Polish School of the Documentary

Polish School of the Documentary. Gryczełowska / Halladin / Kamieńska
05.09.2008

"Gryczełowska, Kamieńska and Halladin are three great individualities of the Polish Documentary School. Each of them, disparately, paints a vision of Poland in the 60s, 70s and 80s. It is difficult to imagine Polish documentary cinema without their films, (...) they never created films together, neither were their achievements linked through a common denominator, nor were they brought together, like they have in this compilation. Nevertheless, the output of these three documentary filmmakers does have plenty in common. Against the background of other films, these stand out thanks to their very specific vantage points. The authors adopt the attitude of a "delicate observer", who looks at the world penetratingly and warmly". Mikołaj Jazdon

Krystyna Gryczełowska: "I believe that, from time to time, we all need a moment to contemplate, reflect upon the world, and the reality surrounding us. A good, profound documentary allows us to experience such great instants, in which we notice something new in life, or in the world, something we had been blind to until someone pointed it out to us". From ‘Observation and Synthesis' survey, "Cinema" 1978 nr. 22

Danuta Halladin: "I, personally, am most interested in matters private, with insignificant, underdeveloped action. And a child's world is so attractive, that neither limited action, interior arrangements nor decoration is a meaningful impediment for the director". ‘Danuta Halladin on two worlds of a child', "Kamera" 1961 nr. 8

Irena Kamieńska: "Making documentaries I enrich my own life with the lives of others, with those of my protagonists, with problems, issues, which I would have never encountered had it not been for the film. I have always been interested in the person, the carrier of his/her own fate, a truth, which no one besides them know". From "21 Chełmska Street. 50 Years of the Documantary and Feature Film Studio in Warsaw" a book by Bożena Janicka and Andrzej Kołodyński, Warsaw 2000

Polish School of the Documentary. Gryczełowska/Halladin/Kamieńska
time: 342 min., subtitles: en, fr, rus, de

DVD 1 - Krystyna Gryczełowska:
1. Siedliszcze, 1960
2. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, 1965
3. His name is Błażej Rejdak, he lives in Rożnica in the Jędrzejowski Powiat, 1968
4. The 24 hours of Jadwiga L., 1967
5. 90 Days a year, 1968
6. Our friends from Łódź, 1971
7. ...In February 1971, 1971
8. The Well, 1986

DVD 2 - Danuta Halladin:
1. First grade, 1960
2. My street, 1965
3. The Family, 1971
4. To go amongst people, 1973
5. The Threshold, 1975
6. A Łódź life, directed together with Lidia Zonn, 1984

DVD - Irena Kamieńska:
1. Good morning, children, 1966
2. The dam, 1976
3. A beautiful, freezing polish winter, 1978
4. Workwomen, 1981
5. Day after day, 1988
6. Missionaries of charity, directed together with Jadwiga Zajicek, 1991
7. Fog, 1993
8. The Church on Mount Zion, 1996