Zatrzymane przemijanie. Studium zapoznania i rewindykacji dziedzictwa Louise Kolm-Fleck
Suspended Oblivion: A Study of the Marginalisation and Reclamation of the Legacy of Louise Kolm-Fleck

Summary/Abstract: This article offers a deconstruction of the mechanisms behind the systemic marginalisation, disremembering, and subsequent reintegration of the legacy of Louise Kolm-Fleck (1873-1950), the first Austrian female film director and producer. The author (re)constructs her position within the early film industry, confronting her historical market status with her current scholarly reception. Drawing on the perspective of New Cinema History and the concepts of memory studies (J. and A. Assmann, P. Nora), the study analyses the trajectory of her work as the result of stimulated processes of discursive erasure. The author demonstrates that the director fell victim to a threefold marginalisation: socio-gendered (the patriarchal discourse of criticism), economic (the myth of Alexander Kolowrat), and political (the Nazi employment ban and the post-war policy of cultural amnesia toward refugees). Introducing the category of ‘alternative pioneering’ (M. Radkiewicz), the article illustrates how the efforts of cinema archaeologists and memory workers have transformed into contemporary, institutionalised practices of cultural memory custodians.

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