In this brief animation, the Polish-born, UK-based filmmaker Ewa Smyk combines personal history and anthropology to explore how courtship and marriage unfolded in eastern Poland in the 1950s and ’60s. Based in part on entries from Smyk’s grandfather’s journal, the piece outlines a sequence of flirtation, gifts of bread and vodka and, finally, a dowry negotiation to seal the deal. Her use of personal objects – including old notebooks and family photos – for the stop-motion animated treatment and traditional Polish music for the score lend an endearing layer to the viewing experience. Through these deeply personal production choices, Smyk’s work conveys a joy and charm rarely seen in stories depicting life in this time and place.
Flirtation, negotiation and vodka – or how to couple up in 1950s rural Poland
Director: Ewa Smyk
29 May 2024
videoHome
Cheng visits his hometown, awash in the tides of history and time
20 minutes
videoHistory of technology
The Americas’ oldest book is an intricate work of Maya astronomy
9 minutes
videoGender
In an act of resistance, Elahe forgoes a hijab at a family party
27 minutes
videoArt
A young Rockefeller collects art on a fateful journey to New Guinea
7 minutes
videoAnthropology
Margaret Mead explains why the family was entering a brave new world in this 1959 film
29 minutes
videoAgeing and death
Memories of friends and neighbours light the streets of a seaside village in England
11 minutes
videoFamily life
A mother and child bond in an unusual prison visitation space in this poignant portrait
11 minutes
videoArchaeology
At a prehistoric pigment mine, researchers glimpse our earliest moments in the Americas
25 minutes
videoWellbeing
Children of the Rwandan genocide face a unique stigma 30 years later
20 minutes