“Poles of Attraction” – Kris Van Heuckelom’s Study of International Migration on Screen

Abstract

The article is a review of Kris Van Heuckelom’s 2019 book titled Polish Migrants in European Film 1918–2017, which is – as the title suggests –
a comprehensive study of the representation of Polish migrants in over 150 European film productions from the interwar period up to contemporary times. The author discusses those films made in Western European countries, in which immigrants from Poland appeared, both as protagonists and as background characters, placing them in a wider social and historical context. The chapters into which the book is divided correspond with the periods of political changes which had an impact on who emigrated from Poland and why. The films analysed, belonging to a wide variety of genres, illustrate the evolving image of Polish migrants and their roles in the societies in which they found themselves.