The Last Picture Show

Marta Brzezińska

Abstract

The anthology of texts Pamięć kina [Memory of Cinema] (ed. Andrzej Gwóźdź, co. ed. Barbara Kita, 2013) is composed of eleven essays by prominent Polish film and media scholars and researchers, and is about their initiation into the world of film. Memories of visual fascinations are a commentary of sorts on the professional choices of authors, showing their paths of reflection within film studies and changes in the practice of cinema. The reviewer suggests contexts for the reading of the collection, although this of course does not exhaust all of the possible readings of the text, as the complexity of such a reading depends on film related interests and sensitivity of the readers. The area of reflection and its character, defined by the authors and creators of the anthology, suggests a metaphorical reading with the framework of palimpset and locus amoenus as respectively: the description of the work of memory and organising of the material, and the sensual figure of memory of cinema, and cinema’s memory.