Educational Activities of the National Film Archive in Warsaw Connected with Pre-World War II Films

Abstrakt

This article describes the educational actions (including the use of them in education) related to pre-war films conducted by the National Film Archive in Warsaw. First to exemplify this phenomenon, I focused on the works of three silent films: Mania. The history of a cigarette factory worker (Mania. Die Geschichte einer Zigarettenarbeiterin, 1918, directed by Eugen Illés), Pan Tadeusz ([Sir Thaddeus, 1928, directed by Ryszard Ordyński) and Zew morza ([The call of the sea], 1927, directed by Henryk Szaro), which have undergone a complete digital reconstruction during the Nitrofilm project (2008–2014) in the National Film Archive. The aim is to show how knowledge about silent film is communicated to the audience, and how these movies can be used to achieve educational goals/targets. The theoretical framework of this essay is examining the changing function of film archives, where technological change, the possibilities of restoration and digitization of films contributes to increasing popularisation of audiovisual heritage by film archivists and museums. An essential category in this essay is the authenticity both for the reconstructed film and its presentation. The perception of authenticity often determinates strategies for presentation of this heritage. The article is based on qualitative research (interviews with the audience and workers at the film archive;participant observation, press materials and websites).