Studia Filmoznawcze, volume 46 (2024)

Planned publication date: 2nd half of 2024

Thematic issue: Film culture of Lower Silesia

Issue editor: Andrzej Dębski

The cinematograph arrived in the then German Lower Silesia in 1896. The first cinemas began to appear a decade later and in the 1920s a film atelier functioned briefly on the premises of the Wrocław zoo. Film life was revived after the Second World War in what was now the Polish Lower Silesia: cinemas were opened (some using former German facilities), discussion film clubs were established and Wytwórnia Filmów Fabularnych (WFF), a feature film studio, was founded. After the transformations of 1989 the cinematic landscape changed: multiplex cinemas appeared and many cinemas were closed. The WFF was transformed into Audiovisual Technology Centre, the Lower Silesian Film Fund was established, an important place of the region’s cultural map began to be occupied by film festivals, and film tourism (set jetting) emerged.

In this planned new issue of Studia Filmoznawcze we want to take a closer look at Lower Silesia’s film culture, in both its historical and contemporary aspects. The geographical framework of the theme will refer to the former and current borders of the region, that is the Province of Lower Silesia (or the Regions of Wrocław and Legnica in the Province of Silesia) until 1945; the Wrocław Province in 1946–1975; Jelenia Góra, Legnica, Wałbrzych and Wrocław Provinces until 1998; and finally the Lower Silesian Province from 1999 until today. “Film culture” will be understood broadly, encompassing the production, dissemination and consumption of films in various contexts: cultural, social, economic and political. Thus we will be interested in the media- and geography-related features of the theme – in short: its “filmness” and “Lower Silesianness”.

Examples of topics:

• cinemas in the regional landscape and their functioning
• programme offer of cinemas and repertoire analyses
• activities of film clubs
• film festivals
• circulation of films outside cinemas
• studies of film audiences
• film production and its determinants
• images of the region in film
• film and cinema in the service of politics
• film in education and film education
• film-related topics in Lower Silesian journals
• film tourism (set jetting)
• memory of cinema

We are waiting for your submissions – in Polish, English or German – until 31 December 2023.

You are also welcome to send in your contributions to the Varia section, which will feature articles not relating to the main theme of the issue, as well as reviews and analyses of the latest publications.

Please send the finished articles to the following e-mail addresses of the issue editors:

Thematic editor: Dr hab. Andrzej Dębski (andrzej.debski@uwr.edu.pl)

Varia section editors: Dr Robert Dudziński (robert.dudzinski2@uwr.edu.pl) and Dr Dawid Głownia (dawid.glownia@uwr.edu.pl).