Cinema Without Film: A Sketch of a Fragmented History of the Polish Avant-Garde Film, 1916 – 1934

Histories of the inter-war avant-garde fi lm are not straightforward at most times. This is largely due to the complexity of the period: wars, emigration, the fl uid nature of artistic formations and the artists’ changing relationships to the movements. The fi rst reason is particularly relevant where Polish avant-garde fi lm is concerned, as World War Two had caused a signifi cant damage to the national heritage. Thus, when attempting to piece its history together, one encounters the following questions: How to write about fi lms that no longer exist? Can one form a valid opinion about the nature and shape of such fi lms on the basis of fragmentary evidence? Can the surviving fi lm scripts and proposals be considered as part of a history of fi lm practice? Any answers to such questions can only be provided when one employs approaches that take into account all of the existing material rather than concentrate on the missing evidence.