Now in its 20th year of celebrating Polish culture in its
many forms, the Rochester Polish Film Festival kicks off on
Tuesday, November 7, and continues through Sunday, November 12. Things
get started with its opening night film, “Afterimage,” showing at the Dryden
Theatre, and the party keeps going at The Little Theatre for the remainder of
the festivities.
Hosted by
the Skalny Center for Polish and Central European
Studies at the University of Rochester, the Polish Film Festival screens some
of the best of what contemporary Polish cinema has to offer. This year’s
biopic-heavy lineup includes seven feature films and one documentary.
Below is a
preview of this year’s films, all of which are in Polish with English
subtitles. Visit sas.rochester.edu/psc/CPCES for ticket information and a complete
schedule.
The last film from the master of Polish cinema, Andrzej Wajda, who died in 2016 at the age of 90, “Afterimage” (“Powidoki”) chronicles the final years of Polish avant-garde
painter and art professor WładysławStrzemiński (Bogusław
Linda). It’s a compelling, angry, sometimes passionate film, observing how Strzemiński fought an ultimately losing battle for
artistic freedom against his country’s Stalinist regime. (Tuesday, November 7; 7:15 p.m.; Dryden)
The vibrant
dramedy “The
Happiness of the World” (“SzczęścieŚwiata”) revolves around several residents of a
tenement house — Róża, a beautiful Jewish woman,
and the three men who fall for her — just before the outbreak of the Second
World War. The second half of the film jumps forward to the 1950’s to find that
somethings have changed, while others remain very
much the same. Director Michał Rosa will be in
attendance for a Q&A after the film screening. (Wednesday, November 8; 7 p.m.; Little)
Tackling the
life of footballer Jan Banas (Mateusz Kosciukiewicz), the entertaining “Stars” (“Gwiazdy”)
follows Banas’ rise to the top of the sport during
the 1960’s and 70’s. His climb is set against a longtime rivalry, both on and
off the field, with his best friend Ginter (Sebastian
Fabijanski) and Marlena (Karolina Szymczak),
the woman they both fell in love with. Director Jan Kidawa-Błoński
will be in attendance for a Q&A after the screening. (Thursday, November 9; 7 p.m.; Little)
The
festival’s second biopic to focus on an esteemed Polish artist, the darkly
comedic “The Last
Family” (“OstatniaRodzina”)
recounts the last 28 years in the life of controversial surrealist painter ZdzisławBeksiński
(Andrzej Seweryn, who took home the best actor award
at the Locarno Film Festival for the role). In his fiction feature debut,
director Jan P. Matuszynski creates a suitably
unconventional portrait, emphasizing the artist’s relationship with his
long-suffering wife Zofia (Aleksandra Konieczna) and their neurotic son Tomasz (DawidOgrodnik). (Friday, November 10; 7 p.m.; Little)
“The
Art of Loving: The Story of MichalinaWisłocka” (“SztukaKochania.HistoriaMichalinyWislockiej”) follows
the exploits of Poland’s infamous sexologist (played by Magdalena Boczarska), who literally wrote the book on love and sex in
the country. The film devotes equal time to her battles with the country’s
censors, over the right to publish her tome, as it does to her messy personal
life. Not one to be concerned with offending morality, Wisłocka
placed value on women’s health concerns as well as their pleasure, and in doing
so was responsible for ushering Poland into a true sexual revolution. (Saturday, November 11; 3 p.m.; Little)
The often
brutal World War II drama “Hatred” (“Wołyń”), centers on Zosia
(MichalinaLabacz), a young
woman in love with a Ukrainian boy from her village, but forced by circumstance
to marry a widower with two children of his own. As the violence of the war
makes its way to her doorstep and tensions between the Polish and Ukrainian
villagers erupts into bloodshed, Zosia does
everything she can to protect her children from the horrors that surround them.
A panel discussion will follow the film. (Saturday,
November 11; 7 p.m.; Little)
In the
stirring documentary “A
Little Poland in India,” five survivors share their experiences as part
of the group of about 1,000 children who escaped the prison camps of Poland and
Siberia by being ushered into India during World War II. (Sunday, November 12; 3 p.m.; Little)
Directed by
Marie Noëlle, the fascinating “Marie Curie, The Courage of
Knowledge” (“Maria Skłodowska-Curie, OdwagaWiedzy”) tells the story
of the groundbreaking chemist and physicist (played by an excellent Karolina Gruszka), chronicling her life from the time she became the
first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize to five years later when she received
the prize for a second time. (Sunday,
November 12; 7 p.m.; Little)
This article appears in Nov 1-7, 2017.
