Slide 1

New Londoners Immigration Narratives in Contemporary Polish Culture Kris Van Heuckelom K.U.Leuven kris@vanheuckelom.be Slide 2 A Polish emigrant boarding the 'General Grant' (1907, Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Slide 3 Adam Mickiewicz, The Books of the Polish Nation and the Polish Pilgrimage (Paris 1832) Slide 4 Manuela Gretkowska, We Are Immigrants Here & Paris Tarot (Warsaw 1991 & 1993) Slide 5 Londoners, Polish Public Television (TVP 1), 2008- 2009 (2 seasons, 29 episodes) Slide 6 Mazierska 2009 Polish migration to the UK in the 'new' European Union: after 2004 (in K. Burrell (ed.), Polish migration to the UK in the 'new' European Union: after 2004) Slide 7 Mazierska 2009 Polish migration to the UK in the 'new' European Union: after 2004 they [Polish films] treat an emigrant as an anomaly from the norm and a problem for which somebody is to blame (p. 123) Polish emigrants are rarely featured in films produced in other countries (p. 109) Slide 8 UK 1982 dir. Jerzy Skolimowski Slide 9 The Grass Is Greener Everywhere Else BRD 1989 dir. Michael Klier Slide 10 The Illegal France 1994 dir. Jean-Louis Bertucelli Slide 11 Ant Street Austria 1995 dir. Michael Glawogger Slide 12 The Ballad of the Windscreen Washers Italy 1998 dir. Peter Del Monte Slide 13 The Polish Bride The Netherlands 1998 dir. Karim Tradia Slide 14 Austria 2003 dir. Ruth Mader Slide 15 Four Weeks in June Sweden 2004 dir. Henry Meyer Slide 16 UK 2007 dir. Ken Loach Slide 17 UK 2007 dir. Dominic Lees Slide 18 UK 2008 dir. Shane Meadows Slide 19 Strong identification of labor migration and Polish ethnicity Labor migrants are (often) Poles Poles are (often) labor migrants Slide 20 Two categories The action takes place 1. during communism 2. after the fall of communism Slide 21 First category 1. Polish main characters 2. Rare & unpleasant contacts with locals 3. Tragic elements Slide 22 Moonlighting Slide 23 Second category 1. Polish & local main characters 2. Interethnic love story 3. The newcomer helps the locals and solves their problems Slide 24 Slide 25 postmodern migrant Slide 26 political emigrant Slide 27 Exile vs. Gastarbeiter Slide 28 Andrzej Slide 29 Andrzejs future father-in-law Slide 30 Polska vs. Obczyzna Slide 31 Nina Slide 32 Interethnic romances & marriages Slide 33 Season 1, final episode (engagement of Darek & Mariola) Slide 34 Season 2, final episode (wedding of Darek & Mariola) Slide 35 Season 2, final episode (wedding of Andrzej & Asia) Slide 36 Polish couples in Londyczycy Slide 37 Nina Slide 38 Pawe defends Polish interests Slide 39 Andrzej the Polish problem solver Slide 40 New Londoners Immigration Narratives in Contemporary Polish Culture Kris Van Heuckelom K.U.Leuven kris@vanheuckelom.be