Polish Movie Nights
Austin Public Library Polish Film Series
Sponsored by Austin Polish Society
Austin Public Library has partnered with Austin Polish Society to present free monthly screenings of Polish films. Please join us for the the 2012 series:
WHAT: Award winning Polish films of different genres, unrated, English subtitles.
WHERE: Austin Public Library, Howson Branch, 2500 Exposition Blvd. Tel: 512 974 8800
WHEN: Every second Tuesday of the month at 7pm.
COST: Free and open to the public.
Movie Nights 2012
January
The Debt / Dług
1999 – psychological drama, thriller, 107 min.
Director: Krzysztof Krauze
Screenplay: Krzysztof Krauze, Jerzy Morawski
Cinematography: Bartosz Prokopowicz
Music: Michał Urbaniak
Cast: Robert Gonera, Jacek Borcuch, Andrzej Chyra
A story about fear, hope, and despair – drama based on real events and real people, created 5 years after the actual events took place. It tells a story about two friends and a man who changed their lives into a nightmare… “The Debt” is one of the best Polish thrillers. It garnered numerous awards in many categories, including best picture, best director, best screenplay, best male roles, best music, and more.
Austin Polish Society presented two films of director Krzysztof Krauze: “My Nikifor” and “The Saviour’s Square”. Actor Andrzej Chyra who received many awards for his performance in “The Debt” was a guest at the 6th Austin Polish Film Festival in November 2011, and another actor starring in the film, Jacek Borcuch, directed “All That I Love” screened at the 6th APFF.
Review: http://www.kinokultura.com/specials/2/dlug.shtml
February
Pornography / Pornografia
2003 – drama, 117 min
Director: Jan Jakub Kolski
Screenplay: Jan Jakub Kolski with assistance from Krzysztof Majchrzak
Cinematography: Krzysztof Ptak
Music: Zygmunt Konieczny
Cast: Krzysztof Majchrzak, Adam Ferency, Grazyna Blonska-Kolska
Set in 1943 in occupied Poland; two older men visiting a country estate become obsessed with the lives of their host’s daughter and the son of the local bailiff. As they try to ignite a love affair between the two young people their personalities become submerged and they eventually become the victims of their own manipulations.”Pornografia” (Pornography), based on a novel by Witold Gombrowicz, [is] set on a country estate in 1943, during the German occupation. A writer brings to his friend Hipolit’s country place the mysterious, multitalented Fryderyk, whom he has recently met in Warsaw. Hipolit has a beautiful teenage daughter, Henia, who is to be married to an older, neighboring landowner. Fryderyk disapproves of the match, believing that Henia is really destined for her childhood friend, Karol, a young boy no less handsome than she is pretty, and sets about trying to engineer this by devious means. Fryderyk’s motives are obscure and his behavior unpredictable, and it gradually becomes clear that he is harboring dark secrets about his past. This is masterful filmmaking, from the uniformly excellent acting, to the subtle manner in which the story is handled and the ravishing cinematography. Only the title is baffling, since the film will disappoint anybody in search of titillation, and risk putting off the kind of audience it merits. By Roderick Conway Morris, Sept 3, 2003
From the director (in Polish only): http://www.stopklatka.pl/film/film.asp?fi=8481&sekcja=1
March
The Debt Collector / Komornik
2005 – psychological drama, 93 min
Director: Feliks Falk
Screenplay: Grzegorz Łoszewski
Cinematography: Bartosz Prokopowicz
Music: Bartłomiej Gliniak
Cast: Andrzej Chyra, Małgorzata Kożuchowska, Kinga Preis, Grzegorz Wojdon, Jan Frycz, Sławomir Orzechowski, Marian Dziędziel, Marian Opania
Lucek (Andrzej Chyra) is a shrewd but soulless debt collector who callously repossesses any item his job may require without a glimmer of sympathy. One day, a sudden inner awakening transforms the cruel government worker into a caring man who’s filled with remorse.
Feliks Falk, director: “One of the reasons why I reached for ‘The Collector’ is the fact that the ups and downs of the protagonist depict a certain social situation which arouses my concern (…). Wherever we look around we see how people wronged as a result of calls for moral purity, shouting slogans and the accompanying propaganda. I wanted ‘The Collector’ to reflect the climate and atmosphere of the moment we are living in.”
Q&A with Feliks Falk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7db-3oe5PYA
April
Money Is Not Everything
2001 – comedy, 102 min
Director: Juliusz Machulski
Screenplay:Jaroslaw Sokol
Cinematography: Grzegorz Kuczeriszka
Music: Krzesimir Debski, Golec Orkiestra
Cast: Marek Kondrat, Stanislawa Celinska, Sylwester Maciejewski
Tomasz Adamczyk, a 50 year old businessman in a company that produces cheap wine, wants to quit his job and devote himself to his life’s passion – philosophy. His business partner does not like the idea. Tomasz, disgusted with the world ruled by money, ends up in a deep countryside among people with no jobs and no money – consumers of the cheap wine his company produces.
Interview with the director (in Polish only) http://www.stopklatka.pl/wywiady/wywiad.asp?wi=1671
May
The Bench / Laweczka, dir. Maciej Zak
2004 – romance and drama, 86 min.
Director: Maciej Zak
Screenplay: Robert Maka, Maciej Zak, Marcin Korneluk
Cinematography: Grzegorz Kuczeriszka
Music: Piotr Mikolajczak
Cast: Jolanta Fraszynska, Artur Zmijewski, Artur Pontek, Sylwester Maciejewski
Based on the play by Aleksander Gelman, the movie shows the inner fights between the need for love and the worry about the responsibilities it brings, between the need for closeness and the lack of understanding, the fight between the want to settle and the of being loved and adored.
Interview with the director (in Polish only): http://www.stopklatka.pl/wywiady/wywiad.asp?wi=21532
June
Warsaw / Warszawa
2003 – drama, 104 min
Director: Dariusz Gajewski
Screenplay: Dariusz Gajewski, Mateusz Bednarkiewicz
Cinematography: Wojciech Szepel
Music: The Kormorany
Cast: Agnieszka Grochowska, Łukasz Garlicki, Dominika Ostałowska, Lech Mackiewicz, Sławomir Orzechowski, Andrzej Szenajch
Everything that is important in this film takes place in micro situations (…). What is beautiful in Gajewski’s film is his attempt to build a bridge between great issues of the past and seemingly small problems faced by young people of today for whom the key-word is ‘disorientation’. Next to former places of execution, things are happening which are not at all small but are just seen in a different scale. Small is important. Both here and there what is at stake is someone’s life, freedom, hope, love. By Tadeusz Sobolewski , Gazeta Wyborcza Nov 15-16, 2003
Films proposed for the rest of the year (synopsis are coming soon):
Europa, Europa, dir. Agnieszka Holland
Austeria, dir. Jerzy Kawalerowicz
Vinci, dir. Juliusz Machulski, 108 min, comedy, thriller
Boys Don’t Cry / Chlopaki nie placza, thriller
The Structure of Crystal / Struktura krysztalu, dir. Krzysztof Zanussi
Top Dog / Wodzirej, dir. Feliks Falk
Shivers / Dreszcze, dir. Wojciech Marczewski, 1981, psychological and political drama, 101 min. http://www.filmweb.pl/film/Dreszcze-1981-5199
There was Jazz / Byl Jazz, dir. Feliks Falk http://www.filmweb.pl/film/By%C5%82+jazz-1981-4398
Movie Nights 2011
January
Moj Nikifof /My Nikifor. Krzysztof Krauze, 2004, 97 min.
The setting is the mountain resort of Krynica, the year is 1960. From his birth in 1895 through his death in 1968, the gifted Polish naïve artist Nikifor Krynicki (AKA Epifan Drowniak) lived his life and eked out a career cloaked in obscurity – a casualty of both his extreme speech impediment (his tongue was attached to the roof of his mouth, which prompted others to errantly tag him as mentally incapacitated) and his self-effacing decision to sell the majority of his work for meager amounts. Krzysztof Krauze’s biopic My Nikifor travels to the tail end of Krynicki’s life journey, dramatizing the period that surrounded his interaction with the well-established artist Marian Wlosinski. The film witnesses Nikifor moving into Marian’s workspace in the winter of 1960, and roundly dazzling Wlosinski with talent that obviously outstripped his own – despite the fact that Nikifor, unlike Marian, never received formalized training in the arts. This prompts not only mutual professional respect between the two painters, but encourages the gestation of a friendship between the two men. In time, however, a dark cloud soon extends itself over the Wlosinski household when it becomes apparent that Nikifor has contracted tuberculosis – making him contagious to nearly everyone and putting Marian’s entire family in danger. Moreover, Marian’s marriage begins to show signs of strain when his wife, Hania loudly complains that he need to spend less time with his new friend Nikifor and more time with their daughters. – Nathan Southern, Rovi http://www.moviefone.com/movie/moj-nikifor-my-nikifor/24118/synopsis
February
The Wedding/Wesele. Wojtek Smarzowski, 2004, 109 min
Wojnar is a wealthy man who is marrying off his beautiful daughter Kasia, in a small town in present day Poland. Wojnar had to bribe the groom with a fancy car, since Kasia was pregnant by another man. At the end of the ceremony, the car is delivered by a gangster, who immediately demands the promised money and the deed to land from Kasia’s grandfather. Unfortunately grandpa is unwilling to let go of the land. Meanwhile each of the workers at the reception demand to be paid, so Wojnar, who is very reluctant to part with his money, tries to haggle and bribe his way out of all the situations.
March
The Conductor/Dyrygent. Andrzej Wajda, 1980, 102 min.
Shooting in the U.S. for the first time, Wajda tells the story of John/Jan Lasocki (John Gielgud), an internationally famous orchestra conductor who emigrated from his native Poland 50 years ago. Marta (Krystyna Janda), the daughter of his first love, seeks him out, creating an interest Lasocki has not known in years. He even agrees to return to Poland and conduct the provincial orchestra in which Marta was a featured soloist. That’s hardly welcome news to Adam (Andrzej Seweryn), Marta’s husband and the orchestra’s regular conductor, who’s rumored to have gotten his position thanks to party connections. A meditation on the grey area between art and life.
April
The Third /Trzeci. Jan Hryniak, 2005, 95 min.
Pawel, an ambitious young professional, is a workaholic who is neglecting his beautiful wife, Ewa. They hope that a long-awaited vacation aboard a yacht will restore their passion, but that plan is shattered when Pawel decides to return to work, choosing a multi-million dollar contract over his marriage. On the return trip, they meet an older man who wants to help the young couple, but his unorthodox methods go too far. Full of sudden, nasty turns, THE THIRD is not only a taut, tense drama about contemporary modern relationships but also an allegory about modern-day Poland, a former Eastern bloc country with a checkered history of uncertainties and contradictions.
May
Tricks /Sztuczki. Andrzej Jakimowski, 2007, 95 min.
Six year old Stefek challenges fate. He believes that the chain of events he sets in motion will help him get closer to the father who abandoned his mother. His sister Elka, 17, helps him learn how to “bribe” fate with small sacrifices. Tricks and coincidences eventually bring the father to the mother´s doorstep but things go wrong. Desperate, Stefek tries his luck with the riskiest of tricks.
June
Guys Don’t Cry /Chlopaki Nie Placza. Olaf Lubaszenko, 2000, 92 min.
“Boys Don’t Cry” (Chlopaki Nie Placza) is essentially a comedy about gangsters. These gangsters range from real tough guys, to imitations or posers, who don’t stand a chance to make it in the real world. A violinist (Maciej Stuhr) and his friends accidentally complicate the lives of these local gangsters, and then must figure out how to regain their normal lives.
July
Mall Girls/Galerianki. Katarzyna Roslaniec, 2009, 82 min
“Galerianki” is a story of a group of schoolgirls from one of Warsaw’s middle schools. There is Alicja, who has changed schools mid-year and struggles in a new environment. Although she is covertly admired for her educational achievement, her poor material status turns her into an object of mockery. Milena, the class leader, suggests that she and Alicja go together to a nearby shopping mall. There Alicja learns that the elegant clothes and luxurious gadgets that Milena’s group flaunts to schoolmates are paid for by “sponsors” found in the mall – in return for sex. Alicja suspects that her modestly earning father and bored, non-working mother will not buy her a new mobile phone. However, to join the group of ‘galerianki’ ['galeria' being the Polish word for 'mall'], she has to deal with a few obstacles: she needs to overcome the fear of an unwanted pregnancy and lose virginity. A sober film based on true-life conversations between the director and the mall girls she documents. When released, the film provoked an ongoing national debate about moral decadence in this conservative, predominantly Catholic country, 20 years after the fall of Communism.
August
The Lovers of the Year of the Tiger/Kochankowie Roku Tygrysa. Jacek Bromski, 2005, 103 min.
The Lovers of the Year of the Tiger is a historical drama set in 1913. Although the title gives away the fact that this is a romance, it is a subtle one. We get a hint of the outcome of the romance in the first few minutes of the film when, in the present day, an old man goes to the Polish embassy in China. He wants to visit Poland before he dies and asks them to read the story of why he is interested in going there.
The old man’s story takes us back to 1913 in Siberia. At this time Poland isn’t on the map because its neighbors have divided her lands amongst themselves for over a hundred years. And for just about as long, the Russians have been sending anyone they find troublesome to Siberia. Two Poles flee from the Russians who are chasing them and one of them (Michal Zebrowski) just barely crosses the river into Manchuria. A hunter finds him and brings him to his home to nurse him back to health. The hunter is an honorable man and discourages the romance before it begins by cutting his daughter’s hair and having her dress as a boy. Kochankowie Roku Tygrysa is unusual compared to other Polish films in that most of the movie isn’t spoken in Polish and most of the actors are not Polish. The lines are spoken in Cantonese, and this adds a level of realism to the film. It is a change of pace for director Jacek Bromski, who often does comedies.
September
Illumination / Illuminacja. Krzysztof Zanussi, 1972, 82 min.
Illumination opens to dry lecture footage from Professor Wladislaw Tatarkiewicz as he defines illumination as the moment of enlightenment in which the brain sees truth directly, explaining that it is through this state of intensified thought that a person attains wisdom. The film then cuts to a clinical shot of Franciszek (Stanislaw Latallo) as his vital statistics are measured and his cognitive skills tested by a team of research scientists. From the 1970s through 1980s, Polish film directors were inspired by the socially relevant events of the times and the resulting movement became known as the Cinema of Moral Anxiety. Director Krzysztof Zanussi creates a visually complex, incisive, and compassionate examination of the essence of knowledge and truth in his 1972 film Illumination. Zanussi intersperses real-life interviews, statistical data, and behavioral studies within the story of a young scientist’s personal struggle between reason and passion to reflect a universal truth on the nature of human existence. Illumination serves as an idiosyncratic, engaging, and insightful fusion of science and art, precision and creativity, intellect and emotion – a reflection of the innate human need for personal balance and the inextinguishable human quest for enlightenment.
October
Twists of Fate/Korowod. Jerzy Stuhr, 2007,112 min.
This gripping film spans the moral attitudes of two generations and their complex entanglements. A former secret police officer under Polish Socialism faces the consequences of his past actions. Meanwhile, Bartek, a student who makes a career from lying and cheating, finds a briefcase and a coat containing a mobile phone on a train. When the phone begins to ring, Bartek doesn’t hesitate to answer it, setting off a shocking series of events that changes the characters’ lives forever.
November
Everything for Sale/Wszystko Na Sprzedaz. Andrzej Wajda, 1969, 97 min.
One evening in 1967, Wajda discussed with a friend what a wonderful movie could be made on the life of actor Zbigniew Cybulski. That very night, Cybulski died attempting to jump onto a moving train. The loss was extraordinarily painful for Wajda. Together with a group of close collaborators, he embarked on this deeply personal and introspective film about the cast and crew of a work-in-progress that suddenly loses its leading actor. Top stars (including Elzbieta Czyzewska and Daniel Olbrychski) play themselves, and Wajda is played by the prominent actor Andrzej Lapicki. The first of his films to be based on his own original screenplay, Everything for Sale maps the shifting borders of art and life, illusion and reality, grief and creation.
December
The Reverse/Rewers. Borys Lankosz, 2009, 101 min.
In 1952 Warsaw, shy Sabina (Agata Buzek) prefers the world of books to the dating regime her mother (Krystyna Janda) and grandmother (Anna Polony) champion. But after the dashing Bronislaw (Marcin Dorocinski) rescues her from a mugging, she believes she has finally found a suitable mate, thrilling her mother and grandmother. Bronislaw is mysterious about his work, but when it’s revealed that he works for the secret police, the women become much less enthusiastic and take extreme measures to end the romance. “Rich with references to Polish culture and cinema history, the genre-juggling feature debut of Borys Lankosz is clever, complex and spiked with a special kind of black humor.”
Alissa Simon, http://www.afi.com/silver/new/nowplaying/EUshowcase/reverse.aspx