SCREEN | Striking Poland in '1970' x DOXA 2022

"Give us bread and wages."

DOXA Documentary Film Festival

Filmed like a historical thriller, Polish filmmaker Tomasz Wolski dramatizes the violent response of the communist government of the Polish People's Republic to the public protests of December 1970 after the sharp increase in food prices and general economic crisis. Using marionette puppets, stop-motion animation, and archival audio, the hybrid documentary chronicles the bureaucratic banality of authoritarian evil.

Wolski's artfully surrealist vision of 1970 paints a compelling portrait of Polish history by visualizing the real historical audio so vividly. His use of archival footage and period-appropriate film techniques and style make 1970 feel so well-worn in its contextualization of history.

How 1970 dramatizes workers' strikes and the following government-organized massacre to squash them comes across as nothing short of riveting. Wolski's unique cinematic interpretation suits the material surprisingly well as an inventive yet accurate depiction of real-life events.

1970 screens at the 2022 DOXA Documentary Film Festival as part of the Memory and Archives spotlight at the VIFF Centre on May 13th and The Cinematheque on May 14th. It also screens virtually online until May 15th.


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