Abstract
The documentary film Archiwum istnień tells the story of research by Nazi anthropologists searching among the population of occupied Poland for representatives of the Aryan race. In her film, the director makes use of archival materials from World War Two (above all, photographs, propaganda film chronicles and letters). Not only does Justyna Łuczaj-Salej incorporate the above into the cinematographer’s box of tricks, but most of all, she exploits them counter to their authors’ intentions, thereby initiating a process that de-contextualises and re-contextualises these archives in a deconstruction of the past.
References
M. Jazdon, “Fotografie w roli głównej. O polskim filmie ikongraficznym ze zdjęć” [Photographs in the Main Role. On Polish Iconographic Cinema Based on Photographs], Kwartalnik Filmowy 2006, no. 54–55, p. 216.
J. Struk, Holocaust w fotografi ach. Interpretacja dowodów [original: Photographing the Holocaust: Interpretations of the Evidence, I.B. Tauris, 2004], trans. M. Antosiewicz, Prószyński i S-ka, Warszawa 2007.
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S. Sontag, On Photography, Carl Hanser, New York 1977, p. 15.
M. Michałowska, Obraz utajony. Szkice o fotografii i pamięci [Th e Hidden Image. Sketches on Photography and Memory], Galeria f5 & Księgarnia Fotograficzna, Kraków 2007, p. 18.
K. Mąka-Malatyńska writes on these issues in detail: Widok z tej strony. Przedstawienia Holocaustu w polskim filmie [A View from This Side. The Holocaust in Polish Cinema], Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM, Poznań 2012.
T. Łysak , Życie pośmiertne propagandy nazistowskiej. Powojenne filmy dokumentalne o getcie warszawskim” [Nazi Propaganda: Life Aft er the Grave. Post-war Documentaries on the Warsaw Ghetto], Kwartalnik Filmowy 2006, nr 54–55, pp. 163–176.
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© by Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, 2014
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