Bydgoszcz Scenes of the Polish Film Chronicle

Abstract

The Polish Film Chronicle (Polska Kronika Filmowa, PKF) was distributed in cinemas as a supplement to feature films for nearly fifty years (1944–1994). Its producers drew on a wide range of topics from both domestic and international contexts, presenting them in engaging forms. The Chronicle’s objective was to establish closer contact with mass audiences by addressing the everyday life concerns, preferably those rooted in local realities. PKF materials therefore remain a valuable source for research, enabling multifaceted analyses across anthropology, history, and media studies. Their cognitive value is significant despite the editorial constraints and censorship pressures to which they were subjected. The use of PKF archives, however, demands that historians exercise methodological care and the ability to situate news items within broader historical contexts. As the noted scholar and film historian Marek Hendrykowski has observed, “falsehood on film is never absolute and definitive”. From the corpus of nearly 3,900 PKF episodes, this article selects several dozens of thematic threads that document economic activity, cultural initiatives, commemorative celebrations, sporting events, prominent monuments, and notable individuals associated with the city on the Brda River. In total, the article identifies one hundred and nine appearances of Bydgoszcz. An assessment of the Chronicle’s coverage intensity indicates that the 1940s and the 1960s are particularly prominent periods. Among the PKF items concerning Bydgoszcz, the materials related to industrial enterprises and propagandistic visualizations of economic and infrastructural transformation predominate. The reports from construction sites and ceremonies marking the commencement of production recur frequently. The Chronicle also documented anniversary commemorations (for example, observances relating to the so-called Bloody Sunday of 1939) and a range of cultural, educational, scientific, and artistic events. PKF coverage often accompanied concerts and events held at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Pomeranian Philharmonic in Bydgoszcz.