Archives of Avant-Garde: Polish Educational Film and Edward Etler on Saturday, November 2, 2024 at 5:00pm and 7:00pm in the e-flux screening room — a two-part special focusing on the intersection of avant-garde art Please join us for the screening. An introduction to film technology using educational and documentary films made in Poland between 1950 and 1989. The program, curated by Stanisław Werbel, presents a unique chapter in Polish cinema, highlights the outstanding contributions of Wytwórnia Filmów Oświatowych (WFO), and celebrates the pioneering work of filmmaker Edward. Etler. Stanisław Werbel and Ksenia Nuril’s talk will take place after the screening at 5 p.m.
One ticket allows you to see both screenings.
The event is co-sponsored by the New York Polish Cultural Institute and the e-flux Screening Room in partnership with WFO Film Studio and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
5pm: Part 1
Archive innovation at WFO
The first screening, beginning at 5 p.m., will feature a selection of short films produced by WFO, highlighting the studio’s contributions to educational and experimental filmmaking. Known for its collaboration with the Polish Broadcasting Experimental Studio, WFO’s films are accompanied by groundbreaking soundtracks by avant-garde composers and combine modernist film techniques with educational narratives that reflect the transformation of socialist Poland. I’m letting you do it.
Stanisław Grabowski “The Indelible Melody” (1958, 10 minutes)
The earliest work in the selection is a short documentary focusing on a state-funded institutional program for archiving and recording traditional music from Poland’s remote regions. This project can be seen in the context of identity-building efforts in the still-new People’s Republic of Poland, where folk traditions and culture were appropriated by the regime. The documentary also focuses on the social changes taking place in socialist Poland. The records of traditional music created from the post-war decades to today form one of the largest collections of its kind and are accessible to scholars. This film contains original audio recordings. This selection serves as an introduction to WFO’s filmography.
Stanisław Grabowski, e.g. “Zawosin” (1964, 11 minutes)
Jałoszyn is a small town in south-central Poland. This documentary shows how this poor and neglected town has changed with the construction of a new cement factory and industrial park nearby. The film depicts how people’s lives changed and provides a glimpse into the formative years of a new society, as well as the visual language used to support and depict these changes. I’m doing it. The jazz-inspired soundtrack creates an interesting contrast between the city’s backwardness and the changes brought about by modernization. Considered ultra-modern at the time, jazz had only been legal for about a decade. The music was composed and performed by Lesław Rik (1930-2021), a Polish composer and musician and member of the iconic Polish jazz band Melomani.
Piotr Andrezieu “Midway Along the Road” (1974, 18 minutes)
There is a middle ground between modern times and the old socialist era. The main character of the film resembles the director of a state-run large-scale construction combine, and the future path depends on his competence. The film features a soundtrack composed by Eugeniusz Rudnik (1932-2016), a legendary contemporary Polish composer, sound engineer, and pioneer of electroacoustic music. Just as electronic music accompanied the modernization of the nation, Rudnik’s work reflects the transformative changes that occurred during this period. He worked at the Polish Radio Experimental Studio, a groundbreaking experimental music studio in Warsaw, where electronic music was produced and recorded.
Bogdan Zivorsky, Modern Pentathlon (1975, 8 minutes)
This documentary is the first in a series of sports films by Bogdan Ziworski (born 1941), a modern Polish pentathlete, Olympic champion (Montreal 1976) and multiple world champion Janusz. -Focuses on Gerald Pesiak (born 1949). The soundtrack by Eugeniusz Rudnik exemplifies the innovative work of the Polish Radio Experimental Studio and features early electronic and electroacoustic recordings that incorporate field recordings as an integral part of the music. The sounds of athletes running and breathing create the heartbeat and rhythm of abstract music. The film depicts repeated individual efforts and meditative practices. On the one hand, it shows a strict and anonymous training regime, and on the other, it emphasizes the individual person and the power of character.
Kazimierz Mucha, The Unrest in Wacław Kondek (1980, 12 minutes)
Kazimierz Mucha (1923-2006) made a series of films about art for the WFO film studio. This film dedicated to Wacław Kondek (1917-1976) is more impressionistic than documentary. Kondek created paintings and forms inspired by folk art, in the spirit of fairy tales and surrealism. He was also a film animator, set designer, and puppeteer. He was a survivor of the Nazi Reich and forced labor in concentration camps. This cinematic impression juxtaposes Kondek’s fairy tale works with the desolate landscapes of industrialized Poland. The film is accompanied by a soundtrack by legendary Polish avant-garde contemporary composer Bogusław Schäfer (1929-2019).
Piotr Andresiou “This Kind of Arrangement” (1975, 18 minutes)
The second film in this block by Piotr Andrejew was shot at the Gdynia shipyard and shares a similar structure with the first film in the selection. We carefully observe the workers at work without a narrator, listen to their conversations, and gain insight into their daily lives and perspectives. In 1970, there were large-scale protests by workers at shipyards in Gdańsk and Gdynia. Authorities ordered the use of force against demonstrators, and many shipyard workers were killed. The image of the shipyard plays an important role in Poland’s collective consciousness. Andrezieu’s film features an extraordinary soundtrack, recorded at a radio experimental studio in Poland by the experimental rock band SBB, founded by Józef Szkrzek (b. 1948). SBB was formed in 1971 and became a highly influential band in the Eastern European progressive and avant-garde rock scene, collaborating with jazz and experimental musicians.
7pm: Part 2
Retrospective: Edward Ettler
At 7 p.m., we focus on Edward Etler, an influential filmmaker who was forced to emigrate from Poland in 1968 due to an anti-Semitic campaign by the Communist government. Known for his experimental style and collaboration with Krzysztof Komeda, Ettler’s films reflect both the creative freedom granted by the WFO and his personal exploration of identity and history.
Edward Etler, Crash, Edward Etler (1963, 17 minutes)
The film’s music was composed by Krzysztof Komeda (1931-1969), a legendary Polish composer and jazz musician known for famous soundtracks such as Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby . Crash was intended to be a short educational film warning against speeding, but it seems to have had the opposite effect because it was shot in the poetic style of French New Wave films. After watching the movie, you’ll want to jump in your car and just keep driving. The film stars Barbara Brylska (born 1941), a style icon and one of the most famous Polish actresses.
Edward Etler, Tarpaulin Sky (1963, 10 minutes)
This is an extremely rare and authentic piece that provides a glimpse into Polish youth culture in the 1960s. This documentary follows the Sopot International Song Festival, a summer festival held on the Polish coast. Tarpaulin is a material that was once used for things like tents. The film features music by Czerwone Gitary, a popular Eastern Bloc big-beat style band of the time. There are no lines, and the film focuses on people, creating a sense of nostalgia for the passing summer. This work offers a rare image of youth in a socialist state, unfiltered by the propagandistic vision of young people as exemplary hard workers striving for a great future – a common cliché. is.
Edward Etler, The Ghost on the Platform (1964, 10 minutes)
Another very atmospheric film by Ettler, this time focusing on the job of organizing a train. The rhythm of the music, also composed by Krzysztof Komeda, joins the crew as they repair and clean the damaged vehicle. The painted photographs that decorate the compartments indicate themes of impossible journeys and solitude. The film is meant to be a warning against vandalism, but it has a fleeting feel, more like some kind of routine road movie.
Edward Etler, The Jews (1966, 12 minutes)
The film shows the material remains of pre-war Jewish culture in Poland. In addition to sacred objects, buildings, and cemeteries, the camera briefly enters the Warsaw studio of Jewish-Polish-French painter Adam Muszka (1914-2005). This was the last meeting between painter and director, as Muschka left Poland in 1967 and returned to Paris, never to return. Etler was forced to emigrate in 1968 due to an anti-Semitic campaign launched by the communist regime in March 1968. Because the film depicts emptiness and monuments in dire conditions, it was perceived by censors to be anti-Polish, leading to a crackdown on the director. This reflected the changing political situation in Poland in 1968. Just a few years ago, Etler won an award at the Locarno Film Festival and received praise in Poland for a similar film on a related theme. The film ends with a shot taken in 1946 during the cleaning of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising Monument, created by Nathan Rapaport (1911-1987) in Warsaw. (Ettler survived the Nazi-occupied Warsaw ghetto.) This was one of the last films Ettler made in Poland before being deported.
Edward Etler, Making a Film (1965, 10 minutes)
A pinnacle of Nouvelle Vague cinema, this film depicts the process of creating the next film, shot on location and improvised. This film focuses on one day in the filming of Ashes (1965), a historical drama set during the Napoleonic Wars, by one of Poland’s leading filmmakers, Andrzej Wajda (1926-2016). This hilarious film, full of chance and humor, depicts a cigarette-smoking, sunglass-wearing Napoleonic soldier. Interestingly, the film reveals the behind-the-scenes of the film, which was one of the highest-grossing Polish films, selling 6 million tickets at the box office.
Edward Etler, “The White Waltz” (1963, 10 minutes)
A striking film dedicated to the tuberculosis sanatorium of Zakopane, located in the Polish Tatra Mountains. The screenplay is based on Thomas Mann’s novel The Magic Mountain. Among the patients at the sanatorium is once again actress Barbara Brylska, an icon of Polish cinema. This melancholic film embodies a New Wave aesthetic that borrows from documentary film conventions, and is shot with a handheld camera, actors playing themselves, and a loose, improvised script. We use Berg’s well-known method. A surreal metaphorical scene also references the power of cinema itself, in which the sanatorium patients view the world through the frames of empty TV boxes with no screens inside.
Accessibility:
– Two flights of stairs will take you to the main entrance of the building at 172 Classon Avenue.
– For elevator access, =(c=c.charCodeAt(0)+13)?c:c-26);});return false”>RSVP to the program [at] e-flux.com. The building has a freight elevator that connects to the e-flux office space, with the entrance closest to 180 Classon Ave (garage door).
– e-flux has an ADA compliant bathroom and there are no steps between the screening room and this bathroom.
For more information, please contact program@e-flux.com.
