On Wednesday, April 24, Michal Matuszewski (University of Warsaw, Poland) gave a seminar on "Animating Life and Death and the Hunter's Eye: An Introduction to Film Animal Studies trough Polish Nature Films" to a group of members of the UPF Center for Animal Ethics, the UPF CritiCC research group at the Department of Communication, members of the Film Studies section at the same department, and other researchers from other UPF and non-UPF departments.

Michal describes his dissertation work as being at the intersection of critical animal studies with film theory and history. His interdisciplinary gaze examines not only the representation of non-humans, but also the "animalistic" modalities inherent in the medium itself. Central to his research is the possibility of transcending the human perspective by using cinema and audiovisual media to deepen our understanding of the human relationship with the world around us.

In his presentation, Michal offered an introduction to what he calls "Film Animal Studies”. The field revolves around two main strands. The first strand is the figure of the zoo, which serves as a model for shaping the "zoological gaze" and influencing how animals are framed in culture. This underscores the shared cultural history of zoos and film, revealing a common 'configuration of the gaze'. The second strand shifts the focus to the representation of animal death in cinema, examining both its literal representation in the use of animal bodies in art and film, and its theoretical implications related to the mechanical reproduction of still (dead) images. André Bazin's insights on death in cinema, re-examined through a feminist materialist lens, provide valuable perspectives.

It is in this context that Michal situates his research on Polish nature films from 1940 to 1960. This period witnessed the production of numerous scientific, educational, and nature films in Poland, especially biological films that oscillated between scientific rigor and artistic experimentation. Filmmakers grappled with the relationship between the medium of film and the principles of natural science, resulting in a constant interplay between movement, attempts to depict the mysteries of life, and the mechanical animation of specimens made from animal bodies. At the same time, nature documentaries, including the work of the pioneering nature documentarian Włodzimierz Puchalski, introduced concepts such as "bloodless hunting," revealing a nuanced perspective on the filming of nature that combines a rejection of violence with the colonizing logic of hunting. 

Michal's research combines philosophical reflections on the medium of film with discourse analysis to explore how Polish nature films have shaped perceptions of animals and plants, and how certain discourses or perceptions have influenced people's ambivalent attitudes towards nature. Ultimately, this research aims to address the broader question of whether and how the medium of film serves as a valuable tool for understanding the relationship between humans and non-humans. 

Bio: Michał Matuszewski is a PhD researcher at the Doctoral School in Humanities, University of Warsaw, Poland, in the field of cultural studies and critical “film animal studies”. He is working on a dissertation entitled "Bloodless hunting? Polish Nature Film 1945-2005" on a cultural history of polish wildlife films and discourses on nature and animals. Michał is also a film curator, festival programmer, researcher, author, and film essayist. Head of a Film Essay Studio at the vnLab of the im Łodź Film School. He is a scholarship holder of the Culture and Animals and Animals Foundation and works on the film project based on visual research on the animal gaze in cinema. His recent film essay project "Re-membering Topsy" was presented at the National Museum of Warsaw. He is a co-leader of the Film Animal Studies Workgroup at NECS - European Network for Cinema and Media Studies.