The 6th Annual New York Polish Film Festival
Posted by: Randolph Hernandez
NEW YORK POLISH FILM FESTIVAL HONORS THE ACHIEVEMENTS OF JANUSZ MORGENSTERN, ANDRZEJ WAJDA AND THE AWARD-WINNING WORK OF YOUNG POLISH FILMMAKERS AT ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES
APRIL 30-MAY 5, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Currently in its sixth year, the New York Polish Film Festival extends a warm invitation to
its annual series of film screenings, discussions and special events to take place April
30-May 5, 2010 at Anthology Film Archives in Manhattan.
The New York Polish Film Festival honors the victims of the April 10 accident that
tragically claimed the lives of the president and first lady of Poland, Lech Kaczynski and
Maria Kaczynska, and 94 members of a delegation on its way to commemorate the
massacre that took place in the Katyn Forest during World War II. In their memory, a
special screening of Theirry Paladino’s documentary on the making of Andrzej Wajda’s
Katyn (2007), Andrzej Wajda: Let’s Shoot! (2009) and reception will be held at the
Consulate General of Poland on Thursday, April 29 at 6:30 p.m.
The festival will open to the public with the New York premiere of General Nil (2009)
and Andrzej Wajda: Let’s Shoot! at Anthology Film Archives on Friday, April 30 at 7:00
p.m. The third film in his World War II trilogy, Ryszard Bugajski’s General Nil revisits the
biography of the heroic Polish underground army general, August Emil “Nil” Fieldorf,
who was hanged by the postwar Stalinist government after being tried as a fascist
collaborator in a fake trial. Festival guest Bugajski will answer questions from the
audience after the films. A second screening of General Nil and Q & A with Bugajski will
take place on Sunday, May 2 at 12:00 p.m.
The centerpiece of the 2010 New York Polish Film Festival will be an hommage to
legendary Polish filmmaker Janusz Morgenstern on Saturday, May 1, at 7:00 p.m. with
actors Magdalena Cielecka, Leslaw Zurek and Borys Szyc. After a screening of his most
recent film, The Lesser Evil (2009), Morgenstern will be interviewed on stage by Dr.
Annette Insdorf, Director of Undergraduate Film Studies at Columbia University and
author of Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski.
Also on Saturday, director Jacek Borcuch and actor Andrzej Chyra will present
Borcuch’s 2009 film, All That I Love, at 2:30 p.m. Set in the months leading to the
declaration of martial law in December 1981, All That I Love tells the story of four
teenage friends in a seaside town, whose carefree lives of garage bands and romantic
crushes are disrupted and altered by the polical situation. It will be followed by a recent
film by Borys Lankosz, Poland’s official entry into the American Academy Awards,
Reverse (2009). This feature film chronicles the loves and familial relationships of a
woman from 1950s Warsaw to the present day. Lankosz will answer questions following
the screening.
The festival will host the premieres of three films from Poland, each to be followed by
discussion with directors and actors. On Saturday, May 1 at 9:15 p.m., the festival will
present Waldemar Krzystek’s Little Moscow (2008). Set near the Soviet Army
headquarters in Legnica in the late 1960s, the wife of a Russian pilot falls in love with a
Polish lieutenant in this critically-acclaimed film. On Sunday, May 2 at 5:00 p.m., director
Dominik Matwiejczuk will present his creative independent film, Black (2009). On
Sunday at 9:30 p.m., actor Borys Szyc will present Xawery Zulawski’s Snow White and
Russian Red (2009). Adapted from the wildly popular novel by Dorota Maslowska,
Snow White and Russian Red taps into the youth subculture of contemporary Poland
in one of the most absurd and imaginative films of the past year.
Along with Andrzej Wajda: Let’s Shoot!, the festival will feature several documentaries
and an animated short film. On Saturday, May 1 at 12:00 p.m., audiences will have the
opportunity to see the 2010 Oscar-nominated Rabbit a la Berlin (2009, dir. Bartek
Konopka), Mother (2009, dir. Jakub Piatek) and Getting On (2009, dir. Renata
Gabryjelska), as well as Izabela Plucinska’s Esterhazy (2009), in which the animator
uses her award-winning claymation techniques to describe the lives of rabbits living
near the Berlin Wall. On Monday, May 3 following a 6:00 p.m. screening of
Morgenstern’s Yellow Scarf (2000), director Katarzyna Kolenda-Zalewska will present
her portrait of Nobel Prize-winning poet Wieslawa Szymborska, Life is Bearable. At
Times… (2009). Also included in this program will be Matej Borbik’s Where the Sun
Doesn’t Rush (2009). Kolenda-Zalewska and Lankosz will answer questions after the
films.
A special screening of Andrzej Wajda’s Katyn (2007) will take place on Sunday, May 2
at 7:15 p.m. Festival audiences also will have the chance to see Wajda’s 2009 film,
Sweet Rush, on Monday, May 3 at 8:30 p.m. Recipient of a lifetime acheivement award
at the 2000 Academy Awards, Wajda is the Honarary Patron of the New York Polish
Film Festival.
The festival’s closing ceremony will take place on Tuesday, May 4 at 8:15 p.m. with the
presentation of the Beyond Borders Award, an annual award granted in the name of the
late master, Krzysztof Kieslowski. The ceremony will be preceeded at 6:00 p.m. with a
screening of Morgenstern’s first feature film, Goodbye Till Tomorrow (1960), starring
the legendary Zbigniew Cybulski and featuring a jazz score by composer Krzysztof
Komeda, and followed by a public discussion with Morgenstern after the screening.
On Wednesday, May 5 at 6:30 p.m., the Polish Daily News will sponsor a meeting with
Morgenstern and other guests of the festival. All guests will be available for interviews
throughout the festival.
Screeners of the films are available to members of the press by request. For the
complete schedule of the New York Polish Film Festival screenings and events, please
visit www.nypff.com.
Consulate General of Poland: 233 Madison Avenue. Tel. (212) 561-8160
Anthology Film Archives: 32 Second Avenue. Tel. (212) 505.5181
Tickets: $15/$20 for the opening and closing events.
Booklet of 10 tickets, available at www.nypff.com: $120
Individual tickets must be purchased one hour before each screening at the Anthology
Film Archives box office.
Contact: Sheila Skaff, sheilaskaff@hotmail.com , (734) 320.8714
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Posted by: Randolph Hernandez
Tags: Andrzej Wajda, anthology film archives, APRIL, Arts, Borys Lankosz, Cinema of Poland, director, film, Katyn, Lech Kaczynski, Let, MORGENSTERN, Movies, poland lech, polish film festival, world war ii
