The Battle of Culture. Antiquity on the screen, or cinematic approaches to myths/Paulina Kwiatkowska, Marek Węcowski/Kaja Klimek/PJM

Why do the next trailers of the loudly announced “Odyssey” directed by Christopher Nolan provoke such extreme reactions? Should we look for historical truth in the screenings of ancient myths and epics, or can we let go a little and give the creators space for their own interpretation?

Let's take a look at the loudest film adaptations of myths and epics such as “Troy”, “Odyssey”, “300”, “Jason and the Argonauts” and talk about how subsequent creators brought stories known for thousands of years to the screen...

Paulina Kwiatkowska — film historian and theorist and researcher of visual culture. In the years 2012-2024 she was associated with the Institute of Polish Culture of the University of Warsaw, where she headed, among others, the Department of Film and Visual Culture, the specialization “Visual Culture” and cultural studies and social arts. In his scientific work he deals with the theory of the film image, the anthropology of visual culture, the history of cinema and the history of Polish culture of the 20th century and French culture. She has published her articles in, among others, “Kwartalnik Filmy”, “Widoku”, “Kontekstów” and “EKranów”, and in the years 2017—2020 she served as editor-in-chief of the magazine “Pleograf. Quarterly of the Polish Film Academy”.

She is the author of the monograph “Somatography. The body in the film image” (also published in Russian translation) and the academic textbook “Anthropology of Visual Culture”. As a co-author and editor, she has co-authored numerous book publications, including the two-volume study “Visual Culture in Poland”, as well as monographs devoted to the work of outstanding directors, including “I don't want to sleep alone. Tsai Ming-Liang Cinema”, “Antonioni's Gaze”, “Exacerbations. Cinema in the face of political transformations 1945 and 1989” and her translated “Conversations about Godard” by Kai Silverman and Harun Farocki.

Marek Węcowski — historian of antiquity, professor at the Faculty of History of the University of Warsaw. He is a graduate of UW and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris. He gained his research experience as a scholarship holder at foreign institutions, including as a junior fellow at the Center for Hellenic Studies at Harvard University, a Kościuszko Foundation Fellow at Columbia University in New York and the Fulbright Commission at Princeton University. In his research work, he specializes in the history of Ancient Greece, which has resulted in publications in Oxford University Press: “The Rise of the Greek Aristocratic Banquet” and “Athenian Ostracism and its Original Purpose. A Prisoner's Dilemma”. He is also the co-author of the second volume “History of the Ancient Greeks” dedicated to the classical era.

In parallel with his academic work, he is engaged in the popularization of knowledge about antiquity. His essay book “Here is Greece! Antique for our times” won a nomination for the Nike Literary Award, and in 2024 the researcher became the laureate of the Joachim Lelewell Prize, awarded by the Polish Historical Society. His most recent book publication is “Homer for Our Times”, published in 2026.