Paper short abstract:

The main issue of the film was to depict the process of transmission of traditional values between three generations of women. The problem of gender inequality laid at the core of the film making experiment.

Paper long abstract:

"Three women of different ages" is a short documentary made by Angelika Cebula in 2020 as a part of her MA diploma in Art&Design received from the Institute of Graphics and Design at the Pedagogical University of Cracow. Weronika Plinska, cultural anthropologist, was a co-supervisor of Cebula's MA thesis.

The film was made between 2018 and 2020 in a small village of Trzcianka in Southern Poland. Over the past 5 years political situation in Poland has shifted towards a conservative, right-wing, nationalist government, so the main issue of the director was to depict the process of transmission of traditional gender roles between three generations of women: Cebula's mother, her sister-in-law and their young cousin.

The main challenge for Cebula was to encourage village women to speak up since at the very beginning of the process, they struggled to find themselves in a position of an 'expert' or simply did not believe that their lives were interesting enough for a documentary. The story of each woman was therefore presented mainly through images depicting their daily routines and relationships with male characters and children. However, while working on the project, women seemed to feel more empowered. In the end, they made a protest sign together with the film director which was later used in the opening scene.