Illinois Global Institute

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Slavic Dept Lecture: "PRL Noir: Specters of Communism in Contemporary Polish Cinema"

Oct 13, 2025   5:00 pm  
2090B LCLB
Lecture
Sponsor
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures; Department of Comparative and World Literature; the Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center; and the European Union Center
Speaker
Łukasz Wodzynski (Assistant Professor, Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Cost
Free and open to the public
Contact
David Cooper
E-Mail
dlcoop@illinois.edu
Views
26
Originating Calendar
Russian, E. European & Eurasian Center: Co-sponsored Events

In his presentation, Prof. Wodzynski defines and examines the phenomenon of “PRL Noir”: a series of tele-cinematic returns to Poland’s socialist period (PRL standing for “People’s Republic of Poland”) that channel present-day anxieties over communism’s grim legacy through the highly stylized medium of crime drama. What makes these Polish productions distinct among the current wave of “global noir” films and television series? Can film noir—and crime drama more broadly—serve as a medium for cultural memory? Does “the specter of communism” still haunt East-Central Europe?

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