30 Years Have Passed: 1990s in the Polish Film Chronicle

This has already happened: the period of transformation has been romanticized by the recent wave of interest in the 1990s culture, and we are now bombarded with nineties’ aesthetics and articles about reckless, uncritical imitation of the West. Meanwhile, in the final years of its existence, the Polish Film Chronicle hinted that life in 1990s Poland wasn’t really that colourful. Yes, the chroniclers of the era reported on the opening of the first McDonald’s and the new technology fair at the Palace of Culture, but their keen eye also caught social discontent, rampant inflation, recurrent strikes, and political conflicts (including quarrels on Radio Zet’s morning show). 30 Years Have Passed… presents both faces of the period of transformation: obsessed with capitalism and at the same time, eating its own tail. The selection is funny, poetic, and ironic – the latter, thanks to the cult voiceover artists, Jerzy Rosołowski and Tomasz Knapik.

Patrycja Mucha