Prawdziwe? Lecą żurawie / Is it real? Cranes are flying

Anna Baumgart

Prawdziwe? Lecą żurawie / Is it real? Cranes are flying

Anna Baumgart

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The film features Anna Baumgart, who, using the found footage strategy, becomes the heroine of the famous Soviet film “The Cranes Are Flying” by Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957. The artist, using film technology, inserts her own face instead of the face of the main character Veronica, played by Tatiana Samoilova. The 3-minute 28-second video captures the scene of a dramatic quarrel between Veronica and Mark, Boris’s cousin, who went to the front, was bombed and is listed as missing in action. There is still hope. However, Mark, staying behind, forces Veronica by physical strength. Their love is impossible. Veronica vigorously defends herself against her feelings and at some point gives up, but still wants to end her life. This short video raises questions: isn’t it the pinnacle of a girl’s dreams to be adored and desired by men? But inserting her own face into a famous film is a kind of flirting with the theme of role models, the influence of mass culture on the formation of our worldview, and the materialization of the imaginary through the method of fictionalization