The exhibition "Film Forever", cyanotype and found footage workshops, tours of conservation and digitization studios, Home Movie Day, and further meetings and screenings around the Polish Film Heritage List – these are the autumn events accompanying the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute. We invite you to the Iluzjon cinema and our headquarters on Wałbrzyska and Chełmska streets! FINA continues to celebrate its 70th birthday in various forms and ways. An extremely important part of these jubilee celebrations for the institution was the announcement, on October 27th, World Audiovisual Heritage Day, of the Polish Film Heritage List (LPDF) prepared by our specialists, featuring the first 70 films significant both from the perspective of Polish cinema history and the archive itself. We have also started a series of accompanying meetings and screenings at the Iluzjon cinema – the next one will take place on Thursday, November 20th at 7:00 PM under the theme "Heritage Protection" with a screening of a film from the "Oko" camera and "The Last Stage" (1947) by Wanda Jakubowska. 📅 Earlier, at 6:00 PM, we invite you to the opening of the jubilee exhibition "Film Forever", which problematizes issues related to the protection of film heritage based on 70 years of experience of the National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute. This unique exhibition will, for the first time in Poland, showcase what we do every day: the extraordinary work, invisible to outsiders and hidden in the institution's archives, of finding, protecting, conserving, and digitally restoring the greatest works of Polish cinematography. The exhibition is divided into two parts: - The broader part will cover the foyer of the Iluzjon cinema, presenting issues related to materials that show the viewer's experience. - The second, located in the rotunda, focuses on the problem of the disappearing image, i.e., the fleeting delicacy of film tape, which at the same time remains the most durable carrier of film image. This shadowed part will present the process of degradation and the fight to restore it. On large-format prints and projection materials, the effects of conservators' work will be presented as multimedia essays. Viewers will be able to experience the full spectrum of effects that time leaves on stored films, often creating spectacular and even revue-like color palettes. On the occasion of the jubilee, we will also open the doors of our headquarters wider and show the public the key studios that are usually inaccessible. 📅 On November 29th, we invite you to Wałbrzyska 3/5 for a tour of the Digitization and Digital Restoration Department – an opportunity to get acquainted with specialized equipment and software used in advanced film reconstruction and digital restoration, learn about the process of preparing FINA's archival materials for digital access, and peek into the screening room, where short spots presenting the team's work will be shown. The tour will take place in two rounds, for groups of 10 – registration required. 📅 On December 6th, we invite you to visit the conservation studios and FINA archive at Chełmska 21 (building no. 28), where you can see the work of tape conservators behind the scenes, observe how the viewing table works, discover some secrets of the five-story non-flammable tape warehouse, browse the card catalog, and learn how to obtain film materials for various projects. The program also includes screenings of archival film materials on analog and digital equipment – including a fragment of a 1920s report showing the chocolate production cycle. The tour will take place in 3 rounds, in groups of 10, with prior registration required. The jubilee program is complemented by workshops: - On November 28-30, we invite you to Wałbrzyska 3/5 for intergenerational, three-day found footage workshops. These unique creative sessions, led by director Michał Bielawski (author of acclaimed documentaries "Wind. A Documentary Thriller" (2019) and "Passenger Andrzej Munk" (2025)) and Piotr Gorszczyński, editor and lecturer at the Warsaw Film School, will use the found footage technique and rich archival materials from FINA's resources (including fragments of pre-war films) to create their own film stories, giving old images new meanings and filtering them through their own sensitivity. Film self-reflection, sports, Warsaw landscapes, senses, sex appeal, woman/man – these are the main themes. The workshops are an opportunity for representatives of different generations, younger and older viewers (ages 14+) to share their perspectives on history and see how different viewpoints meet in the creative process. It's also a great chance to hone your film skills and reflect deeply on memory and film heritage. 📅 On December 6th at the Wałbrzyska headquarters, at 11:00 AM, there will be a two-hour St. Nicholas Day cyanotype workshop for adults – one of the oldest photographic techniques, sometimes called sun painting, resulting in prints with a characteristic blue tint. Participants will learn about the history of old photography, see how unique prints are made, and, of course, create their own compositions to take home. All necessary materials are provided; just wear comfortable clothes that you don't mind getting dirty. Due to organizational reasons, the number of places for all workshops is limited – prior registration required. This part of the jubilee celebrations will conclude on December 13th at the Iluzjon cinema with the Home Movie Day event, organized in cooperation with the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and the Viva Archiva Foundation. Home Movie Day is a special day when we collectively discover the unofficial history of cinema and visual culture recorded on 8 mm, Super 8, 16 mm tapes, or VHS cassettes – personal cinema, often hidden in drawers and attics. What was primarily memory for its creators and protagonists now becomes a testimony of the era, its aesthetics, customs, and ways of seeing. Home Movie Day is a time when these private archives are revived, and home movies become a shared experience. As an introduction and preview of what will happen at Iluzjon during Home Movie Day, from December 10th there will be an installation by Iga Łapińska and the Viva Archiva Foundation – a recontextualization of VHS memories from FINA's collections. And on Saturday, December 13th, we invite not only Warsaw residents to share their home movies and screen them in the Mała Czarna room. In the Iluzjon space, the Film Archive's conservation team will prepare tapes for projection, demonstrating how media care works in practice. The day will end with an evening lecture by cultural studies scholar Dr. Agata Zborowska, who will present the "Not so Ordinary" project dedicated to home movies of Chicago's Polish community for the first time in Poland – and a unique screening from a 16 mm cinema projector. It will feature home movies from the private archive of painter Bartek Materka, selected by curators from the Museum of Modern Art, Aniela Trojanowska and Katarzyna Karwańska. The screening will be enriched by live music performed by Antoni Skrzyniarz and Tytus Materka. All Home Movie Day events are free of charge.
