The Use of Anger. Subversive American Cinema at KINOMUZEUM for the 50th Anniversary of the American Studies Center, University of Warsaw
“The Use of Anger. Subversive American Cinema” is a film section of this year’s Millennium Docs Against Gravity film festival, presenting documentary films devoted to American culture and resistance cinema. Screenings of documentary and experimental works—shaped in opposition to Hollywood narratives – will be accompanied by meetings with experts in American culture. The program raises questions about how grassroots organizing in the United States has developed in the struggle for human rights and for a better, more just world – especially for Black people, queer communities, and women. The screenings will take place at KINOMUZEUM from May 8–17. The section is curated by Dr. Krystyna Mazur and Dr. Gabriela Sitek. It accompanies the 50th anniversary of the American Studies Center at the University of Warsaw.
[Black-and-white photo of a demonstration: a crowd of people marches down a street with a banner reading “Vietnam Veterans Against the War.”]
Still from the film “Notes and Images from the Vietnam War. For Teachers and Students”, directed by Jill Godmilow
“We must build everything anew, step by step, brick by heavy brick – create a future based on creative difference, a global order capable of supporting our free choices”.This is what Audre Lorde wrote in 1981, describing herself as a Black feminist lesbian mother poet. Her essay “The Use of Anger” (from “Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches”) serves as an inspiration for examining American history within the framework of the 23rd MDAG.
Partners of the retrospective include the American Studies Center at the University of Warsaw; the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw; KINOMUZEUM; Jasna 10: The Social Institution of Culture of Krytyka Polityczna; Lambda Warszawa; and QueerMuzeum.
The 23rd MDAG will take place from May 8–17, 2026 in cinemas across seven cities (Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Poznań, Katowice, Łódź, and Bydgoszcz), and online from May 19 to June 1 at mdag.pl. Festival passes and industry and media accreditations for the Warsaw edition are already on sale, with limited availability. All information is available at book.mdag.pl. Single tickets for screenings will go on sale on April 23 at mdag.pl and via festival cinemas’ websites and box offices.
Activism in the Era of the AIDS Epidemic
[Blurred composition of several frames: David Wojnarowicz standing, a close-up of a face, a reclining figure, and a fragment of a nude torso against visual static.]
Still from the film “A Chapter in David Wojnarowicz’s Life 1989–1991. Self-Portrait in 23 Rounds”, directed by Marion Scemama
The section opens with a screening of “Self-Portrait in 23 Rounds: A Chapter in David Wojnarowicz’s Life 1989–1991” (France, 2018, 80 min). Marion Scemama constructs her film essay around a 1989 interview conducted by cultural theorist Sylvère Lotringer with David Wojnarowicz, one of the leading figures of the 1980s New York art scene. This took place two years after the artist was diagnosed with HIV. A painter, sculptor, photographer, performer, director of transgressive cinema, and activist, Wojnarowicz speaks about intimate moments of his life, anger at the social indifference to the AIDS epidemic, grief, and his approaching death. His work was fiercely political at a time when the AIDS crisis led to a vast number of preventable deaths and was accompanied by the stigmatization of non-heteronormative people. Scemama’s film richly incorporates Wojnarowicz’s work, including previously unused archival materials.
The screening will be accompanied by one of Cheryl Dunye’s early experimental films, “Janine” (USA, 1990), which oscillates between fiction and documentary and addresses resistance to racism and homophobia.
After the screening, Dr. Jędrzej Burszta and Dr. Krystyna Mazur will discuss the work of David Wojnarowicz and Cheryl Dunye, as well as the history of queer activism in the United States. Both guests are lecturers at the American Studies Center at the University of Warsaw.
Resistance to Racism and the Vietnam War
[Angela Davis sits at a small table opposite a man in a simple room; cigarettes, an ashtray, and a cup are on the table.]
Still from the film “The Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975”, directed by Göran Hugo Olsson
“The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975” (Sweden, USA, 2011) by Göran Hugo Olsson focuses on the struggle against racism. It analyzes the evolution of the Black Power movement in African American communities and the diaspora, using archival footage recorded by Swedish television in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The archival material is interwoven with contemporary interviews with leading African American artists, activists, musicians, and scholars. The film features voices including Angela Davis and Erykah Badu.
A closer look at the history of civic protest in the United States will be offered by “For Teachers and Students – Notes and Images from the Viet Nam War” (USA, 2022, 45 min) by the late, legendary director Jill Godmilow. In one of her final works, she revisits the scale of U.S. military actions in Vietnam, crimes committed against civilians and the ecosystem, and emphasizes the crucial role of war journalists in enabling public resistance and protest that contributed to ending the conflict. The film serves as a lesson in tools of civic dissent that can help curb violence.
[Angela Davis sits at a small table opposite a man in a simple room; cigarettes, an ashtray, and a cup are on the table.]
Still from the film “The Black Power Mixtape 1967–1975”, directed by Göran Hugo Olsson
The screening will be followed by a discussion on the history of American imperialism with Dr. Jan Smoleński, a political scientist and researcher of American political thought, also affiliated with the American Studies Center at the University of Warsaw.
Audre Lorde’s Call: The Intimate and Politicized Experience of Breast Cancer
[Color photo of a protest: people with banners, including “RESISTANCE,” and a poster featuring a portrait of Audre Lorde.]
Still from the film: “The Cancer Journals Revisited”, directed by Lana Lin
The section will also feature “The Cancer Journals Revisited” (USA, 2018) by Lana Lin, an invitation to reread Audre Lorde’s classic 1980 book “The Cancer Journals”. It recounts the experience of breast cancer and mastectomy, framed both as an intimate personal experience and a politicized public issue. In Lin’s film, 27 artists and activists who have experienced the disease share their stories. The diversity of voices allows for an understanding of how breast cancer is lived differently depending on gender identity, sexuality, and inequalities related to migration backgrounds. It is also a call to action for self-determination in the face of such an experience.
“The Use of Anger. Subversive American Cinema” is organized as part of the 23rd Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival, marking the 50th anniversary of the American Studies Center at the University of Warsaw.
Curatorial team: Dr. Gabriela Sitek, Dr. Krystyna Mazur.
[A Black woman sits cross-legged on a mat, reading a book she holds in her hands.]
Still from the film: “The Cancer Journals Revisited”, directed by Lana Lin
Partners of the retrospective include the American Studies Center at the University of Warsaw, the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, KINOMUZEUM, Jasna 10: The Social Institution of Culture of Krytyka Polityczna, Lambda Warszawa, and QueerMuzeum.
Three generations, three different perspectives on abstraction
[Several people view a large abstract painting with colorful lines in an art gallery; a white wall behind the painting.]
Work by Julie Mehretu, “They departed for their own country another way”, 2023, ink and acrylic on canvas, collection of the YAGEO Foundation (Taiwan), photographed at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.
Photo: Alicja Szulc.
At the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, visitors are welcomed by new exhibitions: “Julie Mehretu: Kairos / Spirit Variations”, “Maria Jarema: Cracked Modernism”, and “Minh Lan Tran: Core”. These exhibitions present three artists deeply engaged with the world – representatives of different generations, nationalities, and histories – whose work is united by the language of abstraction. From Julie Mehretu’s large-scale canvases, through Maria Jarema’s monotypes, to the monumental installation created by Minh Lan Tran specifically for the museum’s stairwell space.
MUSEUM OF MODERN ART IN WARSAW
It is a journey through the legacy of American Expressionism, European modernism, and abstract painting that enters into a direct dialogue with architecture. In addition to the new exhibitions, three shows dedicated to women’s art can still be seen at MSN: “The Women’s Question 1550–2025” and “Women’s City” (on view until May 3), as well as “Misterioso” by Nadia Markiewicz (on view until April 12). Visit the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw - one ticket, six exhibitions.
