The Memory of the Polish People's Republic in Genre Cinema

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

Polish genre cinema created after 1989 eagerly draws on stories from the PRL era. The main issue explored in the presentations included in this panel is how and for what purposes references to the times of "real socialism" are used. Contemporary Polish culture, which shapes collective memory, is developing a new relationship with the communist past, balancing historical accountability with global pop-cultural trends of retro aesthetics and nostalgia. However, modern films also serve as a pretext for broader reflections on the nature of the totalitarian system and as a platform for social criticism. They address issues such as life models, social roles, norms and values, power dynamics, social inequalities, and oppression.
The panel will include discussions on crime films set in the era of the Polish People's Republic, biographical films about key political figures (Edward Gierek) and influential women (Michalina Wisłocka, Kalina Jędrusik, Simona Kossak) whose public activities took place during that period. Additionally, it will explore the reasons why contemporary directors choose to set their films in the 1980s, specifically during the rule of Wojciech Jaruzelski.

Sub Unit

• Cinema, Television, Electronic Media

Chair

• Marcin Adamczak, Polish National Film School / Adam Mickiewicz U (Poland)

Papers

• 'Gierek' (2021) by Michał Węgrzyn: Nostalgia for the People's Republic of Poland and Contemporary Culture Wars - Piotr Zwierzchowski, Kazimierz Wielki U (Poland)

• Rewriting the Memory of the Polish People's Republic: Screen Biographies of Women Between Nostalgia and Critical Retro - Patrycja Ewa Wlodek, U of the National Education Commission, Krakow (Poland)

• Contemporary Retro Crime Films as a Medium of Cultural Memory about the People's Republic of Poland - Ilona Małgorzata Copik, U of Silesia in Katowice (Poland)

• Jaruzelonostalgia?: Memory of the 1980s in Polish Recent Cinema (2018–2025) - Arkadiusz Lewicki, U of Wrocław (Poland)

Discussant

• Izabela Kalinowska-Blackwood, SUNY Stony Brook