Paper short abstract:

"450 Kilos of Dreams" introduces into social world within historic Horse Racetrack Służewiec in Warsaw. Beyond hippodrome, stables for 600 horses and estate for its workers are now endangered by urban development. Regardless of this life is determined here by the annual rhythm of horses training.

Paper long abstract:

"450 kilos of Dreams" was shot over one year within horse racing community in Warsaw. This document is a part of wider ethnographic research "The Służewiec Horse Racetrack in Warsaw. A Study of Social Functions and Meanings of a Cultural Area in the Face of Changes". The goal of the film is to shed light on various aspects of everyday life within historic social enclave in Warsaw hidden from Varsovians sight by six kilometres long concrete wall since interwar times.

Horse races were never popular in Poland - the Society of horse breeders erected hippodrome possessing at the backstage spacious training city to concentrate in one place all racing horses and stable staff. In the times of the Polish People's Republic it functioned as a state-owned company - urban National Farm which additionally organized races and tote. Since the transformation 89', the horse racing is in a permanent organizational and financial crisis in Poland. The "racing town" surrounded by the is engendered by vivid urban development within capital. Regardless of this, the rhythm of everyday and annual life is determined here by the training of horses. At the micro level the document allows to enter social world in two stables: everyday work, emotions and relationships (also interspecies), within two racing stables. The selection of scenes was to convey emic perspective, specific for various social actors - from grooms to horse owners. At the macro level film depicts the social history of Racetrack Służewiec by accompanying ethnographic commentary.