“Indelible Portraits: Polish Hybrid Nonfiction” at the Museum of the Moving Image, 2nd – 4th June
Polish documentary came into its own in the late 1950s and early ‘60s, when the political thaw after Stalin’s death made it possible to speak openly about social and political ills. A “black series” of documentaries spoke out about dire conditions in post-war Poland. But by the 1970s and ‘80s, filmmakers realized that social commentary was not enough. They craved a new approach to form. The resulting films were bold and inventive. They were also metaphorical and clever, to outwit the censors. In this program, guest curator Ela Bittencourt gathers key works made in this tradition of Polish hybrid documentaries, a version of which was initially presented at the True/False Film Festival in 2015 where audiences found them revelatory. The impulse behind Indelible Portraits is to bring more of these filmmakers—some who have been only known in Poland, others who have been unjustly forgotten—to the attention of American cinemagoers.
the Museum of the Moving Image
