Wanda Jakubowska Revisited

The book by Monika Talarczyk is devoted to the life and work of Wanda Jakubowska (1907–1998), author of The Last Stage (1948), an icon of women’s cinema, said to be the Mother of All Holocaust Films. The author discovers previously unknown facts in Jakubowska’s biography from the period of her childhood in Russia and her youth, associated with Polish socialists. She also provides a closer look at the director’s activity in post-war production culture as a chairwoman of the film units and a teacher at the £ódŸ Film School. Talarczyk presents Jakubowska’s works in the context of Holocaust studies as well as women’s cinema. The publication includes Jakubowska’s descriptive filmography. The director’s achievements are illustrated by previously unpublished photos from film sets as well as film stills from Jakubowska’s private archive.