SOLIDARITY ACCORDING TO WOMEN
The feature-length documentary entitled Solidarity according to women is a story about some
of the brave Polish women whose wisdom, determination and commitment in the opposition
movement of the 1980s helped bring about a change of the political reality in Poland. The link
between two aspects of the film is Marta Dzido – its co-director and narrator. Born in 1981,
being a symbolic daughter of the Solidarity movement, Dzido makes an attempt at locating
and reinstating women who were written out of recent Polish history.
SOLIDARITY ACCORDING TO WOMEN - short
synopsis
They were young, beautiful and they had the best years of their lives ahead of them. However
they chose to rebel instead of settling down. Those who they rebelled against tried to destroy
their marriages. Threatened them with placing their children in orphanages. They were offered
relocation to another country on the condition they refrained from activities injurious to the
system. They did not refrain from anything.
On a Saturday in August 1980, when workers, happy with having been given a raise, ended
the strike and wanted to leave the Gdańsk Shipyard, they closed the gates and thus began the
strike in solidarity. What kept them going was a belief that the revolution was meaningful,
hope for a change, a feeling of togetherness.
Solidarity according to women is a story about some of the brave Polish women whose
wisdom and determination helped bring about a change of the political reality in Poland.
The link between two aspects of the film is Marta Dzido. Born in 1981, symbolic daughter of
the Solidarity movement, makes an attempt at locating and reinstating women who were
written out of recent Polish history.
SOLIDARITY ACCORDING TO WOMEN – long
synopsis
They had the best years of their lives ahead of them.
They were in their twenties and thirties and they chose to rebel instead of settling down and
living fairly peaceful lives. Those who they rebelled against tried to destroy their marriages.
Threatened them with placing their children in orphanages or that something bad would
happen to them if they did not agree to collaborate with the secret service.
They were offered relocation to another country on the condition they refrained from
activities injurious to the system.
The did not refrain from anything.
On a Saturday in August 1980, when workers, happy with having been given a raise, ended
the strike and wanted to leave the Gdańsk Shipyard, they closed the gates and thus began the
strike in solidarity. If it had not been for the initiative of a few determined women, perhaps the
Polish history of August ’80 would not have taken place at all.
During the Martial Law, when men were imprisoned, women stepped in their shoes. They
would print the independent press, they launched and ran an underground radio station.
They did not care about sitting on the board of the Union, they did not care about ranks. What
mattered to them was work and its results.
When the Solidarity Radio was broadcasting an illegal programme, lights would be blinking
on and off all over the city as this way people showed that they were listening. The
underground Tygodnik Mazowsze weekly had a print run of a few dozen thousand copies.
Some people called them the Female Operational Group…
What kept them going was a belief that the revolution was meaningful, hope for a change,
a feeling of togetherness.
Their perspective was delivering Poland from the oppression of the Soviet Union.
Their objective was freedom and democracy.
They were absent at the Round Table talks, however. They let themselves be forgotten when
their male colleagues were assuming the most important positions in the public administration
bodies after the first free elections. They thought politics was not for them.
They keep fighting till this day but in a different way than they did at the time.
Henryka is helping rural families whose income depended on collective farming which was
abandoned after the fall of communism. Joanna is a columnist and is critical of capitalism and
the mechanisms governing modern economy. Barbara is teaching young women how to be
leaders. Ewa continues to be an active member of the Independent and Self-Governing Trade
Union Solidarność.
Barbara claims that there are no free women in the free Poland she had been fighting for.
Jadwiga is still wondering whether Poland is in fact a free country.
When asked where solidarity is to be found today, Henryka answered: At my house!
Joanna recapitulates: Solidarity cannot be repeated but knowing that a different world is
possible, leaves us hopeful”.
Festival's and Award's
- 11th New York Polish Film Festival - The Beyond Borders Krzysztof Kieslowski Award for
the best documentary
- 14th Watch Docs Festival. Human Rights in Film -3rd place in the audience plebiscite
- 12th Neisse Film Festival/ May, 2015 - main documentary competition
- 44th Lubuskie Film Summer/July 2015 - nomination for “Golden Grape”
- 7 Festiwal Niepokorni, Niezłomni, Wyklęci – nomination for “Golden Resistor”
- Special Award from Polish Film Institut
Special film screening's and debate's
Polish Cultural Institute in Vienna, Berlin,
Bratislava, Limerick, Toronto, Leipzig, Dresden; French Institute in Prague, US Embassy in
Warsaw, NGO in Moscow, Petersburg, Minsk.; Women's Rights Nights Skopje, DocuDays
Kiev, Heinrich-Böll-Foundation-Hamburg, Deutsche-Polen-Institut in Daarmstadt.
Yale University, Warsaw University, Jagiellonian University, Adam Mickiewicz University,
Konstantz University, Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg, SOAS London, AlexanderBrückner-Zentrum, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, Trinity College Dublin,
Södertörn University Stockholm, Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
Informations abaut film
Screenwriter: Marta Dzido
Directors: Piotr Śliwowski, Marta Dzido
Cinematographers: Michał Wiśniowski, Magdalena Mosiewicz, Piotr Śliwowski
Editing: Marta Dzido, Piotr Śliwowski
Music: Maria Holka
Sound design: SCH
Historical consultants: Natalia Jarska, Jan Olaszek (Polish Academy of Sciences )
Producer/distributor: Emotikonfilm Piotr Śliwowski
contact: <[email protected]>
time: 103 min. / format: HD PAL 16:9 / media: DCP, BETA DIGITAL, BLU RAY, DVD
co-financed by:
INSTITUTE OF NATIONAL REMEMBRANCE
ADAM MICKIEWICZ INSTITUTE
SILESIA FILM COMMISSION
EUROPEAN SOLIDARITY CENTRE
MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND NATIONAL HERITAGE
POLISH AMERICAN CONGRESS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION
INTERNATIONAL VISEGRAD FUND
HEINRICH BÖLL STIFTUNG
OBIEKTYW-NA FOUNDATION
CROWDFUNDING PARTICIPANTS
Solidarity according to Women is the first full-length polish documentary co-financed by
crowdfunding.
The film's heroines:
Jadwiga Chmielowska
Member of the MKZ Katowice Solidarity Management Board
Chairperson of the Silesian division of Fighting Solidarity
A wanted notice was sent out for her, spent nine years in hiding
After 1989 became an activist for democracy in Eastern Europe
Anna Dodziuk Editor of The Worker underground magazine.
Deputy Director of the Solidarity Press Agency.
Co-founder and Editor of Mazowsze Weekly.
After 1989 –became an Addiction Psychotherapist.
Joanna Duda- Gwiazda
Co-founder of Free Labor Unions.
Presidium member of the Strike Committee at the Gdańsk Shipyard.
Co-author of the 21 August Demands.
After 1989 –joined the opposition to the ruling parties.
Janina Jankowska
Reporter for Radio Solidarity
Co-founder of Independent Record Label NOWA
writer for Mazowsze Weekly.
After 1989 –joined the management team of the Polish Radio and Television.
Henryka Krzywonos
Participant of the strike at the Gdańsk Shipyard in 1980
Signatory of the August Agreements.
After 1989 – runs a foster home.
Ewa Kubasiewicz
Co-organizer of the strike at the Gdynia Maritime University in 1981.
Sentenced to 10 years in prison for distributing a leaflet.
Activist for Fighting Solidarity.
After 1989 – emigrated to France.
Barbara Labuda
Activist for Workers' Defense Committee
Leader of Solidarity Trade Union's free educational centre.
Advisor to the Lower Silesia Solidarity Board.
After 1989 – became a member of the House of Parliament.
Helena Łuczywo
Co-founder of The Worker underground magazine.
Editor-in-chief of Solidarity Press Agency
Editor of Mazowsze Weekly.
After 1989 – co-founded Gazeta Wyborcza daily, later Agora Media Group
Ewa Ossowska
Participant of the strike at the Gdańsk Shipyard in 1980.
Staff member of Solidarity Inter-Factory Founding Committee.
After 1989 – emigrated to Italy.
Alina Pienkowska
Activist for Free Labor Unions.
Participant of the strike at the Gdańsk Shipyard in 1980. Signatory of the August Agreements.
After 1989 – became a senator, later sat on the Gdańsk city council, died in 2002.
Maryla Płońska
Co-organizer of the independent celebrations of the anniversary of December 1970.
Activist for Free Labor Unions. Participant of the strike at the Gdańsk Shipyard in 1980.
After 1989 – retired, died in 2011.
Zofia Romaszewska
Co-founder of the Workers' Defense Committee Intervention Office.
Co-founder of, and broadcaster at, underground station Radio Solidarity.
After 1989 – became the Director of the Office of Intervention to the Senate.
Bożena Rybicka
Co-founder of Young Poland Movement.
Member of the strike at the Gdańsk Shipyard in 1980. Secretary to Lech Wałęsa.
After 1989 – became leader of the Gdańsk Charity Foundation.
Grażyna Staniszewska
Leader of Solidarity Trade Union's free educational centre in the Podbeskidzie region.
The only woman to represent Solidarity during the Round Table Talks.
After 1989 – became a member of the House of Parliament, later a member of the European
Parliament.
Jadwiga Staniszkis
The only woman among experts advising the Gdańsk Shipyard strike of 1980.
Advisor to Solidarity after the August Agreements. After 1989 – political pundit.
Anna Walentynowicz
Activist for Free Labor Unions.
Signatory of the August Agreements. Co-founder of NSZZ Solidarity.
After 1989 – joined the opposition to the ruling parties, died in the Smoleńsk plane crash on
April 10th, 2010.
Ludwika Wujec
Staff member of Workers' Defense Committee
Co-founder of The Worker magazine. Editor of Mazowsze Weekly.
After 1989 – became involved in local politics.
Ewa Zydorek
Solidarity activist since 1981.
Since 2010, Secretary of the National Commission of Solidarity.
Short information about filmmakers:
MARTA DZIDO- (born in 1981), Marta Dzido is a writer, documentary filmmaker and film
editor. She studied at the Polish Film School in Łódź. Marta made her debut with a novella "A
Mark Left by Mom", published in the anthology Proza życia (The Prose of Life, 2003), then
issued as a separate book in 2006. Her debut novel is entitled Małż (The Clam, 2005),
followed by a hypertext, Matrioszka (2013). “Ślad po mamie” and Małż have been translated
into Vietnamese, and all three of her books have been adapted to the theater.
Marta Dzido is also a filmmaker. She was director of photography of the documentary
Underground Women’s State (2009), and co-director( with Piotr Sliwowski) of Downtown, a
documentary that has won the Hollywood Eagle Documentary Award in 2011Marta Dzido is
also the author of a book entitled Women of Solidarity ( publihed by Swiat Ksiązki in 2015)
based on a documentary Solidarity according to Women
Marta Dzido is also the author of a book entitled Women of Solidarity (publihed by Swiat
Ksiązki in 2015) based on a documentary Solidarity according to Women.
PIOTR ŚLIWOWSKI (born 1972) - filmmaker, producer, reporter. From 2005 till 2012
worked as a reporter and producer for TVP Kultura - culture channel of national tv. His first
movie is documentary entitled "DOWNTOWN" (2010) - co-director ( with Marta Dzido) and
producer. He is a director and producer of historical documentary series “Independent
Culture in Polish People's Republic" (2010). He also participated in an artistic film project
„Repetition”(recreation of Zimbardo's experiment) by Artur Zmijewski (Biennale, Venice,
2005)
MARIA HOLKA (born 1985) – a Polish composer, music arranger, singer, pianist, an author
of the lyrics, majored in the history of music. The graduate of the Secondary National Music
School “ Bednarska “ and the Master of the Applied Music Sciences. A specialist in
composing and performing of the music for the feature films, for the theatre, commercials, as
well as the educational music. Most importantly, a solist and a co-creator of the music band
Retrospektakl, which tours on the national and international level. She contributed and
worked for the Theater fur Niedersachsen-Hildesheim, the Polish National Recordings, the
Radio “ Warszawa “, Kinoradio, Solition Publishing, Bahama Films, Unplugged Orchestra.
MAGDALENA MOSIEWICZ
Studied philosophy at Jaciellonian University in Cracow and cinematography in National
Film School in Lodz. Worked as a journalist for culture channel of national tv TVP Kultura .
MICHAL WISNIOWSKI born in Warsaw, 1988, graduated Directing of Photography at
Warsaw Academy of Movie and Television, Photography and Television Realisation at Lodz
National Film, Television and Theatre School.
http://www.solidarnoscwedlugkobiet.com/
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