Konrad Klejsa on Film Censorship in Socialist Poland

In this conversation, Kris Van Heuckelom, Professor of Polish Studies and Cultural Studies at KU Leuven, speaks with Konrad Klejsa (University of Łódź), a leading scholar of socialist-era Polish cinema. Their exchange turns to the often paradoxical workings of film censorship under communism: not merely as a blunt instrument of suppression, but as a filtering mechanism that withheld some films while—selectively—allowing others to circulate. Klejsa reflects on the uneven privileges granted to specific circles of viewers, as well as on the fissures that opened within the system, where alternative modes of access and interpretation could emerge in the cracks of official control.

You can explore the Foreign Feature Films in People’s Poland database—an open-access academic resource, created by Konrad Klejsa and documenting the circulation of international cinema in the PRL—here: http://watchedinprl.uni.lodz.pl