Page 74 - Centrum Dialogu im. Marka Edelmana w Łodzi. Time of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto. Film images.
P. 74

A still from Photographer   leaflet. Director Dariusz Jabłoński proposes a reading
            [Fotoamator]              method of the film based on patient search for what es-
            directed by Dariusz Jabłoński,
            1998 – courtesy           caped the photographer’s control.
            of Apple Film Production     A  camera  slowly  zooming  in  on  a  woman’s  face
                                      (close-up of her eyes) creates the effect of her looking
                                      at the viewer. It evokes a subconscious anxiety, all the
                                      more so because her gaze  reaches out to us, but at the
                                      same time she is trying to hide from us. The audience
                                      may perceive the fear in her eyes as a fear of them. This
                                      image serves as a means of developing a fictitious, non-
                                      simultaneous relationship, thus creating an effective
                                      event, which – despite its being created by the film – is
                                      not ethically neutral. The camera zoom is transformed
                                      into the ‘meaningful’ gaze of the victim from within the
                                      frame, which ‘identifies’ a potential viewer with the po-
                                      sition and sight of the one who took the picture. Her
                                      gaze identifies the viewer of ‘now’ with the photographer
                                      who looked at her ‘then’. Such perception provoked by
                                      the camera work goes beyond things which can be in-
                                      cluded in a purely visual order – it is a ‘visual performa-
                                      tive’  aimed  at  provoking  the  audience’s  emotions,
                                      stimulating their imaginations, which aims to help them
                                      empathize. Since in our imagination and emotions we


            72         Tomasz Majewski
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