From November 13-16, the Copernicus Center for Polish Studies (CCPS) at the University of Michigan was proud to sponsor the 32nd Ann Arbor Polish Film Festival (AAPFF), an annual celebration of Polish cinema organized by the Polish Cultural Fund in collaboration with the Ann Arbor Polonia Association and the U-M Polish Student Association.

Among the vibrant selection of contemporary Polish documentaries, short films, and feature-length films was a special d/Deaf Cinema Program* on November 15 at the Michigan Theater, co-organized by Festival Committee member Amy Olszewski and CCPS Widzinski Visiting Fellow Magdalena Zdrodowska (Jagiellonian University, Krakow). They were delighted to welcome deaf and deaf-blind students from the Michigan School for the Deaf accompanied by Charles Johnson, their Bilingual Language Arts and World Language Teacher. The festival provided two American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters.

Inspiration for the program came from Zdrodowska’s research project (and forthcoming book) “The Deaf History of Cinema: Technological and Cultural Relations Between Cinema and the Non-Hearing,” sponsored by the Polish National Science Centre.

Olszewski and Zdrodowska curated a selection of 5 short films (including animation, video art, and Visual Vernacular performance) by d/Deaf Polish filmmakers Tomasz Grabowski, Edyta Kozub, Klaudia Wysiadecka, and Katarzyna Stefańska-Gawor. 

The screenings were followed by a Q+A session with Zdrodowska alongside an ASL interpreter. In her remarks, Zdrodowska addressed the many challenges but improving conditions for d/Deaf communities in Poland and her own experience learning Polish Sign Language, in addition to offering a closer analysis of the screened films.

Still from "Blue 52," with text “In my own language…”
Still from Harley Quinn (Edyta Kozub)

This was the first time that a selection of Polish d/Deaf films had been presented as part of a Polish film festival, both in Poland or internationally. “Deaf filmmaking has a long tradition in Poland (as well as in Eastern Europe), as members of the deaf community documented social gatherings from the 1960s onwards and experimented with fictional films,” commented Zdrodowska. “However, it is only in recent years that a new generation of politically active Deaf filmmakers have explored issues of Deaf identity, considering deafness in terms of a linguistic and cultural minority. They focus on the experiences of d/Deaf people in hearing society, including exclusion and discrimination, as well as unique forms of d/Deaf expression, predominantly in the form of Polish Sign Language.”

Zdrodowska will further present her research at the upcoming CCPS Roundtable “Polish Cinema in the 20th and 21st Centuries: From the Center to the Margins” on December 1st at 5pm, together with CCPS Widzinski Fellow Elżbieta Durys, University of Warsaw. 

 *  "Deaf" (capital D) signifies a cultural and linguistic identity, often using sign language (like ASL), while "deaf" (lowercase d) refers to the medical aspect of not hearing, without necessarily belonging to the culture, and the slash in "d/Deaf" is used inclusively when unsure of a person's preference.