelandic saga (Sturlunga saga), but that was probably not important to the 17th century person who really needed a sewing pattern.
#upcycling
New in #openaccess! STRETCHING THE ARCHIVES TOWARD A GLOBAL FILM WOMEN’S FILM HERITAGE.
Eds. Lizelle Bisschoff, Ana Grgić, Stefanie Van de Peer.
Book has particular emphasis on feminist cultural memory and film heritage in the Global South.
www.archivebooks.org/stretching-t...
The last few days in our cinema were dictated by the Miguel Gomes retrospective. Really enjoyed rewatching 'Tabu' on the big screen.
Last week I showed my students an excerpt from Lynch's best film. We were actually discussing correlationism, philosophy of access and nonhuman agency in cinema, but I couldn’t resist referring to the film, which was partly made here in Łódź.
Brian Massumi book on fascism, incoming from @dukepress.bsky.social www.dukeupress.edu/the-personal...
If you're mouring #DavidLynch and want to hear some of his thoughts, here's a coversation I did with him.
Sharks, smoking and the eye of the duck
Loved him
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIlm...
Even though the old power plant in Łódź, which Lynch fell in love with, eventually passed into the hands of the city (long story), I believe that the current shape of the National Centre for Film Culture, located there and of which I am a curator, would appeal to him. RIP.
A photograph of puppets used to teach mining safety.
I'm writing about films made by the U.S. Bureau of Mines, but I wish there was someone else working on their creepy puppets (presumably used to teach mining safety).
I was finally able to share this SRK clip from Swades with my students. I still find it extremely thought-provoking. There's always more to crossing the screen boundary (e.g. Keaton, Godard) than just the destruction of illusion or its apotheosis - each time the transgression is ideological.
Yesterday, we watched 'La Haine' - cinéma de banlieue classic by M. Kassovitz. After the screening we talked about, among other things, the famous classification of cinema by Comolli & Narboni, split diopter shots in Ruiz films, and the animated series Lascars. It was cool.
Hyped about that one. Also, 'Hope Is of a Different Color. From the Global South to the Łódź Film School' edited by my colleague Monika Talarczyk is a highly recommended read.
I wrote an article on Jacqueline Audry, where I tackled her whole filmography with a special focus on her adaptation of Jean-Paul Sartre's 'Huis-clos' (1954), starring Arletty, Gaby Sylvia and Franck Villard. It took the TV phenomenon of L. de Funès, for the movie to be released on DVD in Poland.
I just managed to catch up on a movie I missed almost a year ago in Berlin due to being 30 seconds late and the staff being overzealous - an essay on Sappho and Pavese - so I can finally share my top 20 favorite films of 2024. Highly recommended. 😉
If anyone thought they would give me a course on contemporary cinema and I wouldn't include Godard in it, they were sorely mistaken.
On the occasion of 'tokyo.sora' screening as part of Five Flavours festival at the National Centre for Film Culture, Hiroshi Ishikawa came to Łódź, fascinated by the cinematic tradition of our city. What a privilege to host such an event. And what a beautiful movie!