Far from Poland

Denied a visa in 1981 to visit Poland and film the Solidarity movement, filmmaker Jill Godmilow chose to examine the struggles of Polish life far from Poland. Appearing as narrator, author, and character, Godmilow critiques the documentary form and its claims to truth and objectivity. While raising cinematic questions about making a film about other people's struggles, the film combines reality and fiction and is organized around the themes of romance, ideology and economics. Includes dramatizations of interviews with Anna Walentynowicz, a leader in the Gdansk strikes, K-62, a government censor, and a fantasy sequence with Premier Jaruzelski. These are interwoven with the discussions of a Polish emigré couple, footage shot by the Solidarity Film Agency, a televised speech by Ronald Reagan, and soap opera-like sequences featuring the problematic relationship of the filmmaker and her boyfriend.