Film’s Feisty Femmes

Helena Goscilo’s current research resides in the domains of celebrity studies and film: namely, an edited  collection titled Starlight and Stargazers: Slavic Screen Celebrities and a monograph on current Polish women film directors, Film's Feisty Femmes: Current Polish Directors. Down the line are a co-written book on the multimedia Anna Karenina and resumption of work on a study of graphics from Stalin to Yeltsin. Vincent Albarano is an Ohio-based independent writer and researcher focusing on underground and genre cinema. He received his MA in Film Studies from The Ohio State University in 2022. His first book, Aesthetic Deviations: A Critical View of American Shot-on-Video Horror, 1984-1994, was published by Headpress in 2023.

• PrefaceIntroductionChapter 1: Privilege, Ambition, and Professional Savvy: Małgorzata SzumowskaChapter 2: Family as a House of Pain: Magdalena PiekorzChapter 3: Feminism in Major Keys: Agnieszka SmoczyńskaChapter 4: Between Gynocentrism and Soft Porn or the Seduction of Pop Capital/ism: Maria SadowskaChapter 5: The Rewards of Implication in Narrating Gendered Predicaments: Anna JadowskaChapter 6: Life on the Edge vs. Smiling Closures: Kinga DębskaChapter 7: Fine Beginnings: Kazejak, Chajdas, SzelcAfterword

“Scholars have been noting for some time the growing number of female auteurs in the Polish production space. Helena Goscilo and Vincent Albarano now treat us to an account of their distinctive styles, thematic approaches, and industry strategies. They make an excellent team: as a leading expert on both Polish cinema and women's creative practices in Eastern Europe more globally, Goscilo writes from a place of deep, embedded knowledge, while Albarano, a specialist of genre cinema, contributes sparkling close readings of individual works. The result is a meticulously researched yet highly engaging take on one of the most important developments in Eastern European cinema today.” — Masha Shpolberg, Assistant Professor, Bard College