Polish film has long enjoyed an outstanding reputation but its best known protagonists tend to be male. This book points to the important role of women as key characters in Polish films, such as the enduring female figure in Polish culture, the ‘Polish Mother, ‘ female characters in socialist realistic cinema, women depicted in the films of the Polish School, Solidarity heroines, and women in the films from the postcommunist period. Not less important for the success of Polish cinema are Polish women filmmakers, four of whom are presented in this volume: Wanda Jakubowska, Agnieszka Holland, Barbara Sass and Dorota Kędzierzawska, whose work is examined.
Cuprins
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Ewa Mazierska and Elzbieta Ostrowska
PART I: THE POLISH MOTHER
Chapter 1. The Myth of the Polish Mother
Joanna Szwajcowska
PART II: WOMEN ACCORDING TO MEN
Chapter 2. Filmic Representations of the Myth of the Polish Mother
Elzbieta Ostrowska
Chapter 3. Polish ‘Superwoman’: a Liberation or Victimisation?
Elzbieta Ostrowska
Chapter 4. Caught between Activity and Passivity: Women in the Polish School
Elzbieta Ostrowska
Chapter 5. Agnieszka and Other Solidarity Heroines of Polish Cinema
Ewa Mazierska
Chapter 6. Witches, Bitches and Other Victims of the Crisis of Masculinity: Women in Polish Postcommunist Cinema
Ewa Mazierska
Chapter 7. Between Fear and Attraction: Images of ‘Other’ Women
Elzbieta Ostrowska
PART III: WOMEN BEHIND THE CAMERA
Chapter 8. Wanda Jakubowska: the Communist Fighter
Ewa Mazierska
Chapter 9. Barbara Sass: the Author of Women’s Films
Ewa Mazierska
Chapter 10. Agnieszka Holland: a Sceptic
Elzbieta Ostrowska
Chapter 11. Dorota Kêdzierzawska: Ambivalent Feminist
Ewa Mazierska
Filmography
Bibliography
Index
Despre autor
Elzbieta Ostrowska currently teaches film at the University of Alberta (Canada). Publications include, The Cinema of Andrzej Wajda. The Art of Irony and Defiance (co-ed. with John Orr, Wallflower 2003), Gender-Film-Media (co-ed. with Elzbieta Oleksy, Rabid 2001), Gender w kinie europejskim i mediach (ed., Rabid 2001) Przestrzen filmowa (Rabid 2000), Gender in Film and the Media. East-West Dialogues (co-ed. with Elzbieta Oleksy, Michael Stevenson, Peter Lang 2000), Kino ma sto lat (co-ed. with Jan Rek, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Lódzkiego 1998).