Information about the object:
As a result of the project, extremely valuable archive materials and film frames of the father of Polish cinematography, Kazimierz Prószyński, held by the Science Museum in Bradford in the Kodak collection, have been acquired for the digital collection of the National Film Culture Centre. It is arguably the most interesting collection of Prószyński's films to have survived the wars. It is also most likely to include items that personally belonged to Kazimierz Proszynski, which makes them even more valuable. On the films that have survived in Bradford we can also see the inventor himself in the company of his loved ones. These are the only known footage of the man whose imagination allowed the development of cinema as we know it today.

The National Centre of Film Culture has been building a collection and body of knowledge about Kazimierz Prószyński for over five years. The materials acquired thanks to the project are another important and valuable element in the creation of a complete monograph on the inventor, which is being developed by the curatorial team of the NCKF's Exhibitions and Collections Department. The first compact publication was released in 2017. The Department's forthcoming publishing plans include the publication of all acquired material obtained from Bradford, but also from France, the United States and a collection of letters to Mieczyslaw Karlowicz.

Completed works:
Acquired materials, entered permanently into the digital repository of the NCKF, including the so-called object competence centre, and supplemented the collections held by the institution concerning the inventor. At present, the National Centre of Film Culture, thanks to the implementation of this project, has the largest collection of materials and objects relating to Proszynski.

At the same time, an inventory was prepared and each object was given a separate card and was also prepared to be entered into the NCKF's collection inventory programme, which was built from scratch. Due to the fact that this programme has been adapted to the needs of making the holdings available on digital library and archive platforms and the @KRONIKA project, all of the acquired materials are prepared to be made more widely available in various contexts and meanings.

An additional result of the project is that the unique materials acquired will be used for promotional purposes in the realisation of the permanent exhibition Kino Polonia at the National Film Culture Centre, which will open in a year's time. This will be the first permanent monographic exhibition devoted to the history of cinema on Polish soil. The audiovisual material that will encourage people to visit it will be precisely the essay telling the story of Prószyński, containing the materials acquired.

The realisation of the project is also of great importance for building contacts and strengthening the network of knowledge on materials concerning Poles abroad. This makes the positive implementation of the project with the Science Museum in Bradford, a city which, like Łódź, holds the title of Unesco Film City, all the more welcome.

An additional element of the implementation of the task is the updating of the mobile exhibition dedicated to Proszynski with new, attractive materials, which will allow for a wider dissemination of knowledge about the inventor abroad. The exhibition has received two invitations for presentation, from London and Budapest, and is currently awaiting a reduction in the pandemic threat.

Funding: Programme of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage "Protection of Cultural Heritage Abroad".

More about the project: https://polonika.pl

• "EC1 Łódź - Miasto Kultury" w Łodzi, realizacja w roku 2021.