THE SCREAMS OF REALITY. (ALMOST) TRANSFORMATIVE CINEMA

What was happening in the waiting room, just before the turn of 1989? Censorship was melting away, B-movies were flying off the shelves, Polish genre films were both entertaining and terrifying, and anyone who could was getting their hands on a VCR. At the same time, films were being made that hardly anyone remembers today. Strange, sometimes poetic, sometimes provocative, sometimes chaotic, sometimes outright failures, but still worth seeing – films from a time when it was clear that a long era was coming to an end, yet no one knew what to expect from the new one. They’re full of disorientation and uncertainty, amidst which something creaks. It’s a new reality hatching.

This brief cinematic era resembles scattered pages from a sketchbook. What is drawn on them? Hope or weariness? Solidarity or indifference?

The series is curated by Olga Drenda, a writer and author of the books Duchologia polska. Rzeczy i ludzie w latach transformacji and Non stop kino. Discussions led by the series’ curator will follow the screenings.

[Olga Drenda]

Screening schedule: