2009 Polish Film Festival
The 2009 Polish Film Festival offered an inside look into the past, present and future of Polish cinema
Six new feature films, selected documentaries, and four short theme films which were directors' debuts under the Polish Filmmaker Association's "30 minutes" and "First Documentary" programs, presented a survey of new trends in Polish cinema. Two of the films, "Before Twilight" and "Too Soon to Die," showcase the best stars of after-the-war period of Polish cinema.
The festival opened on November 13 with a panel "New trends in Polish Cinema" (see short excerpt), followed by a reception. More than 90 people attended the opening. Our special guests were: film director Jacek B艂awut and his crew, movie star Ma艂gorzata Ko偶uchowska, Sheila Skaff (Polish Cultural Institute, New York, NY), Ma艂gorzata Szum, Counselor, Culture and Public Relations Attach茅, Embassy of the Republic of Poland, and Dr. Barbara Klich-Kluczewska, Jagiellonian University, Krak贸w, Poland
Jacek B艂awut, pictured here with Ma艂gorzata Szum, is one of the best known Polish documentary filmmakers and, since 2003, a member of European Film Academy. He is also a cinematographer, screenwriter, and producer and has been working with film since being a 10-year old boy. As a director, he created many awarded documentaries鈥� among others, 鈥漈he Warrior,鈥� 鈥滱bnormal,鈥� 鈥滲orn Dead,鈥� and 鈥漈he Crowned Rat鈥�. As a cinematographer, he worked with Krzysztof Kieslowski, Marek Koterski, Feliks Falk, and others. He is a lecturer at film schools in Berlin, Hannover, Toru艅, and the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing. 鈥滲efore Twilight鈥� is his debut as fiction feature director.
Jacek B艂awut is currently working on a new documentary, entitled 鈥淰irtual War.鈥� The film is scheduled to be finished in the fall of 2010. The shootings are done in Poland, Russia, Germany, Czech Republic, Japan, and the USA.
Panel with Jacek B艂awut followed the screening of "Before Twilight."
Another featured guest was Ma艂gorzata Ko偶uchowska, who is one of the most famous Polish movie and theatre actresses. She was the special guest of the Festival, participated in the panel discussion on Nov. 13 and in the Q&A session after the screening of "Drowsiness" on Nov. 15. In 2005 she joined the National Theatre in Warsaw, where she played in productions staged by Grzegorz Jarzyna, Tadeusz S艂obodzianek, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Jerzy Jarocki, and others. She played in films directed by, among others, Krzysztof Krauze, (Street Games), Juliusz Machulski (Kiler, Kiler-贸w 2-贸ch, Superproduction), Feliks Falk (Collector), Piotr Were艣niak (Let鈥檚 Make a Grandson), Ryszard Zatorski (Why Not!), and Magdalena Piekorz (Drowsiness). She is also well known to the wide audience by her roles in many TV series.
See the interview with Ma艂gorzata and Skalny Center director Randall Stone .
We commemorated the 70th anniversary of the beginning of WWII by screening the film "Tomorrow we are going to the movies," and live interviews with WWII survivors who remember September 1, 1939, following the screening. The film depicts a story of three Warsaw high school graduates of the class of 1938, who enter their maturity when Poland faces the Nazi invasion.
The festival was co-sponsored by The Skalny Center for Polish and Central European Studies, (PISF), , , and Please see the logos of our sponsors below.
