Heretyk Jeroen i jego ekrany. Refleksje o pewnej wystawie multimedialnej

Heretic Jeroen and his screens The article presents the multimedia binding of the many years’ project “Jheronimus Bosch 500”, which led — in the jubilee year — to developing the monographic exhibition of Hieronymus Bosch’s works in Hertogenbosch 2016. According to the author of the article Internet seems to be a useful “megaarchives” for works of art and for some important events organized because of them. It is useful especially for collecting and exposing film documentation of interpretation of the works, their con-servation and creating marketing strategies which make the artist a so-called glocalbrand hero. The documentation of some film events of the project in Hertogenbosch is presented on the page https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh9n1lmat4buzWzjqJaDfMA/videos. We can find there a collection of documents and quasi-documents, some films of didactic and persuasive cinema, but also some marketing products, of which role is to cause selling the constellation of events of the project. Avoiding the rating of the substantive value of the mentioned objects, the author of the article shows that the portals YouTube or Vimeo are sometimes the only, and sometimes not too orderly, open film archive of associating of people with art.

Figura świętego głupca w twórczości Andrieja Tarkowskiego

The figure of the “holy fool” in the work of Andrei TarkovskyThe article analyzes the figure of the “holy fool” — a specific cultural phenomenon of Russian Orthodoxy, which found its strong reflection in the work of Andrei Tarkovsky. After showing the essence of the work of the Russian director, i.e. the internal conflict in man between the material and spiritual sphere, the Christian pedigree of the figure of the “holy fool”, which finds a special expression in Russian culture, is presented. Over time, it undergoes significant transformations. In Tarkovsky’s films, the figure of the “holy fool” allows the director to manifest his opinions and his view of the world, the role of art or the vocation of the artist. Tarkovsky’s “holy fool” evolves from a purely Christian figure, a humble and trusting figure fighting with all evil, through the original loner seeking consolation for others, to a figure, which destroys the existing order while awaiting the reaction of God connected with the restoration of the harmony to the world.

Recenzja książki Jolanty Pisarek i Pawła Fortuny "Filmowy leksykon psychologii", Lublin 2017, ss. 400

Film therapy. Review of the book by Jolanta Pisarek and Paweł Fortuna, Filmowy leksykon psychologii, Lublin 2017, 400 pp.The present review describes the book Filmowy leksykon psychologii 2018 by Jolanta Pisarek and Paweł Fortuna. It is focused on a practical used idea of the cinema aesthetics in psychology by the authors of the lexicon. The main point of the review is to describe a new context of the typical cinema material and classical psychological vocabulary that means a new quality of communication with the readers. In this connection the submitted article shows the context and the changed meaning of many functions and scenes in different movies according to the psychological vocabulary. The conclusions of the review are positive.

Filmowe legendy o Świętym Franciszku

Film legends about Saint FrancisThe article is devoted to four Italian movies about Saint Francis: Roberto Rossellini’s The Flowers of St. Francis 1950, Lilliana Cavani’s two movies 1966, 1989 and Franco Zeffirelli’s Brother Sun, Sister Moon 1972. The first of the four works is an author’s adaptation of some fragments of the medieval Flowers of St. Francis, and the three others are original concepts of the authors concerning the figure of St. Francis. The text shows in what way the three directors present the famous saint man, and — also — in what way they take use his biography and the legend of the Saint for creating — sometimes quite controversial — picture of Francis, making of him a contester Cavani or some precursor of “the flower children” Zeffirelli.

Egzorcyzmy nieświęte. Teologiczne tropy kinowych adaptacji

Not holy exorcism. Theological traces in cinematic adaptationsThe rite of major exorcism, which includes imperative formulas addressed at Satan, still exists in the liturgy of the Latin Church. It has become the basis for numerous film adaptations somewhat fascinated by the Christian almighty God and his eternal opponent, the fallen angel. Moreover, the character of the exorcist, a man who holds the power to expel evil spirits, also raises many questions about his faith, morality and objectives. The energumen, i.e. the possessed individual, is a character able to shape and embellish the entire picture, and even the plot. An insight into those four persons, who are the core of cinematographic reinterpretations of exorcism and an integral part for the liturgy itself, constitutes the main subject of the article, preceded by a basic explanation of the terminology and a brief historical outline of the development of the rite of exorcism.

Siła różnorodności. Recenzja książki "Współczesne kino izraelskie 2", red. Joanna Preizner, Kraków 2018, ss. 260

Power of variety. Review of the book The Contemporary Israeli Cinema 2 ed. by Joanna Preizner, Kraków 2018, 260 pp.Israeli contemporary cinema, according to many critics, is one of the most interesting world cinemas. Such theses can be concluded from the first series of the books on Israeli cinema — Contemporary Israeli Cinema ed. by J. Preizner, Austeria, Kraków 2015. This book was well received by the academic environment. Thus, the authors and the editor of it decided to create a second similar work. It was definitely a good decision. The reader can check it out at the very beginning of lecture, reading the introduction, written by Joanna Preizner. It is a text ardent in tone and elegant in style. A very important quality of the book is its broad spectrum of the themes of the articles it consists of. There are in it presentations of the splendid film accomplishments, touching some difficult motives of the Israeli society: condition of women, homosexual relationships and the situation of the LGBT environment and also the ghetto condition of contemporary Hasidim, which is similar to their condition in the 16th-century Europe.

Religia i film. Stylizacje na język religijny w filmach Wojciecha Jerzego Hasa

Religion and film. Stylizationson religious language in films made by Wojciech Jerzy HasThe main aim of the article is to answer the question about, how religious language functions in cinematography. It is both about specifying an aim of introducing it to a plot or narration of a film and about when it is introduced. It will be crucial to specify what goal the director attains by using religious language in his films. How important it is for the plot development. Is it connected with the will to remind the viewers about the world which does not exist currently or is it rather parodying the defined view.The next stage is an analysis of the particular examples of the use of religious language in Wojciech Has’s films, for example The Codes, The Sandglass, The Manuscript Found in Saragossa, The Personal Diary of the Wicked… Written by Himself, The Amazing Journey of Balthazar Kober. Next, the ways of showing its functioning in cinematography: stylization, allusion, form of quotations, collage, parody, pastiche, travesty.Concluding, the director uses the religious language stylisations and quotations for example the Holy Scripture or other cultural texts, like Juliusz Słowacki’s Anhelli in the considerate way. Using the religious language, he characterizes setting and time of action, the film characters and, above all, his attitude towards religion. Love language gets the markers of religious language in his films. In this way, Has approaches to understanding the new version of religion and religiousness, not consistent with the Old Testament, but rather with New Testament’s message which means: “Love your neighbor as yourself”.

Na granicy mroku. Język świętości w filmowych portretach Joanny d’Arc

On the border of darkness. The language of sainthood in film portraits of Joan of Arc The unusual history of the patroness of France — Saint Joan of Arc — became the inspiration for many creators of culture, including film directors, who most willingly chose this figure from among all the Christian saints. The article firstly presents the history of life of the French saint and in the next part consists of the analysis of the film language of the devoted to her three emblematic movies in which the well known film creators tried to “show” the sainthood of Joan or/and to assume an attitude towards the phenomenon of sainthood. The first movie analyzed by the author of the article is The Passion of Joan of Arc 1928 by Carl Theodor Dreyer, the second one is The Trial of Joan of Arc 1961 by Robert Bresson, who used an ascetic idiom to present the sainthood of Joan. And at the end of the text the film by Luc Besson — Joan of Arc 1999 — is discussed as a postmodern deconstruction of the figure of the saint.

Scripting the saints

Scripting the saintsThis essay approaches Hollywood movies about saints by analyzing the problems involved in at-tempting to follow both the scripts provided by the subjects’ lives and the surprisingly varied and often equally demanding scripts required of Hollywood movies in general and saints’ lives in par-ticular. Focusing on Hollywood movies about St. Francis of Assisi and Joan of Arc, it considers the impact of three kinds of scripts: positive demands to be dramatically well-constructed, inspirational, entertaining, uplifting, visually and sonically appealing, helpfully explicit in its exposition, and historically accurate; negative demands to avoid offending followers of the saints, members of the Catholic Church, and anyone else who might reasonably be construed as members of the target audience and to avoid the errors of earlier saint movies; and what might be called irrelevant scripts, those that might seem necessary for Hollywood saints’ lives to follow but that are actually either optional or impossible to follow.„Skryptowanie” świętychStreszczenie Niniejszy szkic jest próbą przybliżenia hollywoodzkich filmów o świętych za pomocą analizy problemów wynikających z próby dochowania wierności zarówno scenariuszom dostarczonym dzięki życiorysom świętych, jak i zaskakująco odmiennym oraz często równie wymagającym scenariuszom, których oczekuje się od hollywoodzkich filmów w ogóle, a od filmów o świętych szczególnie. Gdy przyjrzymy się hollywoodzkim filmom o św. Franciszku i Joannie d’Arc, zauważymy wpływ trzech rodzajów, używając psychologicznego albo informatycznego terminu, skryptów: 1. skrypt pozytywnych wymagań, aby film był poprawny dramaturgicznie, inspirujący, rozrywkowy, podnoszący na duchu, atrakcyjny wizualnie i dźwiękowo, z wyrazistym przesłaniem; 2. skrypt wymagań negatywnych dotyczących unikania urażenia ludzi czczących świętych, członków Kościoła katolickiego i kogokolwiek innego, kto mógłby być postrzegany jako członek grupy „targetowej” filmów, oraz wymóg uniknięcia błędów wcześniejszych filmów o świętych; 3. skrypt, który można by nazwać skryptem nieistotnym, ten, który może się wydawać wzywaniem do naśladowania hollywoodzkich świętych, ale który tak naprawdę jest albo tylko opcjonalny, albo niemożliwy do realizacji.