ATKK-ZMŁ-I-044

Typescript copy with the screenplay for Krzysztof Kieślowski’s film “From the City of Łódź” (1969). The film presents an impressionistic portrait of Łódź – a city of textile industry and social and architectural contrasts – shot with cinematography by Janusz Kreczmański, Piotr Kwiatkowski, and Stanisław Niedbalski. Before the film received its final title, work on it proceeded under the working titles “The People of Łódź” and “The City of Łódź”. The document takes the form of a multi-page typescript with a continuous prose description of the planned sequences, without clear scene numbering. It describes, among other things, the faces of women workers after the night shift in the textile factory, the car market, a demonstration of “testing strength of character” on a generator, a propaganda fashion show featuring discounted clothing, a meeting at the Department of Municipal Affairs on water supply and artificial lakes, as well as water tankers, street wells, and polluted rivers. Important motifs include queues at the taxi stand, the figure of the “grandmother with a flag” directing trams, an ambulance making its way through congested streets, the blood donation station, dreams of a large lottery win, scenes involving cheap wine, and children playing in courtyards and standing in windows. The final sections focus on the queue at the population registry office, residence registration and housing problems, images of overcrowded and dilapidated apartments, poles covered with “room wanted” notices, and preparations for the May Day parade, contrasted with a May outing by the pond in Arturówek accompanied by a radio report of the official ceremonies.