Kwartalnik Filmowy

European Showrunners: The Impact of Streaming Platforms on Changes in the Television Authorship Model in Spain and Poland

Dawid Junke — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The article examines the impact of global streaming platforms such as Netflix on the authorship model of television series in Spain and Poland. Both countries have experienced a dynamic increase in audiovisual production investment, exceeding the European average. In Spain, where Netflix has established its largest production hub in Europe, the adoption of the showrunner model has influenced local production practices. In Poland, despite the dominance of a director-centred cinematic tradition, the streaming market’s growth has led to changes in work culture and production organisation. The article also addresses challenges in adapting the showrunner model, including the marginalisation of screenwriters in Poland and the limited influence of Spanish showrunners on budgeting.

Painterly Image and Film Image

Krzysztof Teodor Toeplitz — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The author’s point of departure is a self-reflection on the status of film studies, hitherto focused on exploring problems related to the screenplay and the relationship between film and literature. One of his aims is therefore to redirect these research interests to the relationship between film and traditional visual arts. Much of the text is devoted to theoretically defining the painterly image and the film image, and, subsequently, their common features and differences. The author then analyses the processes involved in translating, so to speak, a painterly image into a film image. ‘Painterly quality’ emerges as the central concept of his considerations; it is understood in two ways: as film’s ability to “imitate” actual paintings and as the ability to create film images that are considered “painterly” (due to their composition, colour choice, static nature). (Non-reviewed material; originally published in Kwartalnik Filmowy 1953, no. 10, pp. 66-87).

Film Image and its "Painterly Quality”: Comparative Film Studies of Krzysztof Teodor Toeplitz

Rafał Koschany — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The subject of this analysis is Krzysztof Teodor Toeplitz’s article “Obraz malarski a obraz filmowy” [“Painterly Image and Film Image”], published in Kwartalnik Filmowy in 1953. This is a profoundly mature and fully scholarly work by a very young author. This commentary places the article within the context of the development of post-war Polish film studies, highlighting its significance as a statement showing the author’s acute awareness of the challenges and objectives facing this emerging academic discipline. The main part of the commentary focuses on reconstructing the key aspects of Toeplitz’s comparison between the painterly and film images, with particular emphasis on the problems related to the transposition of the former into the latter (the concept of “painterly quality” proving central in this regard). The subsequent sections address the status of Toeplitz’s proposal within the tradition of comparative film studies, considering both the later works of filmmakers inspired by the visual arts and the contemporary possibilities for publishing research within the framework of comparative film studies. (Non-reviewed material).

Constellation Mulvey

Iwona Kościelecka, Mirosław Przylipiak — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The article concerns a long-standing debate ignited by Laura Mulvey’s famous text on visual pleasure in narrative cinema. It describes various threads of this discussion, connected with the following questions: Does the gaze in classical narrative film truly belong to the man? Can a woman also be ‘the bearer of the look’? Can a man be the object of an erotic spectacle? How do Mulvey’s concepts apply to gay and lesbian audiences? How are they affected by the issue of race, of both those who look and those being looked at? Is the identification model proposed by Mulvey accurate? Does the realisation of feminist demands truly require the destruction of pleasure? To these questions raised in the debate, the authors of the article add their own: Is Mulvey’s text rightly considered revolutionary, or is it rather a form of skilful rebranding? Is the gaze truly a form of power? This debate remains largely unknown in Poland, hence the need to describe it.

Editorial

Karolina Kosińska — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The editor-in-chief’s article introducing the problematics of the issue.

Teresa Rutkowska — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Table of contents in French.

AI Film: Movies from the Uncanny Valley

Agnieszka Kamrowska — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Owing to the development of artificial intelligence algorithms, it is now possible to generate film scripts, special effects, visuals, and even short film sequences. The aim of this article is to present how existing genres apply AI-generated tools in film production. The article also describes how AI-generated films employ new tools for storytelling and how these technologies impact the narrative, visuals, and editing aspects of films, as well as how viewers may perceive them. One such reaction is the uncanny valley effect, wherein the generated cast is not realistic enough, causing discomfort among the audience. Based on current trends, the author predicts new conventions that may emerge due to the application of AI technology. Through an analysis of the possibilities afforded by these new tools, both the positive and negative consequences of introducing AI algorithms into the film industry are presented.

Battle Royale: The Cultural Formula of the Gamification Era. A Study of the Rules of the Game

Wojciech Sitek — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The author analyses the evolution of battle royale as a cultural formula in the context of the economic and social transformations over the past quarter-century. The article outlines its historical development, identifies key characteristics, and examines the meanings concealed under the guise of transparency of the formula. Introduced to global audiences by Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale, this narrative model has in recent years been absorbed by the entertainment industry and subordinated to the logic of the gamification of everyday life. Contemporary films (Circle, The Belko Experiment), TV series (Alice in Borderland, Squid Game), and video games (Fortnite, Apex Legends) not only reflect neoliberal values but also normalise them. Drawing on the observations of Mark Fisher and Shoshana Zuboff, the author argues that while the battle royale cultural formula appears to take a critical stance, it actually reinforces the power of surveillance capitalism.

Meanders of (Anti-)War Cinema: The Role of the Context of Polish Film Criticism in the Reception of Genre. The Case of “1917”

Mateusz Drewniak — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The article explores the war film genre through the lens of the reception of Sam Mendes’s 1917 (2019) in Polish film criticism. Using the example of this film, which generates numerous problems for a genre-based approach, the author demonstrates the importance of considering the context of film criticism in genre studies, in particular due to the war film genre being ambiguously defined in film studies. He argues for a shift from Rick Altman’s film genre theory to Andrew Tudor’s approach, which incorporates social and cultural contexts. In his research, the author also draws on Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory, which recognises the role of critics in shaping cultural knowledge, as well as Janet Staiger’s perspective, which emphasises the influence of social and national factors on the reception of cinema. The article answers questions regarding the complex status of the anti-war film and traces the genre concepts present in the critical reception of 1917.

"The Balkan Line" as a Conservative Remix of Red Western

Michał Bobrowski — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The article presents a contextual analysis of the Russian-Serbian film The Balkan Line (dir. Andrey Volgin, 2019). The film is set in Kosovo in 1999 and depicts the events known as the “incident at Pristina Airport.” The Balkan Line is deeply rooted in the tradition of Soviet and Yugoslav propaganda cinema, particularly the so-called red western. This term refers to a broad category of films produced in socialist countries, which engage in an intertextual dialogue with the most American of film genres. The Balkan Line is examined as an example of contemporary propaganda cinema that employs well-established narrative conventions and rhetorical devices, adapting them to the demands of the current ideological climate.

From Georges Lacombe to Alice Diop: Cinematic Images of French Suburbs and Their Social Functions

Ewa Linek — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The article discusses the phenomenon of cinéma de banlieue, a trend that emerged in French cinema in the 1990s. By analysing the common characteristics of the films within this category, the author seeks to determine whether they constitute a distinct genre or they should rather be regarded as part of a broader movement. She also highlights the ambivalent nature of the message conveyed by films focusing on French suburbs. On the one hand, they shed light on the social issues affecting these areas; on the other, the repetitiveness of narrative patterns, character types, and problems often contributes to reinforcing stereotypes about specific social groups. The article also provides a brief overview of films whose creators strive to depict the suburbs in an unconventional way – one that differs from the vision presented in dominant political discourses and the often simplistic representations found in the media.

The Endurance of Authorship Theory

Marek Haltof — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The article is a review of Elżbieta Ostrowska’s 2024 book ReFocus: The Films of Agnieszka Holland. It highlights the pioneering nature of this English-language publication and the methodological challenges of describing the rich and diverse output of a director who has been equally successful in European arthouse cinema, Hollywood, and global streaming platforms. The book explores the multifaceted, chameleon-like nature of Holland’s authorship, paying particular attention to the context of transnational women’s cinema, Holland’s artistic biography, and her political activism.

Censorship, or, the Process of Negotiating Meanings

Piotr Zwierzchowski — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200

The book „Proszę to wyciąć”, czyli historia scen wyciętych z polskich filmów w pierwszym ćwierćwieczu PRL [“Cut It Out, Please,” or, the History of Deleted Film Scenes in the First Twenty-Five Years of the Polish People’s Republic] (2024) by Piotr Śmiałowski is a study of both the history and historiography of Polish cinema. As the reviewer points out, it can be read as an excellently documented record of an investigation into the process and mechanisms of negotiating meanings. In this way, it becomes a story about the cinema of the Polish People’s Republic and its specific characteristics. Detailed reconstructions of the history of individual films, which are valuable in themselves, allow us to capture the historical variability of the state’s cultural policy and the various contexts that determined the causes and scope of interference. The book also shows the importance of film stills in research on the history of cinema; sometimes they constitute the only visual trace of removed and destroyed fragments.

Ewa Fiuk — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0200

Table of contents in German.