89mm from Europe

{{short description|1993 film}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}

{{Infobox film

| name = 89mm from Europe

| image =

| caption =

| director = Marcel Łoziński

| producer =

| writer = Marcel Łoziński

| narrator =

| cinematography = Jacek Petrycki
Arthur Reinhart

| editing = Katarzyna Maciejko-Kowalczyk

| studio = Studio Filmowe Kalejdoskop

| distributor = Telewizja Polska

| released = {{film date|df=yes|1993}}

| runtime = 12 minutes

| country = Poland

| language = Russian

}}

89mm from Europe ({{langx|pl|89 mm od Europy}}) is a 1993 Polish short documentary film directed by Marcel Łoziński,[https://www.documentary.org/feature/docufest-1995 Docufest 1995|International Documentary Association] looking at the 89 mm difference in track gauge between Russian and European railroads after the Cold War.[https://mubi.com/films/89mm-from-europe MUBI] It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.{{cite web |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/300593/89mm-Od-Europy-89mm-From-Europe-/details |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150426014707/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/300593/89mm-Od-Europy-89mm-From-Europe-/details |url-status=dead |archive-date=26 April 2015 |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=The New York Times |title=NY Times: 89mm from Europe |access-date=6 December 2008}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1995 |title=The 67th Academy Awards (1995) Nominees and Winners |access-date=20 November 2011|work=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|publisher=AMPAS}}[https://www.deseret.com/1995/2/14/19159183/forrest-gump-nails-down-13-oscar-nominations `FORREST GUMP' NAILS DOWN 13 OSCAR NOMINATIONS - Desert News]

Plot

The film shows the fundamental differences between Western and Eastern Europe even after the end of the Cold War, based on one detail: the width of the railroad tracks. 89 mm from Europe shows the efforts of Belarusian workers who collectively replace the wheels of trains passing through the former Soviet Union on the Polish-Belarusian border near Brest. The title 89 mm is the difference between the track gauge in Europe (1435 mm) and in the former USSR (1524 mm),{{Cite web |title=FilmPolski.pl |url=https://www.filmpolski.pl/fp/index.php |access-date=2022-05-16 |website=FilmPolski |language=pl}} with a historical explanation dating back to the 19th century; a different gauge was to prevent German military trains from quickly penetrating the borders of Tsarist Russia.{{Cite journal |last=Kopczyński |first=Krzysztof |date=2013 |title="Widzieć, aby wiedzieć". O filmie Marcela Łozińskiego 89 mm od Europy |url=https://repozytorium.uwb.edu.pl/jspui/handle/11320/8428 |journal=Prace dedykowane profesor Swietłanie Musijenko, idea i wstęp Jarosław Ławski; red. Nauk. Anna Janicka, Grzegorz Kowalski, Łukasz Zabielski |language=pl |publisher=Książnica Podlaska im. Łukasza Górnickiego |pages=215–218 |isbn=978-83-63470-13-5}}

Awards

89 mm from Europe was the first film by Łoziński in which he really reached an international audience after the fall of the Eastern Bloc. The documentary was nominated for an Oscar for the best short documentary and for the European Film Awards for the best documentary, it also won the Grand Prix of the Montreal Film Festival.{{Cite web |title=FilmPolski.pl |url=https://www.filmpolski.pl/fp/index.php |access-date=2022-05-16 |website=FilmPolski |language=pl}}{{Cite web |date=2020-05-18 |title=Marcel Łoziński: Życie jest jak film dokumentalny [WYWIAD] |url=https://film.dziennik.pl/news/artykuly/7706871,marcel-lozinski-89-mm-do-europy-wywiad.html |access-date=2022-05-16 |website=film.dziennik.pl |language=pl}}

Accolades

References

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