Grandmamauntsistercat

Created from archival materials of the Educational Film Studio in Łódź, the film tells the story of a matriarchal family through the eyes of a child grappling with the reproduction of ideological and representational systems. Originally created as didactic and propagandistic tools in communist Poland, the footage is repurposed as a site of auto-fictional memory, its scientific register shifted toward a treatment of the images themselves as specimens.
The classic Slavic witch figure, Baba Yaga, is reimagined as a prehistoric goddess from the time of matriarchy. This transformation provokes layered reflections on kinship and identity as the child navigates binary gender roles. The women of the family find a home in the archive, engaging in a process of self and world-making that transforms the often sexist and anthropocentric images into tools of freedom and resistance.

Zuza Banasińska is an artist and filmmaker from Warsaw, currently based in Amsterdam. GRANDMAMAUNTSISTERCAT was premiered at the Forum Expanded 2024. The film was awarded the Teddy for Best Short Film.

Forum Expanded catalog 2024