Paper short abstract:

An experimental film on the topic of Polish identity caught up in the polarised narratives of nationalism and religion. Dipping in and out of bombastic political commemorations and the elusive remains of multiculturalism, we ask, what alternatives can we construct?

Paper long abstract:

The events surrounding the Smolensk catastrophe saw the polish ex-president Kaczynski equated with Jesus, and Poland became the blood-sodden ground of the forgotten innocent howling for revenge! Although this tired image of Poland is something that sickens most young Polish people today, the dramatic events of the nation's past have been drummed into it's subconscious to such a degree and with such poetical furore, that an alternative is very difficult to construct. "The Others" takes the footage and expands or displaces it somewhat across three screens. The subtitles linger a little longer than the images, the screens switch on, change, move, and although a traditional narrative is still kept within the film, the triptych highlights not only the fictional nature of the documentary, but of national identity in general.

Rather than facilitating the desired return of a "true" national past, the re-enactment of myths and narratives through poetically-infused remembrance days, paradoxically highlights the fictitious nature of a nation's identity. As such - in this constant process of self-fictionalisation, in a pendulum between the East and West: Can Poland's attempt at self-definition be seen as emancipatory reminder, that the 19th century Western concept of "nation" and the East-West hierarchies on which the country currently depends on, are based on fiction? In this light, can new narratives be created? The film ends with two groups holding flags. The three little pigs, blank faced, bereft of a stage script, wait for the story to begin...