Litwin Family Archive

collection Litwin Family Archive
authors Jan Antoni Litwin; Laura Litwin
starring Jan Antoni Litwin; Laura Litwin
length 30'22
country Poland
locations Ełk, Poland  Jarocin, Poland  Sajzy, Poland 
year 1982-1989
format S8 mm
color color; black and white
signature PAFD 0050 003
description

Jan Antoni Litwin was born in Brzeg in 1956. After graduating with a degree in economics and completing his military service, he worked at Zakłady Elektrotechniki Motoryzacyjnej (a plant manufacturing electrical equipment for the automotive industry) in Ełk, and later as an English teacher. He bought a Soviet-made LOMO 215 camera from a photo store after the birth of his first son. Some shots were taken by Jan’s wife, Laura Litwin.

Part 1
A montage of family scenes documenting the childhood of Sebastian, Jan and Laura’s older son. The boy is posing for the camera in front of a Christmas tree and playing with his cousin Magda by Jezioro Ełckie (Lake Ełk).
Part 2
Shots of several-month-old Sebastian lying on a sofa bed, in a stroller at the allotment garden in Jarocin, and in his mother’s arms.
Part 3
1982. Laura and Grażyna (Laura’s sister) are walking with their sons in strollers through the Łazienki park in Środa Wielkopolska. The family stops by the construction site of Grażyna and Roman’s house. A Fiat 126p is parked in front of the unplastered house, next to a big pile of sand.
Part 4
Laura is walking with Sebastian in a stroller through the Radoliński Park in Jarocin, and along Maratońska Street towards her mother Albina’s allotment garden. The family spends a summer day outside.
Part 5
Jan, Laura, and Albina are playing with little Sebastian at a playground in Ełk.
Part 6
The Litwin family is walking around Ełk. Albina (Jan’s mother) is playing with her grandchildren, while Cezary (Jan’s brother) is making faces for the camera.
Part 7
Cezary is showing his paintings to the camera.
Part 8
Sebastian is playing at his grandmother Albina’s (father’s side) allotment garden in Ełk.
Part 9
In the apartment, Sebastian is playing with a teddy bear and browsing through a book with his mother. Jan hugs his son.
Part 10
Film shot in 1987 at Zakłady Elektrotechniki Motoryzacyjnej in Ełk, known as A26, manufacturing automotive wiring harnesses for Fiat cars and for export. Shots of employees from the economics department managed by Jan – Świetka, Danusia, Grażyna, Wiesia, Bożenka and Basia – performing their daily office duties.
Part 11
Film shot during vacation at the Ełk Municipal Services Company’s holiday resort by Lake Łaśmiady in Sajzy. Laura is on the lake rowing a boat, and then paddling a kayak. Sebastian is in the boat with his mother, and then plays with an older girl who was spending her vacation at the same resort with her parents.
Part 12
Jan, Laura, Albina, and Sebastian are walking through the empty plots of the planned Pod Lasem residential area, and spending time at their newly purchased building plot. Jan opens bottles of orange soda and raises a toast to the camera. Several houses under construction are visible in the background.
Part 13
Sebastian and his cousin Magda are splashing each other with water on Easter Monday.
Part 14
Footage of Sebastian’s First Holy Communion at St. Wojciech Cathedral in Ełk. Children and their parents are entering the church in a procession.

(AT)

keywords lake  child  stroller  kayak  boat  communion  priest  vacation  summer  office  work  family  family life  recreation 
source of funding Polish Film Institute