PUNO: Twentieth Century Polish History Seminar
Wed 17 Apr 2024 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM BST
Online, Zoom
Description
Dr Magdalena Zegarlińska (PUNO)
Modern Polish cinema as the self-reflection on Polish national identity.
“In our clamorous times it’s much easier to acknowledge your faults, at least if they’re attractively packaged, than to recognize your own merits, since these are hidden deeper and you never quite believe in them yourself…” /W. Szymborska/
Ronald Reagan once said: “Poland is not East or West. Poland is at the center of European civilization. It has contributed mightily to that civilization.” This famous quote draws our attention to the fact that Poland, through its tumultuous history, has grown to be the complex, modern, rapidly developing, culturally and economically, European state. At the same time, however, the Western World perceives us as a stronghold of tradition, conservative values, a country almost homogenous in terms of race, religion and beliefs.
In recent years, mostly owing to streaming platforms, such as Netflix or HBO Max, motion pictures featuring Poland and Poles, have become available and popularized among wider audience. Films such as: “Corpus Cristi”, “Forgotten Love”, “Cold War” or “Green Border”, to name only a few, have become recognized and appreciated as far as in the City of Angels and are beating the popularity records on Netflix. Why? Why now?
The following seminar will be devoted to the trends that we can observe in modern Polish cinema, regarding Polish identity in the world, the changes that occurred in Polish mentality and the self-reflection of Poles in the past two-three decades. How do Poles understand and approach such current sociological issues as gender identity, ethnicity, migration and religious beliefs? Are we the same nation we were 20 or 30 years ago? How does modern Polish cinema correspond with the magnificent “new wave” cinematic creations of Wajda and Polanski? Do we currently witness the renaissance of Polishness in the world cinema?
In the seminar Dr Zegarlińska will attempt to answer the above questions and present a comprehensive study of modern tropes, topics and genres that have been defining Polish identity in the cinema in the past decades. Is that image the reflection of reality or merely its craftily manipulated interpretation?
Magdalena Wanda Zegarlińska is a published academic, translator and editor affiliated with PUNO. She received a doctorate from the University of Gdansk in 2014, specializing in modern British literature and auteur cinema. She is an experienced lecturer and English teacher, specializing in CLIL – teaching language as a cultural phenomenon; additionally working with SEN students with Autism spectrum. She is the organizer and participant of multiple international academic conferences, a translator and author of teaching curriculums for secondary and higher education students. She was formerly a lecturer at WSB University in Gdansk. Her academic interests include dream studies, psychology of crime and intertextuality.