Kwartalnik Filmowy

Deadline: April 4, 2021

Number 114 (Summer 2021)

If we agree that reality – or what we tend to consider as such – is based on a certain order, it follows that this order has a mirror image in the form of disorder: equally clear, though – as mirror images do – oriented towards the opposite direction. This disorder, which can be a result of deliberate action as well as a function of time, takes on different forms and names, including contamination, dirt or flaw. It is worth noting that neither order nor disorder is unambiguous – whether in axiomatic or axiological terms. After all, phenomena as heterogeneous as the contamination of natural environment and ‘contamination’ of the adopted system of values or dominant narrative may be considered as something that demolishes a certain order, violates a general principle. In this volume, we would like to reflect on the possible reasons, meaning and purpose of any kind of contamination, understood both literally as a physical factor and figuratively as a metaphysical disturbing element. We are also interested in various cleansing rituals, invented and introduced in order to maintain the established order, wash away the dirt, remove the flaw.

What kinds of contamination must humans (and other organisms) face today in biological and social life? When and what kind of dirt can be a positive phenomenon? How to deal with a flaw? And should it be dealt with at all? And finally, how do filmmakers respond to all these problems? Can/should film become a voice in the discussion on the thus defined condition of the world (not only contemporary)? These issues were partly addressed by Thomas Elsaesser in his 2019 analysis of the state of contemporary European cinema. Drawing on Julia Kristeva’s theory of the abject, the film scholar described the ways in which the self exists and is depicted in cinema, and in so doing indicated problems experienced by contemporary Europeans and their attempts at dealing with them. This is not to say, of course, that we only invite reflection limited to the European context.

Examples of thematic areas:

• contamination, dirt, flaw as thematic motifs
• contamination of dominant narratives
• the work of film directors and audio-visual artists active outside the mainstream
• niche and independent cinema as a form of rebellion (artistic, social, political)
• order v. disorder (narrative, visual, moral/ethical etc.)
• disorder and disruption as creative methods
• actual and cinematic cleansing rituals
• materiality and non-materiality of contamination, dirt, flaw
• film as a rough draft
• (un)intentionality of technical flaw as an aesthetic means (with regard to image and sound)