Day by Day
Two twin sisters who, as young women, believed in the promise of emancipation through work find themselves, after four decades of hard labour, struggling with ruined health and life on the brink of poverty. Juxtaposing their memories with propaganda images of the “working woman,” Irena Kamieńska exposes the bitter gap between the ideological promise of emancipation and the price they were made to pay for it.
Two twin sisters have worked at the Katowice-based “Transbud” company since the early 1950s, day after day performing physically demanding work transporting bricks. As young women, they believed in the propaganda promise of emancipation and independence that employment was supposed to bring women. After decades of hard labour, however, all that remains is damaged health, poverty and lives reduced to survival. Kamieńska juxtaposes the women’s memories with archival propaganda footage from the 1950s – images of young, smiling women and the enthusiasm surrounding the “building of socialism.” The clash between the official vision of emancipation and the reality of ageing female workers creates a bitter portrait of a generation of women for whom the promise of independence became yet another form of subordination to work. The film received, among others, the Grand Prix and FIPRESCI Prize in Oberhausen and the Silver Lajkonik in Krakow.
Irena Kamieńska
Irena Kamieńska (1928–2016) was a Polish documentary filmmaker known for socially engaged films about ordinary people and post-war Polish society. A graduate of the National Film School in Łódź, she focused on women’s lives, social inequality, and everyday realities. Her key works include Female Workers, Day After Day, and Women’s Isle. Her cinema combines realism, empathy, and a strong ethical commitment to her subjects.
Reżyseria: Irena Kamieńska
