‘Poland’ Archives
Era New Horizons: New Polish Films 4
Snow White and Russian Red (Wojna polsko-ruska, d. Xawery Żuławski, 2009). It was clear well before the screening that this was attracting the competition's greatest buzz, and it was obvious why from the first few minutes. Xawery Żuławski is clearly the only man on the planet who thinks his father Andrzej's films aren't insane enough, and is [...]
Era New Horizons: New Polish Films 3
My Flesh, My Blood (Moja krew, d. Marcin Wrona, 2009).Director Marcin Wrona announced that the version of his debut film screened at Wrocław wasn't necessarily the final one, and that he'd welcome suggestions for improvement. Sadly, "reshoot it from scratch with a better script" probably wasn't a realistic option, which is a shame as that's by [...]
Era New Horizons: New Polish Films 2
Happy Aphonia (Afonia i pszczoły, d. Jan Jakub Kolski, 2009).With films like Pornography (Pornografia, 2003) and Jasminum (2006), Jan Jakub Kolski established himself as one of modern Polish cinema's more striking individualists, attracting comparisons with Federico Fellini and Emir Kusturica. These are still valid for Happy Aphonia (also known [...]
Era New Horizons: New Polish Films 1
I spent much of the end of July attending the 9th Era New Horizons film festival in Wrocław, Poland, where I was simultaneously covering it for Sight & Sound and sitting on the five-strong jury for the New Polish Films competition. There were thirteen entries (all feature-length Polish fiction films released after 31 July 2008) and two [...]
Polish Paths to Freedom: Sparks of Hope (screening times)
Further to my post last week about the Imperial War Museum's ambitious, very welcome and entirely free series of screenings of Polish films illuminating the country's post-1970s history, they've now confirmed dates and screening times. You can download a PDF document here, but I'm sure they won't mind me reproducing the details for easier [...]
100 Years of Polish Cinema
My friend Kamila has just told me about this extraordinary site, inspired by the Polish Film Institute's commemoration of Polish cinema's centenary (the first truly Polish film is believed to date from 1908). I've only skimmed it so far, but it looks like a fascinating and valuable resource, consisting as it does of individual pages devoted to [...]
Polish Paths to Freedom: Sparks of Hope
Just over a year ago I posted details about the second instalment of the Imperial War Museum's enterprising Polish Paths to Freedom season - a series of films illustrating aspects of twentieth-century Polish history from various perspectives, fiction and non-fiction, contemporary and historical, you name it.They've just announced the line-up for [...]
The East End Film Festival
The 2009 East End Film Festival launches tomorrow - in the words of the organisers:The East End Film Festival showcases hot new talent and homegrown films alongside larger independent releases and special events, informing and inspiring a new generation of filmmakers and audiences from across London and beyond, and raising the profile of this [...]
Polish Cinema Conference – call for papers
Polish Cinema in an International Context, a two-day international conference, is being held on 4-5 December 2009, courtesy of Cornerhouse Manchester, the University of Central Lancashire, Preston, the University of Salford and sponsored by the Polish Cultural Institute and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. The conference will be accompanied by a [...]
Teethful Smile
Uśmiech zębiczny 1957, black and white, 2 minsHalf a minute longer than his first completed film Murder (Morderstwo, also 1957), Teethful Smile (also known as Teeth Smile and Toothy Smile) is a more complex piece of work, though it's based on a similar concept of exploring voyeuristic impulses. Here, though, there's a voyeur onscreen as well [...]