Hassa Family Archive

collection Hassa Family Archive
authors Zbigniew Hassa
starring Irena Hassa; Zbigniew Hassa; Joanna Hassa; Katarzyna Hassa; Zenona Pruszkowska; Antonina Pruszkowska; Agnieszka Pruszkowska; Jadwiga Hassa; Leszek Hassa
length 09'54
country Poland
locations Kajetany, Poland  Warsaw, Poland 
year 1985
format 8 mm
color color
signature PAFD 0000 018
description

The author of the film is Zbigniew Hassa. Since the age of 14, he had worked as an electrician in Warsaw Trams (then MZK). When his daughters, Joanna and Katarzyna, were born, he decided to start filming events from the life of the family. 

First Communion of Joasia, Irena and Zbigniew Hassa’s daughter, in the church of St. Anne in Wilanów. Open-air shots. Joasia in a Communion dress leaves her block of flats with her family. Later we can see her in front of the church, standing next to Irena. The girls and their families stand in front of the church. Inside the church, children follow priests and altar servers. Joasia, among other girls, sits in a church pew. Behind the altar, there are priests conducting the ceremony. Children come to receive Holy Communion. The apartment of the Hassa family. A family meeting. Guests pose for a family photo. Laughing Joasia makes horns from her fingers over Zbigniew’s head. Irena puts on Joasia a white cape (an element of Communion attire) and adjusts a white wreath on her head. Next to them, there is Kasia. Open-air shots. Joasia, in a Communion dress, walks down a street with her family. A group of girls in white dresses and wreaths enter the church. The entrance of the church of St. Anne in Wilanów. Children accompanied by their families leave the church grounds. A family party in the apartment. Numerous guests sit at the set table. Children play next to the table. Asia fools around in front of the camera and hides behind an open door. Joasia kisses her grandmother (Zenona) and her great-grandmother (Antonina) who sit at the table. Open-air shots: Zbigniew and Irena sit on a bench, Zbigniew hugs his wife, shows his tongue to the camera, then kisses Irena. Shots in front of a hospital building. Jadwiga, Zbigniew’s mother, dressed in a hospital bathrobe, hugs Irena and Kasia. A close-up of Jadwiga and another woman, also in a hospital bathrobe, hugging. A street scene in Bielany. Irena, accompanied by Kasia, takes keys from her sister-in-law, Agnieszka Pruszkowska. Dark, not very visible shots in the open air. This is probably a further account of the walk. Joasia, in a Communion dress, walks with Kasia through the housing estate. Later she stands in front of the church with a group of other girls. A trip to Kajetany. Kasia and Joasia, sitting in front of the tent, eat soup from plastic bowls. Irena in the vestibule of the tent cooks on a tourist gas stove. Irena and Kasia dig the ground with pitchforks. Joasia watches. Joasia and Kasia with two other children walk among the plots.

(PB)

keywords Poland  Warsaw  St. Anne’s church in Wilanów  First Communion  church  altar server  priest  cross  parents  Communion dress  family photography  cape  wreath  toys  pew  marriage  kiss  hug  hospital  patient  family  tent  meal  tourist stove  cooking  digging the ground  pitchforks  plots  walk  children 
source of funding Ministry of Culture and National Heritage