Representation of poverty in Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian documentary films of the post-communist period

ABSTRACT

This article examines the representation of poor families in three documentary films from the Baltic region, produced after the fall of state socialism: Ewa Borzęcka's 13 or Trzynastka/Thirteen (1996, Poland), Marat Sargsyan's Tėvas/Father (2012, Lithuania) and Andris Gauja's Ģimenes lietas/Family Instinct (2010, Latvia). Each film does so by focusing on a family which does not fit the dominant notion of a normal family and instead comes across as a ‘pathological’ family. Our argument is that by foregrounding such a connection the filmmakers play down the state's responsibility for ensuring a decent standard of living for all citizens.

KEYWORDS:

• Poverty
• social exclusion
• Eastern European cinema
• Latvian documentary
• Lithuanian documentary
• Polish documentary

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. One wonders if such an opinion does not help to normalize poverty by underscoring its alleged beauty, but considering this problem is beyond the scope of this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ewa Mazierska

Ewa Mazierska is Professor of Film Studies, at the University of Central Lancashire. She published over twenty monographs and edited collections on film and popular music. They include Poland Daily: Economy, Work, Consumption and Social Class in Polish Cinema (Berghahn, 2017), Marxism and Film Activism (Berghahn, 2015), with Lars Kristensen, Relocating Popular Music (Palgrave, 2015), with Georgina Gregory, From Self- Fulfillment to Survival of the Fittest: Work in European Cinema from the 1960s to the Present (Berghahn, 2015) and European Cinema and Intertextuality: History, Memory, Politics (Palgrave, 2011). Mazierska's work was translated into many languages, including French, Italian, German, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Estonian and Serbian. She is also principal editor of a Routledge journal, Studies in Eastern European Cinema.

Renata Šukaitytė

Renata Šukaitytė is Associate Professor of Film Studies at Vilnius University, Faculty of Communication. Her publications in the areas of cinema and new media art and culture have appeared in Lithuania and abroad. She is the co-author, with Jūratė Tūtlytė, of Creative Industries: A Text Book (Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas, 2008) and the editor of Baltic Cinemas After 90’s: Shifting (Hi)Stories and (Id)Entities (Vilniaus dailės akademijos leidykla, 2010), The Garden of Digital Delights: Rethinking Cross-media Practices in Contemporary Art and Culture (co-edited with Christopher Hales, Vilniaus dailės akademijos leidykla, 2012), Film and Philosophy. Athena: Philosophical Studies (Lietuvos kultūros tyrimų institutas, 2013). She is a member of Lithuanian Film Academy.