Invisible Giant

Abstract

Over the course of his twenty-year artistic career, Wojciech Smarzowski has demonstrated his ability to employ fast-paced, emotionally charged cinematic language, all while maintaining a keen observational eye on Poland. While academic discussions frequently focus on the stylistic and thematic aspects of his cinema, the aim of this article is to clarify the reasons for his surprisingly limited exposure to international audiences, suggesting three major causes. First, Smarzowski straddles the intersection of ambitious auteurist cinema akin to that of his contemporaries Jan Jakub Kolski and Dorota Kędzierzawska, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, the entertainment industry, represented above all by Władysław Pasikowski and Patryk Vega. That synthesis makes it difficult to market his works with specific target groups in mind. Second, his filmmaking practice is persistently compartmentalized as “exclusively Polish” and framed as continuing Andrzej Wajda's engaged national legacy, thus supposedly incomprehensible to a foreign viewer. Third, labeling Smarzowski cinema as “too Polish” becomes an obstacle in international promotion as Polish jury and committee members seem to opt for safer and more “appropriate” films. An examination of the international sales of Polish language films and the processes involved in Polish film submissions to the Academy Awards reveals that domestic politics and the confounding categorization of Smarzowski's art exert a decisive influence on its exposure to international audiences.