The University of Warsaw and the National Film Archive are collaborating on a course regarding movie translations and dubbings from the interwar period. Every Thursday at 5 P.M. the Iluzjon Cinema will screen a movie preceded by a presentation about the film and its translation history. The best thing is the course isn’t limited to UW students only but is open to everyone interested.
National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute or FINA (abbreviation from Polish: Filmoteka Narodowa – Instytut Audiowizualny) is an archive that emerged from two previously established institutions: National Film Archive and Audiovisual Institute on June 1st 2017. Its mission is to collect, retrieve, digitize and share older pieces of culture. They are certainly fulfilling that goal through the Academy of Film Translation course.
The point of the project is to explain the mechanisms and stories from behind how famous movies from the 20th century were translated into Polish. The lecturers will elaborate on the language used and the specifics of the translation work. The students will also get acquainted with the canon of cinematography.
The films were picked by NFA based on the style of translation, as the course desires to show its progression. Starting from silent movies with captioned whiteboards, through ones with subtitles, the course ends with dubbings. Among the presented titles will be Through the Back Door (1921), Love (1927), Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Crime Story (1938).
While the project is mostly dedicated to the students of Applied Linguistics and as a humanistic additional class (so-called OGUN) at the University of Warsaw, everyone can come to Iluzjon Cinema and buy tickets for any movie they’re interested in. UW students interested in this course may buy a pass for a reduced price, which allows them to enter all screenings.
Look here for more information.