Iluminace 2022, 34(2):9-28 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1730
Using Digital Tools to Locate Living and Working Areas of Domestic Producers and Circulation of their Films in 1910s Warsaw
- Goethe-Universität Frankfurt

The digital turn has opened up new research opportunities for cinema historians on the three levels of data search, processing, and interpretation. Inspired by the New Cinema History (NCH), this article shows how online libraries and computer software (Excel, Citavi, QGIS) can be used for innovative interdisciplinary studies of cinema in early 1910s Warsaw.
Drawing on a wide range of sources, including statistical data and daily newspapers in Russian, Polish, and Yiddish, this article discusses cinema topography and sheds new light on the biographies and business activities of two local film producers. It then traces the paths of their films, drawing conclusions about the potential audience in the city where Russians, Poles and Jews lived side by side rather than together.
Keywords: New Cinema History, GIS, Warsaw, Mordechaj A. Towbin, Henryk (Chaim) Finkelstein
Published: June 1, 2022 Show citation
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