Kresy Wschodnie w filmie polskim okresu PRL
The Eastern Borderlands in Polish film under the Polish People’s Republic

Summary/Abstract: Films that addressed themes related to the Polish Eastern Borderlands, be it only cursorily,were seldom produced under the Polish People’s Republic. More such films were made inthe early 1980s as a the state’s policy became somewhat liberalised. They paved the way forsimilar productions in the following years, which were largely informed by certain myths ofthe Borderlands, particularly the Arcadian myth and (to a lesser degree) the heroic myth. Thefilmmakers undoubtedly found it a challenge to reproduce the realities of the Borderlands. Intackling this challenge, they mainly had actors speak in stylised Borderland dialects and por-trayed the area as being multicultural and, in a sense, exotic because of its diversity of nationalcommunities. These films add up to a theme-oriented movement in the Polish cinema of the1980s which holds points of interest in artistic and also social terms.

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