Abstract
The struggle to formalize gender equality in the Polish film industry doesn’t have a long history but already some successes. In 2014, the Polish Female Filmmakers Association was established and marked the beginning of an ongoing activism to tackle the uneven distribution of funding and recognition of Polish female filmmakers. The commitment to challenge this situation has been debated and discussed during almost every film festival organized in Poland. Finally, during the 41st edition of the Polish Film Festival in 2016 in Gdynia, not only was a debate organized on how women can succeed in the masculine world of the film industry but importantly the Polish Film Institute announced its commitment to apply formal gender policies in its statute. From now, the Committee of Experts, responsible for the evaluation of applications for funding, has to consist of at least 35% women experts. During the same year, a pilot study on the situation of women in the industry was commissioned by EWA Network, the Council of Europe’s Eurimages Fund and the Polish Female Filmmakers Association. The report was launched during a conference “Missing Creativity: Gender Equality in the European Film Industry: Focus on Poland” and was the first attempt to quantify the film industry from a gender perspective. According to Monika Talarczyk-Gubała, author of the study, this research showed that a strong opposition to gender equality interventions exists in the community. When representatives of the film industry learned about her research, both males and females expressed they are against any formal regulations of the industry, as this brings back memories of the interventionist era of communism. In addition to quantitative research, in-depth qualitative inquiry is thus necessary to understand and critically examine the struggle for gender equality in the contemporary film production culture in Poland. This chapter will attempt to provide such an inquiry. Drawing on in-depth interviews with representatives of the industry, it will provide an analysis of the ongoing activism to achieve gender equality in the film industry in Poland. It will not only explore the motives, challenges, successes and setbacks of those who are fighting for equality in this industry, but also attempt to answer the question of what it means to be a female filmmaker in contemporary Poland.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
5050x2020. (n.d.). Festivals That Have Signed the Pledge. Retrieved from http://www.5050x2020.fr.
Camerimage. (2016, November 9). Forum on Diversity in Cinematography: A Day of Events During Camerimage 2016 Dedicated to Female Cinematographers. Retrieved from http://www.camerimage.pl/en.
Czarnkowska-Listoś, R. (2019, June). Women in Film Poland. Presentation delivered during the panel Contemporariness: The Position of Women in the Contemporary Media at the Production Culture: Societal and Economic Aspects of Film Production International Conference of the Lodz film School, Lodz, Poland.
Eurimages. (2016). Missing Creativity: Gender Equality in the European Film Industry: Focus on Poland and Beyond. Conference by Eurimages, EWA Network, Polish Female Filmmakers Association. Retrieved from http://www.rm.coe.int.
European Women’s Audiovisual Network. (2016a). Executive Summary: Where Are the Women Directors? Report on Gender Equality in the European Film Industry. Retrieved from http://www.ewawomen.com.
European Women’s Audiovisual Network. (2016b). Where Are the Women Directors? Report on Gender Equality for Directors in the European Film Industry 2006–2013. Retrieved from http://www.ewawomen.com.
Gober, G.‚ & Struzik, J. (2018). Feminist transnational diaspora in the making. The case of the #BlackProtest. Theoretical Practice, 4(30), pp. 129–152. https://doi.org/10.14746/prt.2018.4.5.
Hans, S. (2018, February 15). Berlin: Director Malgorzata Szumowska Discusses New Film ‘Mug. Variety. Retrieved from http://www.variety.com.
Lodz Film School. (2018, February 24). Silver Bear for Małgorzata Szumowska! Retrieved from http://www.filmschool.lodz.pl.
Marmurek, J. (2017, January 14). „Dobra zmiana” idzie po kino. Ludzie PiS w komisjach Polskiego Instytutu Sztuki Filmowej. OKO.Press. Retrieved from http://www.oko.press.
Oleszczyk, M. (2016, July 21). Czy warto rozumować liczydłem? [Polemika]. Krytyka Polityczna. Retrieved from http://www.krytykapolityczna.pl.
Perkowski, P., & Stegner, T. (Eds.). (2009). Kobieta i media. Studia z dziejów emancypacji kobiet. Gdańsk: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego.
Poland: Behind the Black Protests—The Women and Men Protesting Against Attempts to Ban All Abortions in Poland. (2017, January 5). Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com.
Poland Protests: Thousands March ‘To Defend Democracy’. (2015, December 12). BBC. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com.
Polish Female Filmmakers Association. (2015a, May 7). Panel: Does Cinema Have Gender? In Facebook [Event Page]. Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/events/1585724235002378.
Polish Female Filmmakers Association. (2015b, June 27). Reżyserka w Polsce. Coś więcej niż pomieszczenie? In Facebook [Event Page]. Retrieved from http://www.facebook.com/events/392677914268373.
Polish Female Filmmakers Association. (n.d.). Statut. Retrieved from http://www.stokf.pl.
Polish Film Institute. (2017). Regulamin pracy ekspertów dla programu operacyjnego produkcja filmowa PISF. Retrieved from http://www.pisf.pl.
Polish Media Laws: Government Takes Control of State Media. (2016, January 7). Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com.
Polish National Film Festival in Gdynia to Be the First National Festival Signing the Gender Quality Pledge. (2018, September 27). Film New Europe [Press release]. Retrieved from http://www.filmneweurope.com.
Script Fiesta. (2016, April 7). Script Fiesta Festival Publication. Retrieved from http://www.issuu.com/scriptfiesta/docs/script_fiesta_katalog_2016_web_.
Sobolewski, T. (2019). Próba normalności. O kinie Zebry i nie tylko. In A. Majer (Ed.), Zebra. 30 lat kręcenia (pp. 20–37). Warszawa: Studio Filmowe Zebra.
Spór, K. (2018, January 15). Kobiety Filmu piszą do dyrektora PISF. Sporwkinie.blogpost.com [Web blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.sporwkinie.blogspot.com.
Swedish Film Institute. (2013). Financing of Film a Comparison of Public Film Funding in Eight European Countries. Retrieved from http://www.filminstitutet.se.
Świderska, M., & Bielawska, K. (2018, September 21). Dostęp do pracy. Udział reżyserek w polskich serialach w latach 2000–2018. Paper presented “Women in Film: 50x50 by 2020” conference at the 43 Polish Film Festival in Gdynia.
Talarczyk, M. (2018). Raport o pozycji kobiet w polskiej kinematografii. Fakty i liczby. Political Critique. Warsaw, Poland. Retrieved from http://www.krytykapolityczna.pl.
Talarczyk-Gubała, M. (2016a). Pilotażowy raport o pozycji kobiet w polskiej kinematografii. Fakty i liczby. Warsaw, Poland: Political Critique, Polish Female Filmmakers Association. Retrieved from http://www.krytykapolityczna.pl.
Talarczyk-Gubała, M. (2016b, July 20). 3/45 do Gdyni. Kobiety w kinie odnoszą albo sukcesy, albo porażki. Nie ma miejsca na średnie kino kobiet. Political Critique. Retrieved from http://www.krytykapolityczna.pl.
Talavera Milla, J. (2014). Female Directors in European Films State of Play and Evolution Between 2003 and 2012. Strasbourg: Council of Europe. European Audiovisual Observatory. Retrieved from www.http://coe.int.
Wilk, S. (2017, October 16). Po zwolnieniu dyrektor PISF filmowcy solidarnie protestują. Zaczęły kobiety. Polityka. Retrieved from http://www.polityka.pl.
Wiśniewska, A. (2015, July 3). Więcej Grzegorzów niż kobiet. Political Critique. Retrieved from http://www.krytykapolityczna.pl.
Wiśniewska, A. (2017, October 9). Instytut filmowców, nie polityków. Political Critique. Retrieved from http://www.krytykapolityczna.pl.
Women in Film Poland. (2017). Polish Cinema. Our Voice. Our Pride. Our Love. Our Freedom. Our History, Our Heroes [Video files]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvRhTpQ2CcVjXtKK3Khw0xg/videos.
Women in Film Poland. (2018, September 21). Declaration About Sex Equality in Film Industry Signed During the 43rd PFF [Press release]. Retrieved from http://www.festiwalgdynia.pl.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gober, G. (2020). With Eyes Wide Open: Gender Equality in the Polish Film Industry. In: Liddy, S. (eds) Women in the International Film Industry. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39070-9_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39070-9_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-39069-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-39070-9
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)