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This article emanates from a geospatial database of over 600 premieres of the Cines company’s Quo Vadis? (1913), an eight-reel film distributed by George Kleine, and nearly 250 premieres of the Quo Vadis Film Company’s Quo Vadis? (1913), a three-reel film of ambiguous origins distributed by Paul De Outo. By mapping local premieres of both films across the United States from 1913 through 1916, the data show with spatiotemporal precision the spread of Quo Vadis? as one of cinema’s early blockbuster titles. Yet within this national phenomenon, the two films’ footprints reveal differing cultural geographies served by competing efforts to feature Quo Vadis? using alternative practices of distribution and exhibition. The study finds that Quo Vadis? played a more complex role mediating the rise of features than is yet known, serving rival modes of cinema where longer, more expensive films were celebrated but also contested.

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The paper focuses on film culture in Lithuania by analysing the film programme advertisements in periodicals from the early cinema scene – 1907–1913. In the article, we present the specificities of the programmes of the key cinemas operating in Vilnius at that time, with reference to the programme composition by film type, genre, and the nature of film communication. A thorough analysis has allowed us to gain a clearer picture of film culture in the city, film circulation, and the communication strategies used by movie theatres to attract the audience. The analysis of this period enables a comparison of local early cinema processes in Lithuania with the global ones.

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The article discusses Soviet the efforts to export its cinematic production to Germany and France during the 1920s. Aside from advertising the USSR’s achievements abroad, cinema export was an important contribution to early Soviet fund-raising strategies. By examining the opening of the Soviet film industry to international practices and contacts, this article seeks to challenge some assumptions of Soviet particularism in the field of its film export practices. The article begins by exploring the international roots of what was about to become the Soviet film industry and demonstrates how Soviet trade practitioners sought to benefit from them. Then, the article argues that despite several country-specific organisational and material constraints, Soviet strategies and methods of film export to Germany and France paralleled in many ways those of their Western counterparts.

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The production of silent gilms in Czechoslovakia ended shortly after the advent of sound technology at the very end of the 1920s. The number of available silent films steadily decreased from that point on, yet some cinemas decided to continue to include them in their programming, even though they had sound equipment. The article analyses the scheduling of silent films in the specific case of two cinemas from the periphery of Brno, the second-largest city in Czechoslovakia. On the exhibitors’ side, there was a visible tendency to screen films 1) approximately two years from the premiere and 2) older with renowned stars or plot. This surprising presence of silent films in cinemas leads to the question: “Why were they still scheduled”? The answer lies both in the cinema owners, for whom silent films were a cheaper commodity, and in the audiences, who did not necessarily demand screenings of new sound films.

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The topic of this article is part of the broader research project on lm distribution in the People’s Republic of Poland. An important base for this text is the archival resources of the Film Polski Export and Import Company, established in 1964, the year therefore chosen as the starting point of the analysis. The point of departure is 1975, when important changes in the lm import volume occurred. The article comprises of sections dedicated, respectively, to pre-selection of feature films, new releases and lms in circulation. The data on the number of released titles show that in almost the entire period under study, the total number of foreign films from other ‘people’s republics’ was lower in any given calendar year than the number of films from capitalist states. However, the fact that more films from communist countries were imported to Poland did not mean that the former had larger audiences and generated greater revenues.

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The Irzykowski Film Studio was founded in 1981 as an institution that allowed young filmmakers to start their careers directly after graduating from the Film School. The studio could produce medium-length and short feature films and documentaries as well as animation. Nevertheless, all these types of films, according to the statute confirmed by the minister, were not to be officially cinema distributed, since they were supposed to be treated as a film exercise, a kind of practice run. Finally, it turned out that the Irzykowski Film Studio productions were regarded as fully fledged films that could compete with films produced by Film Units (i.e., the professional organizational entities of the Polish film production system at the time) or short film studios. What is not without significance, most films (not to say: all) were politically controversial. Therefore, the leaders of the Studio decided to show films to the audience, but they could not do it officially by applying for referral to cinema distribution. In connection with this, they were shown at small film festivals, inner (unofficial) screenings, and illegally distributed on VHS tapes. By extension, the range of distribution was narrow, but, curiously enough, the films were attracting a lot of interest from film critics, audiences and... state authorities. The aim of this paper is to analyze the alternative distribution process that occurred at the Irzykowski Film Studio. What films were shown at festivals, at internal screenings, and which were illegally copied onto VHS tapes? Had all the films shown been censored? How did state censorship react to test screenings with the audience? How did the critics and audience perceive these films? Did the presence of films at festivals influence their cinema distribution? And finally: how did the promotion and festival distribution of these films affect the perception of the Irzykowski Film Studio among the state authorities?

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The subject of this article is an analysis of the distribution, attendance results and reception of feature films made by the Profil Film Unit in 1982–1989. The Profil Film Unit was the second film group (alongside Iluzjon, headed by Czesław Petelski) to be reactivated by the cinematography management after martial law was declared in Poland. The artistic director of Profil, Bohdan Poręba, enjoyed the trust and support of the Party authorities, linking his allegiance to communist dogma to his activity in the nationalist ‘Grunwald’ Patriotic Association. Profil’s productions were boycotted by a large part of the acting community (also due to an appeal by the Solidarity Stage and Film Artists published in the newspaper “Tygodnik Mazowsze”), and some of the films made by this unit in the 1980s clearly followed the guidelines of the cultural policy of the Polish United Workers’ Party. The following questions will be answered: How did the political circumstances outlined above affect the distribution and reception of the films made by Profil? What attendance results did the films produced by Profil achieve and to what extent did they differ from the cinema ticket revenues of the films produced by other groups? How was the activity of the Profil Film Unit and the financial results achieved evaluated by the Supreme Board of Film Affairs? How were the productions of Profil received by film critics in the daily press and magazines?

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This article explores some of the findings from a work-in-progress project that I began working on in 2020 to investigate the retrospective memories of 1980s British audiences surrounding viewing films classified either 15 or 18 by the BBFC, while the participants were underage. I question the so-called victims of censorship that have matured into their 40s and are no longer at the mercy of parents or the classifications of the BBFC in order to investigate the retrospective memories of these adults who were once participating in forbidden viewings as children in the 1980s. This article explores Annette Kuhn’s idea that for audiences, the movie fades from memory to make way for more movies, but it is the life experiences that stay with the viewer. By focusing on underage viewers and films that had been deemed unsuitable for their age, I hope to review Kuhn’s claim, by resituating the film itself as the prominent memory – a memory not replaced by many decades of movie watching since. This article outlines the methodology for the project, before turning to a discussion of participants’ memories of interrupted film viewings. In exploring the dichotomy between memories of viewing conditions and memories of the film themselves, this article then considers memories of the horror genre (and terrifying scenes in other genres), and also the issues of watching sex in films, and the impact of parental restrictions, or watching while with parents.

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My article compares the catalogues and interfaces of a small and a big VOD provider and emphasizes the critical innovative potential of the intervention of the former and, more generally, of small streaming services. I employ a cultural studies approach and closely read the acts of curation of these two types of providers. As a case study, I focus on the curation of the feature film The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu on both platforms. By critical innovation, I understand an economic or industrial intervention that questions and disrupts hegemonic discourses in its field. In the case of VODs, it refers to an engagement with discourses on digital film consumption, the branding of premium content, establishment of taste, and diversity of content. I also approach critical innovation as political and economic. I provide proof that small non-profit providers set up more advantageous viewing experiences that benefit a film and its makers. I also show that they play an important role in maintaining the sustainability of a digital distribution ecosystem.

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The Indian film industry produces the highest number of movies in the world, in various languages, and casts a large shadow of influence on the socio-cultural landscape of the country. However, in terms of box-office value as a share of the total entertainment pie in India, films are a minor segment in a market with vast potential. The pandemic of 2020 drastically changed the fragile dynamics of the already-struggling film distribution and screening sector. Over the years, the Indian film business has staked its future on a business model forged around the “Mall-Multiplex” complex in a country that is mostly low-income or bottom of the pyramid (BoP). This exploratory article, with the help of existing data on theatre screen seats and high-potential population geographies, endeavours to understand India’s existing film entertainment business and sets out to spot the opportunities available for the low-priced film business as a value proposition.

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Każde słowo w tytule tego eseju może budzić wątpliwości. Co to jest widownia, której nie ma? Jak zatem badać coś, co nie istnieje? Co mieści się w ramach doświadczenia widowni? Dlaczego wyzwania metodologiczne, a nie po prostu metodologia? Nad tym obszarem refleksji filmoznawczej unosi się zatem wiele znaków zapytania. Zbyt wiele. Dlatego spróbuję zmierzyć się wyłącznie z głównymi wyzwaniami teoretycznymi, sięgając do najbardziej inspirujących tekstów z bogatej literatury przedmiotu...

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Wbadaniach dotyczących życia filmowego w Generalnym Gubernatorstwie nie podjęto dotychczas tematyki uczęszczania Niemców do kin. Niniejszy artykuł ma na celu wypełnienie tej luki. Nie chodzi w nim jednak tylko o przybliżenie zagadnień, jakie w ostatnich latach budzą coraz większe zainteresowanie...

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Zagadnienie rozpowszechniania filmów zagranicznych w Jugosławii jest niezwykle szerokie. Socjalistyczna Jugosławia, ze względu na specyfikę organizacji aparatu państwowego, stanowi wyzwanie dla badacza, który musi wziąć pod uwagę kwestie zarówno polityki „ogólnej”, a zatem federacyjnej, jak i „lokalnej”, czyli republikańskiej...

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Klasyka filmowa: kanon wybitnych, powszechnie uznanych za wartościowe dzieł filmowych, współtworzących trwały dorobek kultury, także: kultury narodowej (do kultury filmowej jakiegoś kraju mogą więc należeć utwory słabo znane za granicą). Przez wiele lat uważano, że sztuka filmowa ma wartość ulotną, toteż nie ma w niej miejsca na pojęcie klasyki...

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Sektor dystrybucji filmowej, w odróżnieniu od sektora produkcji w warunkach europejskich, poza nielicznymi wyjątkami, nie jest subsydiowany z funduszy publicznych. Stąd też jest on sektorem charakteryzującym się wysokim stopniem ryzyka finansowego, a podmioty w nim działające stoją przed koniecznością wypracowania metod zarządzania ryzykiem...

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Andriej Zwiagincew swoje filmowe uniwersum wypełnił symbolami, które w czasach współczesnych stają się boleśnie niepotrzebne. Symbole przypominają bowiem o odwiecznym porządku, o wielowymiarowości życia, jego głębi, co stoi w sprzeczności z nowoczesnymi ideałami, które mają nas za wszelką cenę utrzymać na poziomie doczesności, samospełnienia i dobrobytu. Człowiek przestaje rozumieć znaki, symbole, mity. Rosyjski reżyser, dostrzegając tę cywilizacyjną chorobę, proponuje widzowi kino transcendentalne...

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Kino jako miejsce spotkania dzieła i jego odbiorcy przez swoją architekturę wzmaga przekonanie, że obcuje się z emocjonującym przedmiotem: wyłaniającym się z ciemności obrazem w ramach swoistego spektaklu zapewnianego przez „ruchome obrazy”...

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Film Sala samobójców. Hejter miał premierę na początku marca 2020 roku, tuż przed zamknięciem polskich kin spowodowanym pandemią COVID-19. Dość szybko Hejtera można było obejrzeć na serwisach VOD i platformach streamingowych...

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Twórczość Joanny Rajkowskiej obserwuję z niesłabnącym zaciekawieniem od wielu lat. Mówiąc dokładniej odtąd, odkąd na niewielkim wzgórku, w samym środku ronda Charles’a de Gaulle’a, ni stąd, ni zowąd wyrosła pewnego dnia egzotyczna palma...