Like many Eastern European countries, Poland has seen a succession of divergent economic and political regimes over the last century, from prewar “embedded liberalism,” through the state socialism of the Soviet era, to the present neoliberal moment. Its cinema has  been inflected by these changing historical circumstances, both mirroring and resisting them. This volume is the first to analyze the entirety of the nation’s film history—from the reemergence of an independent Poland in 1918 to the present day—through the lenses of political economy and social class, showing how Polish cinema documented ordinary life while bearing the hallmarks of specific ideologies.

Like many Eastern European countries, Poland has seen a succession of divergent economic and political regimes over the last century, from prewar “embedded liberalism,” through the state socialism of the Soviet era, to the present neoliberal moment. Its cinema has  been inflected by these changing historical circumstances, both mirroring and resisting them. This volume is the first to analyze the entirety of the nation’s film history—from the reemergence of an independent Poland in 1918 to the present day—through the lenses of political economy and social class, showing how Polish cinema documented ordinary life while bearing the hallmarks of specific ideologies.

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

Introduction

PART I: INTERWAR CINEMA: STRIVING FOR SOCIAL PROMOTION

Chapter 1. The 1920s: The Cult of the Body and the Machine
Chapter 2. The 1930s: The Beauty and Sadness of the Room at the Top

PART II: THE CINEMA IN PEOPLE'S POLAND: TAKING A GREAT LEAP

Chapter 3. The 1950s: Holy Work?
Chapter 4. The 1960s: Industrial Expansion and Small Stabilization
Chapter 5. The 1970s: Bad Work and Good Life
Chapter 6. The 1980s: Between Refusal to Work and Alienation of Labour

PART III: POSTCOMMUNIST CINEMA: FROM TRIUMPHANT NEOLIBERALISM TO ACCUMULATION BY DISPOSSESSION

Chapter 7. The 1990s: Heroic Neoliberalism or Everybody Can Be a Winner
Chapter 8. The 2000s and Beyond: Accumulation by Dispossession

Bibliography
Index